Markus Schulz

The Thursday that sustains a scene

For over two decades, every installment of Global DJ Broadcast has served as a living logbook of contemporary trance. Markus Schulz has hosted the show since 2002: more than 1,200 episodes, two hours, and an audience spanning over forty countries. It is not a simple weekly showcase, but the thread that connects his club work, the Coldharbour Recordings label, and a way of DJing that favors the long arc over immediate impact.

The Arizona school and the Brixton laboratory

Forged in the Arizona rave scene of the nineties, he held a seven-year residency at The Works in Scottsdale. After the club closed in 1999, he settled in London, in a studio on Coldharbour Lane in Brixton. There, he crystallized the sound that gives his label its name, founded in 2005 as a subsidiary of Armada Music: progressive, trance, and house fused into a unique hybrid, with dense atmospheric layers and sets capable of moving from depth to peak and, later, to the early-morning techno he calls rabbit hole.

He emigrated to the United States at thirteen and ended up making Miami his base, with benchmark nights at Space, an international residency at Ministry of Sound, marathons at Stereo (Montreal), and dates at Amnesia in Ibiza. In parallel, he built a discography of artist albums: Without You Near (2005), Progression, Do You Dream?, the two Scream albums, Watch the World, We Are the Light, Escape, and The Rabbit Hole Circus (2023). As Dakota—his most essential alias—he released Thoughts Become Things, its sequel, The Nine Skies, and Odyssey to the Netherworld. With Ferry Corsten, he formed New World Punx and reached Madison Square Garden.

Rankings, sunrises, and the present in the booth

DJ Times crowned him America's Best DJ in 2012, 2014, and 2018; in 2010, the DJ Mag Top 100 placed him at number 8. He has headlined stages at Ultra Music Festival, Electric Daisy Carnival, Tomorrowland (including an eight-hour set), Transmission in Prague, Nature One, Amsterdam Dance Event, and Creamfields. Since 2018, he has been a central figure in the In Search of Sunrise saga; in its 22nd volume, For the Next Generation of Dreamers, he signs three chapters of trance, progressive, and deep hours all by himself. Remixes for Madonna, Jewel (number 1 on the Billboard dance chart), OceanLab, or Giorgio Moroder complete a catalog that continues to revolve around Coldharbour, Black Hole Recordings, and those open-to-close nights that his audience treats as a rite of passage.