Today Markus Schulz has released a new album under his other nickname/alias - Dakota. The album is a little bit different than his recent productions, it explores in deeper the dark side of dance music - minimalistic trance, to progressive techno and deep house. It is released under the alias Dakota in order not to confuse the fans that Schulz is changing his style (commercial huh? who doesn't like $$$). I like the style of Markus in general and i like this, as well as the previous releases. I would recommend this album to any fan of electronic music, especially for those who listen to GDJB, to see in which direction his talent is developing. So far my favorite track is Dakota - Lima (Original Mix), others are not bad but nothing outstanding.

• Aly & Fila
• Sean Tyas
• Menno De Jong
• Marcel Woods
• Markus Schulz

And of course Armin Van Buuren himself. As written on Armada Events "The Best Things In Life Are Free". Well i like that very much but the distance to Holland, and my wallet are exactly the opposite - Holland is far away and my wallet is empty :(

6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7
6 is the number of strings on a standard guitar
Jack Bauer has been on the air for 6 seasons
It was the 6th day when God created Man
It has been 6 years since us Gods formed a group
Here to please... here to achieve... here to rule
Today we celebrate... and how do we celebrate
By dropping some bombs, coz that is why we are here
Amen


In other words TGX celebrated their 6th birthday, and TT sorta had a b-day too since the bombs mentioned in the cited NFO above were real ones. The biggest of them were

VA-Anjunabeats Vol 5 Mixed By Above And Beyond-2CD-2007-TGX VA-A State Of Trance 2007 Mixed By Armin Van Buuren-2CD-2007-TGX Now when i have listened to both of them... Well i like the Anjunabeats product much more. The tracklist is simply wonderfull, mixing perfect as always from Above and Beyond - i loved it from the very beginning to the end. ASOT 2007 is not bad either, it's a must have for any trance listener. CD2 is way better than CD1, lots of good tunes on both of the compilations but in the end Above and Beyond did a better job ;)

THE ISSUE:
In March the United States Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) made a decision on what the webcasting royalties should be going forward and dating back starting with 2006.

The new fees, making us owe literally more than *two million dollars* due July 15th, do not take any realistic business model of a service such as ours and most others on the web into account. The short story translation is that Digitally Imported the company already owes just for 2006 many many times more in royalty fees than all combined revenue generated. Imagine a picture similar to if for every $1 we earn before even any expenses, we actually owe about $5 in royalty fees.

To make an analogy, imagine there was a law passed on an ice cream tax, and the tax rate depended on the number of visitors visiting your store rather than how much ice cream the store sold. So imagine the tax does not care if ice cream buyers came just to hang out and get a little bit of icecream - all ice cream stands would go out of business except those who sell wholesale mega packs to a few visitors in places like Sams Club or Costco, or Walmart if it was willing to loose money just to get you into their store.

The CRB judges completely ignored independent webcasters such as us and our business models, and adopted only a very high per song performance fee, without any kind of a provision for a percentage of revenue.

Full post here

WTF is that? I can not believe that Di.fm can be shut down, 2 milion $$$... where the hell should they get this money from? And if it does happen where will all of us listen to our weekly State of Trance ? :( If you live in the US, there is a site that describes what you can do to help the Internet Radio - Savenetradio.org. The new laws will be in effect on July 15th, and i am going to US on July 7th - i will call the f#$%$ing representative on the very fist day i arrive there, so U.S. Representative Thomas Allen - be prepared for a looooong phone talk :)

Disc 1.

1. Conil - Malibu Beach. This beautiful intro brings me right back to Malibu Beach, perfect to listen to when you're on the beach.

2. Mark Norman presents Celine - Colour My Eyes. Mark Norman show they can also produce warm tracks with lots of emotion. Totally different from their normal work but still energetic.

3. Late Night Alumni - Empty Streets. I love the lyrics in this track! I really can relate to this track walking in a major city, but you still feel 'by yourself'.

4. Electro-Prompt - Beside Me (Gothek D.C. Remix). This track was given to me by a guy in record shop Deltadiscos in Ibiza. It's housey but still got this trancy feel, that's why I love it!

5. Fonzerelli - Moonlight Party. I was playing in Brasil on the beach in January and the DJ before me played this track. I went to him to get it because it's a perfect track for a beachparty! Again it's house but has trance influences and the lyrics gotta be made for this mixcomp...

6. Leama & Moor - Everything Matters (Matthew Dekay Remix). Leama & Moor are some of my favorite producers and with a remix of Matthew Dekay you can't go wrong. This one does really well on the floor.

7. Matthew Dekay vs. Proluctors - Let The Game Begin. A new and exclusive track of Matthew which he made especially for this compilation. Does a lot of damage on the floor as well!

8. Karen Overton - Your Loving Arms (Club Mix). It's a cover of a Bilie Ray Martin song, but done so well that I couldn't resist to include it.

9. Parker & Hanson - Let Me Be (Original Extended). Very nice vocals in this one and a beautiful melody as well.

10. Kalafut & Fygle - Novocaine (Mark Otten Remix). Awesome warm track, remix of another great producer from Holland.

11. JES - People Will Go (Steve Forte Rio Remix). Amazing new track of amazing singer JES, whatever she sings, I am sold!

12. Basic Perspective - Small Step On The Other Side. This track sounds like an old Depeche Mode or New Order track, it's trance but very original.

13. Tom Cloud - Told You So. I just love the bassline in this one, very uplifting and beautiful track.

14. A.M. - Arise (Exclusive Hammer & Funabashi Remix). I played this one in every set in my short Latin American tour and every night people went off! A 100% exclusive remix which will never be released.

15. Cass - Little Bird. The vocal in this track is very original, amazing voice, especially in the break she sings epic. This one goes down really well in clubs.

Disc 2.

1. Pink Elephant - LAX. Perfect intro to set the tone for disc 2, LAX is a very nice lounge in Los Angeles.

2. Alex Stealthy - Something Is Wrong. This DJ comes out of nowhere and produces one bomb after another!

3. Shah & Laruso present Global Experience - Zanzibar. Great producer from germany DJ Shah makes another killer! I love the flute in this track.

4. Progression - Technophobia. Two great producers from Holland who make beautiful original trance music. Watch out for their album, full of great tracks like this one...

5. A Boy Called Joni - Green Astronauts. This track has a very simple melody, but it's so hypnotic that it stays in your head forever!

6. Petter - These Days (Luke Chable's Those Days Remix). This one sounds funky but has a great drive and a warm melody. Very good track!

7. Estuera - Tales From The South (Jonas Steur's Revision Flow). The original is already a classic and exclusive for the compilation. Jonas Steur made an excellent 2006 remix.

8. Ozgur Can - Irony. With Ozgur Can it's always hit or miss. This track is definitely a hit, very energetic but still warm.

9. Jonas Steur - Second Turn. Great track which will go in every environment, small club or big party.

10. Smith & Pledger pres. Aspekt - Hi Jack. This track is the new style I like a lot. Groovy, almost house but with lots of trancy influences.

11. Jaytech - Genesis (Jimbo's Afterburner Mix). Amazing reworked vocal in this track which was given to me by my good friend Nick McGeachin just 1 hour before I started mixing In Search Of Sunrise. After listening, I couldn't resist squeezing it in.

12. Super8 + DJ Tab - Helsinki Scorchin'. This track has been huge for me, brings back great memories of my set in Amsterdam in December last year.

13. Way Out West - Don't Forget Me (Guy Ehmetores Remix). I love the original but it's too slow for me to play out, so I was happy to find this remix. Could be a great track to end the night with or as an encore this coming summer.