Artist...: Markus Schulz Presents Dakota
Title....: The Nine Skies
Label....: Black Hole Recordings
Genre....: Trance
Quality..: VBR kbit/ 44,1 kHz
Source...: CDDA
Ripdate..: Jan-13-2018
Encoder..: LAME 3.98.4 (VBR -V0 --vbr-new)
Tracks...: 01
Tracklist:
Markus Schulz Presents Dakota - The Nine Skies
01.Markus Schulz Presents Dakota - The Nine Skies Intro
02.Markus Schulz Presents Dakota - Bravo On The Go
03.Markus Schulz Presents Dakota - Follow Me
04.Markus Schulz Presents Dakota With Koen Groeneveld - Mota-Mota
05.Markus Schulz Presents Dakota - Who Are You
06.Markus Schulz Presents Dakota - Searching
07.Markus Schulz Presents Dakota Ft. Bev Wild - Running Up That Hill
08.Markus Schulz Presents Dakota - Eve's Doorway
09.Markus Schulz Presents Dakota - Edonismo
10.Markus Schulz Presents Dakota - Kismet
11.Markus Schulz Presents Dakota - The Way It Is
12.Markus Schulz Presents Dakota - Cafe Del Mar
13.Markus Schulz Presents Dakota - The Master
14.Markus Schulz Presents Dakota - Carbonado
15.Markus Schulz Presents Dakota - In Search Of Something Better
16.Markus Schulz Presents Dakota - Future Shock
17.Markus Schulz Presents Dakota - The Spirit Of The Warrior
18.Markus Schulz Presents Dakota - The Ninth Sky
109,9 MB
Notes:
ôNot so straightforward, is it?ö
remarks Markus. Both generally and
rhetorically, he?s passing comment on
life. However, in the closing weeks of
2017 & opening months of 2018, he could
as easily be talking about the ?how?,
?what? & ?why?? of Dakota?s stage show
and its December-released 18-track LP
companion, The Nine Skies.
Dakota has had its spiritual side from
the off. The first and second ?Thoughts
Become Things? albums were the
pathfinders for this new, and possibly
most definitive of Dakota projects.
These releases were measures deployed
to see if electronic music?s citizenry
were receptive to something deeper and
more involved.
Word back from the ?Thoughts?
generation was: ôreadyö.
The tipping point for The Nine Skies?
didn?t occur however until last year,
and the aftermath of the attack on
Florida?s Pulse nightclub. ôThe final
spur in the sideö, was how Markus saw
it at the time. ôAll the shit that?s
happened after that has really changed
things, but somehow that all seemed to
start with Pulse. It just devastated
me. Shook me to my core. It woke me up
to the idea that, in general, we?re not
on the right path. I believe to get us
back there, to turn things around,
anyone who is able has to do their bit.
The Nine Skies is me trying to do mine
in really the only way I know howö.
In respect of ?The Nine Skies?, Markus?
own awakening started predominantly
through books. ôI started reading, he
says, like a lot!ö ôAt home, in hotel
lobbies, on flights, in the studio.
I?ve always had a lingering interest in
spirituality and the desire to make
some sense of life. It?s something I
share with people that are close to me.
We like to chat about the nature of
things like dharma, prajna, true-self ?
all that stuff. It is how - over time -
the ?Skies? came into being.
Markus has always seen Dakota not as an
alias but as a persona - an identity
even. ôSometimes I?m wearing Dakota?s
head; other times it?s Markus Schulz?s,
he says. Through that division, I?ve
found the artistic space to make
darker, moodier, deeper music. More
exploratory and experimental gear? if
that?s where my current state of mind
is taking me.
Atypically, the entire The Nine Skies
project - concept, show, album, et al,
was wrapped and complete before but a
word of it was breathed. ôThis, expands
Markus, gave me an opportunity I?d not
had before. It gave me a chance to
shake up my usual release pattern. So
in keeping with the progressive spirit
of The Nine Skies/steps, rather than
coming with dozens of shows and an
album?s worth of new material frontend,
I brought it one stage and single at a
time. I felt it would give the
audiences more time to digest and
absorb what is undeniably a broader
conceptö.
Markus considers that if there?s one
thing enlightenment does take, it?s
time. öRarely, if ever, in life does
something happen overnightö, he says.
The release of the album?s first four
singles was designed to reflect one of
the possible journey arcs from darkness
to enlightenment. That started with
early-in-the-album track, ?Mota Mota?
and ended with its penultimate one,
?Spirit of the Warrior?. ôIt arches
from one of the most ominous darkly-
minded, night-black numbers I?ve
written to possibly Dakota?s most
uplifting, emancipating moment everö,
says Markus.
The underlying theme of each of the 18
tracks on the album broadly falls into
one of the Skies? nine realms. ôThat,
cautions Markus, is not something
that?s going to be immediately apparent
the first time you listen to it. Give
it time though, and over subsequent
spins I think, you?ll get an ever-
greater feel for the transitional
passage the album is taking. From
Sky.One?s The Follower, transcending
right the way over to the ninth Sky:
Nirvana.ö
Dakota adherents can also look forward,
in the not too distant future to the
The Nine Skies box set. This very
special limited edition audio-visual
release will include the DVD of Markus?
performance of The Nine Skies at
Prague?s O2 Arena, as part of the
Transmission 2017 event.
