Mike: We want to congratulate you on the massive honor of being crowned the 2012 America’s Best DJ!!!! What does the win mean to you?

Markus Schulz: Well I think you said it yourself… it is a wonderful honor. That said it’s not something that’ll affect or alter the way I do things week-to-week though. Wins like this need to be kept in proportion. It’s always nice to accomplish them, but you can’t let it define you. Only the music can do that.

Mike: Did you have any idea that you were going to win?

Markus Schulz: If only! When phone calls like that come in, one of your first thoughts is: ‘I wish I’d been a bit more prepared for this’!

Mike: In order to be named America’s Best DJ, it must really mean that you are connecting with American listeners. Many said that trance would never really catch on here in America, but obviously you among several other trance ambassadors have proven said ideology incorrect. What do you think has changed?

Markus Schulz: I don’t think its trance per se, so much as the attitude to EDM in general. That’s the ideological change. Trance was amongst the first through the floodgate and I understand what the reason for that is, as I’ve seen it happen in so many other countries. In the classic sense, it’s a very musical type of music. It’s more harmonic elements register both consciously and subconsciously, which means it stays with people, gets rooted in the brain that much quicker, and lives that much longer.

Mike: It’s unusual – and exciting! – for a DJ to embark on a solo BUS TOUR of the U.S.! That’s real rockstar style and very few DJs can pull it off. The Identity Fest last year was even a challenge on some dates, and that had a festival lineup. What was the impetus behind your SCREAM bus tour? Are you terrified? Excited? Both?

Markus Schulz: Ohh man, excited! Beyond excited, really. This has been a particular dream of mine for quite a number of years: the American DJ tour done a bit differently. I grew up listening to rock bands, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and hundreds others, hearing the crazy on-the-road tour tales. The chance to follow in just a few of those footsteps is going to be amazing.

On the more practical side though, it going to give me the chance to play not only the cities I’ve loved to rock for many years now, but also places I’ve either never spun or haven’t managed to get back to for too, too long. That’s how wide the scope of the tour is. Roll on April and May!

Mike: A friend of mine named Becca Barry has the title of your track Do You Dream tattooed on her back. What does it mean to you that your fans connect with you on such a deep level?

Markus Schulz: What any DJ and/or producer would like to do is to affect people – to basically touch lives through music. If you’re not doing that, then you’re not getting it quite right. The deeper you affect people, the more the music has come to mean to them, so when I hear things like this, it lets me know I’m on the right track.

Mike: So you’ve been crowned America’s Best DJ, you’ve had pretty girls tattoo your song titles on themselves, you’ve toured the world, and let’s not forget the release of your unbelievable album Scream. What’s next? How are you planning to keep bringing the fire in 2013?

Markus Schulz: Half a decade or so back I used to wonder that myself. What’s next? I’ve stopped now. I’ve learned to just be super open to new thoughts and ideas. Looking below I see we’re just about to touch on another one of the latest!

Mike: What is this mysterious NEW WORLD PUNX project you’re embarking on with Ferry Corsten? You two are good buddies. How did the name and this new act come to be?

Markus Schulz: Well by the time you read this, it’ll be a lot less mysterious! Ferry and I are good buds and have been for a while. We started playing together b2b and making a few reboots of some of our old not-forgotten favorite tracks that we thought could do with another roll of the dice. New World Punx is a sort of formalizing of that and a kind of umbrella name/term for what happens when our two sounds meet.

Mike: Thanks again Markus, your music has truly touched the lives of many including my own. Looking forward to another decade of trance music with you! Cya on the road!

New Flux Pavilion EP dropping January 28. Is that enough said? I tend to think so.

Run this. Dubstep the way God intended. Mmm mm mm.

- D.Rob

@TheTopSoundDRob

Unreal vibes on this one. I’m particularly fond of this frantic, anxious style of progressive house. It gets me going a bit. When you pair those vibes with catchy, vibrant melodies and epic builds, and you also have the production prowess to sidechain the sh*t out of the track and make it as bouncey as humanly possible, you truly have something. Wonderful work from the promissing “Ido“. “Voice of Reason” kills. Pick it up on Beatport right here.

http://youtu.be/sRYxG11G5Vc

- D.Rob

@TheTopSoundDRob

This is incredible. I heard this a few days ago and was pretty meh about it, but then it grew on me like this damn rash of mine (?). This is a catchy banger that I’m sure will be spinning well into festival season. It kind of reminds me of the happy, melodic vibes of “My Feelings For You” by Avicii and Sebastien Drums. I actually tend to like “Easy” more. Fair? You be the judge. Many, many kudos to the talented Porter Robinson and Mat Zo for this one. Tightness.

Buy “Easy” riiiight here. Run it.

- D.Rob

@TheTopSoundDRob

If I had to choose an overall favorite song for 2012 across all genres of music, it would undoubtedly be Ellie Goulding’s “Figure 8.” Everything about the original track is perfect: Ellie’s airy vocals, the perfect balance of bass, a powerful yet not overdone dubstep beat and its masterful arrangement. Having said that, no remix is going to come close to the original in my eyes. However, I do have to say that Xilent’s interpretation of the song is pretty special.

Xilent has really impressed me this past year with his outstanding dubstep tracks. He’s truly proven that drum and bass isn’t his only talent, and further, he’s shown that he can take said talent and use it to instill a unique vibe into his other tracks. This remix of “Figure 8″ is absolutely fantastic and really amps up the energy of the original song, but without overpowering it. He rightly made sure that he utilized Goulding’s vocals as much as possible — after all, it is her voice that makes her music so perfect.

So enough of my rambling, just check it out!

-Mike @3nVMusic

For all the latest and greatest in everything EDM, follow The Top Sound on Facebook and Twitter!

Remember these guys? The Top Sound interviewed this duo from Toronto back in May and raved about their talent and inevitable rise to greatness. Right on cue, that rise has come. Dzeko & Torres have an EP set for release via the world-famous Dim Mak Records next week. Check it out, it sounds glorious. “Buppy” is the jamtrack of this EP, but they all sound great. Great to see these guys making it big.

- D.Rob

@TheTopSoundDRob

I apologize for personally not posting more music these past few weeks. However, I refuse to write about garbage, and sadly, most of what I’ve heard released these past couple of weeks has been pure rubbish…

Having said that, here’s something really cool for you, a ridiculously heavy remix of Modestep featuring Popeska’s “Another Day” by XKore. If you’re a fan of dubstep and you’re not yet familiar with XKore, you’ve been missing out on a guy who’s doing it with a wrath unlike few others. He first blew me away a few months ago with his Stabs EP, and now he’s back again with one of the heaviest tracks I’ve heard in awhile.

Don’t take my word for it — listen!

-Mike @3nVMusic

For all the latest and greatest in everything EDM, follow The Top Sound on Facebook and Twitter!

Behold the softer side of Pierce Fulton. This 20-year-old New England prodigy has refused to limit his sound to one particular genre in his young career. He’s produced everything from house heavy-hitters supported by Tiesto to trance gems supported by Above & Beyond.

Aiming to innovate and stay true to his musical tastes, Fulton’s sound remains pure and refreshing to the ears. The boundaries of genre mean nothing to him, and if you’ve read The Top Sound at all, you know we hold this quality above all.

Fulton’s remix of “In No Time“  soars. Silky smooth. Buy link on player. Enjoy!

- D.Rob

@TheTopSoundDRob

Dear Every DJ With Any Semblance Of Talnt,

Please for the love of God, start working on this discohouse / nu disco / electro house fusion. This is borderline unfair. I knew that Oliver, a duo comprised of two of my favorite producers in EDM, had been working with A-Trak and the good people over at Fools Gold Records lately, so I already had high expectations of whatever release came out of this. Well consider my expectations completely and utterly blown out of the water.

Meet your new favorite track, “MYB“. It drops on Fools Gold some time in January so stay tuned.

- D.Rob

@TheTopSoundDRob

This is going to be absolutely massive!

You don’t need me to tell you that Alesso has a monstrous year; If you like dance music, it’s a well known fact. Having said that, you’ve most likely been wondering what was coming next from the Swedish star… A new track release!

From what can be heard in this 2:17 preview, “Clash” is arguably Alesso’s biggest track to date as it not only incorporates his massive, festival style, but also serves as an exploration into a more gritty and electronic sound. This is by far the heaviest track we’ve heard from Alesso thus far, and it certainly proves that he can work outside the realm of “pop” house.

Check out the preview below, and pick up “Clash” when it releases in its entirety on December 10!

-Mike @3nVMusic

For all the latest and greatest in everything EDM, follow The Top Sound on Facebook and Twitter!