Church of Trance

  FEATURING THE MUSIC OF LONDON GRAMMAR, SASHA, DEEP DISH, PAUL OAKENFOLD & HERNAN CATTANEO, COSMIC GATE, ESTIVA, KOROLOVA, JEROME ISMA-AE AND MARKUS SCHULZ PRES. DAKOTA An emotional expedition toward tomorrow, unfolding in three chapters across the summer of 2025. It’s not just a compilation. It’s a reimagination. For over two decades, In Search of Sunrise has been more than a series, it’s been a sanctuary for sonic wanderers; a space where emotion, beauty, and transcendence meet under one sky. Now, as the next chapter begins, Markus Schulz steps fully into the role of creative guide, evolving the series into something not just reflective, but visionary. “The world has changed. So has the music. But the need to escape, to dream, and to feel—that remains,” Markus says. “And that’s what this next era of In Search of Sunrise is about: building a bridge from nostalgia into a future worth believing in.” For the first time ever, In Search of Sunrise will roll out as three s...

It’s been a minute since  Solarstone’s  last album. (Actually, it’s been several million of them, as  ‘island’  was released five years ago!). In that time life’s given us all plenty to ponder, and Rich Solarstone’s no exception to that. At a point in time where everything is supposed to streamline, Solarstone’s experience might better be described as ‘mainline’. He became a husband, a father again and watched his firstborn come of age. A lot of new perspectives are naturally going to follow that. No stranger to pouring his creative force, thoughts and feelings into his music, that reaches an apex this month with the release of his ninth album. Make no mistake … this one’s coming from deep within. “ Good music demands that you push yourself, and the best of it also forces you to take risks … ”  says Rich Mowatt,  “and I’m more than aware that ‘innermost’ inherently carries some of the latter. In its native form, this is not a club album, but then I d...

FEATURING LEGENDARY PRODUCTIONS FROM LUMINARIES INCLUDING DELERIUM, MARKUS SCHULZ, BT, JES, RABBIT IN THE MOON, SANDRA COLLINS, DEEPSKY, NEIL KOLO & CHRIS FORTIER’S FADE, CONJURE ONE & MANY OTHERS! After previous stop-offs in The Netherlands, Germany, The UK and Belgium, May 2025 finds  ‘Hypnotised’ - the country-by-country-hopping history of trance music - reaching  American shores . There it explores one of the genre’s lesser told yet equally fascinating tales. The fifth album in the series is again compiled by  Arjan Rietveld,  author of its encyclopaedic companion book,  Hypnotised: A Journey Through Trance Music 1990 – 2005 . To a significant extent, the American trance scene evolved inside its own bubble. Ocean-crossing breakout acts were rare, which gave the scene space to develop a distinct sound and identity – one that was driving yet linear, progressive, more tribal, and less focused on the melodic elements that dominated the European la...

Has  Paul van Dyk  used Artificial Intelligence on an album that questions Artificial Intelligence’s role in our future? Well, we’ll get to that. Having album-gifted a locked-down world both  ‘Guiding Light’  and  ‘Escape Reality’  in 2020,  ‘This World Is Ours’  is the German pioneer’s first longform foray in five years. Paul’s  been in the  ‘think-phase’  of his eleventh LP ever since, and few would deny that the last five rotations have given us plenty to think about. “ Very pro technology ” is how  Paul van Dyk  describes himself, something populated by his early adoption of new music tech at pretty much every career juncture. In the respect of AI though, he sees both a clear distinction … and a natural fork in the road. “ Artificial Intelligence isn’t music technology, or film, or entertainment, social media, military, finance or any other sector. To my mind, it is simply a new definition  of  ‘technolog...

Since he first began to musically transmit, just four short years ago, Alabama’s Bob ‘BiXX’ Bickert’s star has ascended rapidly.  Now, into 2025,  BiXX  is readying his first album outreach, set for release through  Nocturnal Knights  further into the year.  ‘The Voice Of Reason’  LP’s roads starts today though, through his first teaming with  Susana  on   ‘Believe In Me’  - a track that’s as movingly-messaged as it is soulfully-affirming and endlessly uplifting. “ Cause you hold space for me, I dare to be who I was meant to be ”  Susana  sings, while  BiXX  carries her song on the back of rolling drums, deeply moving orchestral strings and exultant synths. Partner-to-a-partner, parent-to-a-child or even an internal  ‘self-to-self’  monologue, the  ‘voice’  behind  Susana’s  words is initially equivocal. “ It’s really a universal message”,  the Dutch singer clarifies . “ The ...

From the outside looking in, ‘making it’ in the electronic music sphere always appears to be the toughest nut to crack. Mark Sherry  however  would  respectfully disagree.   ‘ S taying there’  is where the hard work begins. Famously,  Mark  did the former ,  near enough, inside his first studio trip, taking him to the top 5 of both his native UK and the international charts. He has barely paused for breath since. A testament to a professional life lived exclusively within the dance music space,  ‘TH3RTY’ s  title   denotes both his years working there and the album’s track count. Work hard and (DJ-wise) play hard is  Mark’s  ethic, and  ‘TH3RTY’ s its absolute embodiment.  Fittingly, over  ‘TH3RTY’ s thirty, its music both looks forward and reflects back. It features collaborations with rising singer-songwriters like  Adara, Brieanna Grace  and  Kate Louise Smith.  Equally, it includes p...