Hey everyone!
Hope you are all well wherever you are and what you are doing. It has been a significant period of time in the world so I want to take some time and reflect in writing over what has happened this past week. I am currently writing to you from Madrid airport, just getting off the red-eye flight from Miami. A bit jaded, but in good spirits overall; and looking forward very much to this weekend.
When I signed off last Friday I was on my way to San Juan in Puerto Rico for my weekend gig. It was definitely a new experience! I was nervous preparing for the gig because you really did not know what to expect from the crowd. I think overall it went well, but it gave me a lot of food for thought in terms of preparing for the unknown.
After San Juan I had the rare luxury of spending a Saturday night at home in Miami. Unfortunately, all the travelling of the past week... Los Angeles - Miami - London - Miami - San Juan - Miami... really began catching up with me physically. So the rest of the weekend was spent in full chill mode - went to the gym, ate well, and watched some sports including the Dolphins game, which we won! Who would have thought we would have won 4 times the amount of games we won last season by now? They are a good young team, and definitely on the way up.
Monday was the beginning of a very busy week, and I knew well in advance that due to what would occur on Tuesday, that I was going to have to lock myself into the studio for many hours.
This weekend is a massive one for me personally - returning to Sofia for the first time in almost two years to play at a beautiful club called Yalta on Friday, and playing at one of the marquee events in the world on Saturday in Prague, Transmission.
Most of you will already know that the theme for this year's Transmission is "The New World". Back in March, the organisers for the event contacted me and asked if I could compose a special theme for the night. While I felt incredibly honored, I knew that this was going to be a big challenge for me in the studio.
If you think back to all the internationally renowned events, such as Sensation White or Trance Energy, they have always picked iconic tracks as their themes that have stood the test of time and remain anthems today. Not only that, you have to take into account the significant factors of playing in an arena or festival type setting. You need bigger riffs, punchier basslines, and produce a vibe which the person sitting in the nosebleed seats or standing at the back of a tent is going to feel as much as a person standing at the front of the stage.
Looking back at the nights in the studio working on The New World, it was definitely my previous experiences of playing at Transmission which helped me visualize how the track needed to sound. The feeling I get once you get on stage, seeing literally a sea of people in front of you, accompanied with all the visuals and production techniques that Transmission is known for, is really inspirational.
A lot of people have been sending me emails or asking on the forum about The New World and when it is coming out. My Progression Progressed album, which features all the huge remixes of my tracks over the past year, was released digitally last Monday. The original of The New World is on there, so you should be able to grab it though all the download portals. I think the album itself was a very rewarding project. I was very pleased with how all the additional remixes turned out, and I think everyone will find something on there that they can enjoy and appreciate. Of course I also have the Return To Coldharbour Remxi of the track, which has been getting huge reactions at all my gigs over the past couple of weeks, and the good news I can tell you is that you will not have to wait very long for its release. More details about that to come next week.
Seeing the release of the remix album felt like one of those chapters in your life that is about to be closed, and another one is about to begin. The same can be said for the United States, where of course we had our Election day on Tuesday, to decide a new president for the next four years.
I got up at 6am on Tuesday morning to go to the voting polls, and stood for 2 hours in line! When I heard the news of this election being the biggest in terms of voting turnout, I was not surprised. Come evening time, we invited some friends over, ordered some Chinese food, and had a nice little get-together until 2am as we watched the results of the exit polls coming in. To me it felt like we were celebrating New Year's Eve, only it was at the beginning of November.
I think the result was what citizens of the world were hoping for. It has been a very difficult time for all of us in recent years, particularly with everyone feeling the effects of the downturn in the economic climate recently. I feel that we now have a person in President Obama that we can believe in, and who can give us all hope for the future. When I was staying at my apartment in Berlin during the summer, I picked up a newspaper and the headline read, "Barack Obama - can he be a leader not just for the United States of America, but also a leader of the world." That moment has stuck with me ever since, it gave me goosebumps.
It really is going to be a new world, a new vision, and a future that I can honestly say I am looking forward to already.
Wednesday night was spent making Evolution and getting the Global DJ Broadcast World Tour show edited and finalized. The night at White Angel in Budapest was amazing, and when listening back to the recording, it made me appreciate even more how incredibly hot the crowd were on the night. Hopefully you guys enjoyed listening to the latest chapter of my worldwide travels, and thank you to everyone in Budapest for making it one of the best GDJB World Tour stops to date.
Today I feature as the guest on Above & Beyond's Trance Around The World radio show, where I will be doing a 30 minute guest mix. You will be able to find details of how to tune in and the tracklist on my forum. I take a flight from Madrid to Sofia in 1 hour, play at Yalta tonight, then travel to Prague on Saturday to play at Transmission, which is held at the O2 Arena. I played in the venue back in May for the Prague edition of Sensation White, so I know exactly what to expect in terms of atmosphere. After Prague, it is straight back to Miami, where another week will begin.
So it's time to sign off again. I see a smoothie bar beside one of the checkin desks so time to grab a strawberry & banana combo, and start getting ready for Sofia. I have been looking forward to this weekend for so long, and now that it's here, I can't wait to experience it.
Take care and see you next week!
Ciao,
Markus
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