Last year Solarstone's third longplayer put the proverbial torch to perceptions of what an EDM album should be. Through tracks like 'Intravenous', 'The Best Way', 'Electric Love', 'Twisted Wing' and its title track, Richard Mowatt displayed an ever-expanded artistic range. Erasing established genre lines it travelled across previously unmapped musical terrain. Now, a year on, its time to revisit that music. Touchstone's been re-touched!

When approaching the album Richard's A&R mandate was clear: "in essence I wanted to hear fundamentally different sound-designs for each of the tracks", he says. "No tweaks, revisions or minor modifications. No comfort zones. All-out musical revolution!" With a free hand to take the tracks straight down whichever rabbit hole they saw fit, the radical 'Touchstone' remixing commenced at pace!

By this point switched on Solar-fans have likely locked ears with Elfsong's remix of the album's title track. The young Hungarian's remix of 'Touchstone' refuses to trade on the recognition factor of the Original's longing guitars, instead cultivating the track onto a linear, floor-ready progressive journey. Irish duo Tucandeo meanwhile have swapped-out the breakbeat drum signature of 'Ultraviolet' for a 4/4 pattern and used its native synths to create an epic, escalating trancer that rise up to truly dizzying heights.

Throwing the progressive rulebook clean out of the window, Vadim Zhukov has given 'Night Signals' a new tightly coiled, high wire tense lead-riff. Onto that he's transposed a remodelled version of the vocal, giving his rework a numinous, filmic quality. Poland's Piotro has summoned a career best with his masterful Microprog kit-out of 'Electric Love'. Starting out canyon-deep, he twitches and glitches Bill McGruddy's vocals until, mid-break, the remix takes one final, incredible, breath-stealing step over the edge.

Young-gun producer Konektiv has performed a spectacular coup d'état on 'Intravenous' beat-free reign. On his Epicentric Remix he's floor-jacked the track with a sensational Plastikman-esque slow-burning techno churn, marshalling its Pink Floyd-like prog rock guitars into the drop.

Likewise Klauss Goulart has revolutionized the once proggy, Renaissance-esque 'Slowmotion' with one of his forceful siren-led 5am floor-whackers. Johennesberg's Dirty Herz assign the Bill McGruddy vocalled 'Is There Anyone Out There' a sharp glossy trouse master touch; Dennis Sheperd meanwhile recasts 'Zeitgeist' with a more pumping drum structure and captivating, ethereal vocals - holding out to deliver a late-in-the-break synth-sonic uprush. Elsewhere fellow German Miss Nine revises 'The Best Way To Make Your Dreams Come True Is To Wake Up' into a vibrant, clubby prog-house punch-packing.



The rezoning of sub-genres continues as the album reaches its latter stages. Electronic Architecture alumni Dave Horne turns the once unequivocally drum & bass-housed 'Twisted Wing' into a melodic trance odyssey - albeit one with a deceptively powerful production engine. To the greater degree that switch-out is reversed on Royal Sapien's rework of the Lucia Holm vocaled 'The Last Defeat Pt II', with the New Yorker underpinning his mix with brisk, Bukem-ized beats.

Bringing the album to its conclusion, Chris Johnson's let the house drums speak on bliss-fest 'There's A Universe'. Taking the Blur-ish vocals of the original, he's dynamically repoints it (for the first time) in the direction of the dancefloor.

With 'Touchstone Remixed' tracking the exact same running order as the original album, fans can anticipate a unique, extra-dimensional listening experience. At once resonant yet entirely metamorphosized, it's a remix album in the original meaning of the expression.

"Lovin all the mixes... HUGE!" (Armin van Buuren)

It's out on the 23rd of January.

The Soundcloud countdown has completed, all the clips are on online and the wait is over. Electronic Architecture² - Solarstone's incredible new compilation - is out today!

Featuring 28 completely new and unreleased tracks immersively mixed across two discs, you can grab it and stash it from the following stores: iTunes // Beatport // Trackitdown // Juno // Solar Shop

Clubbers and music lovers bible MIXMAG have made Electronic Architecture² their April Album of the Month. Calling the album "perfectly crafted" and "a breath of fresh air", they went on to say and that it "captures the essence of what we all love about trance". We couldn't have put it better ourselves!

You can read the full review by clicking here.

'Big Wheel' - Solarstone's first freshly squeezed material post the 'Touchstone' album - is out now. Giving it 8.5/10, DJ Mag says it's "mesmeric", has a "fairground-like quality to it" and that the "Solarstone's Smashing Atoms Remix is a floor-proofed club port, which tweaks and cranks every production part as high as it'll go". MIXMAG meanwhile says that "the true revelation is Solarstone's rapturous Smashing Atoms revamp, which swings at the peak-time dancefloor and knocks it clean out the park." Praise indeed!

Ride the Big Wheel at: iTunes // Beatport // Solar Shop // Amazon // Juno

Want to get a quick dive-in to the new Electronic Architecture music? Course you do, so here's how! Jump to the Solarstone YouTube channel or the album Microsite and roll the 5-minute, whistle-stop video tour of Electronic Architecture². There you'll get an instamatic-hit of the type of new music on offer, backed, of course, by the state-of-the-art visuals!

2 years ago this month Solarstone released the compilation album 'Electronic Architecture'… Nominated for Best Compilation at the 2010 IDMAs it also won press plaudits for its imaginative concept, with Tilllate hailing it as "a magical blend of music, art and design" & DJ Mag calling it "a genuine gem". Now the follow up to the boundary breaking compilation adventure is near. "Electronic Architecture²' captures the essence of what we all love about trance" says MIXMAG, giving it April's Trance Album of the Month and as designated by its 'squared2' tag, its not a 'Pt.II', but an evolutionary next stage in the story. Electronic Architecture² is ready to unfold a landmark sound-design. Using super-immersive mixing techniques crossed with bespoke graphic aspects, its geometric/isometric futuristic sky-cities are ready to rise again! Explore on...

Housing the Art aspect of Electronic Architecture²'s multi-media release is its incredible portal. There - in another first for Solarstone - you are able to deconstruct EA²'s cover art and re-build your own vision of its spectacular towering super-structure! As the release date approaches clips of the music will be premiered there and will provide the soundtrack to this powerful, flexible, yet easy-use tool. You can enjoy a immersive interactive graphical, musical experience, unlike anything you've seen/heard before! Point your mouse here … and become the Electronic Architect!

To tie in with the album's release, we've got an incredible competition (with a fantastic prize!) for you to enter. We want you to design your own version of the its front cover. Sound tough? It's not! Using the Electronic Architect tool you can build, flip, move and recolour its sections. Once you're happy with your creation, hi-res screenshot it and send it to EAcompetition@solarstone.co.uk. The comp is open until the 5th of May so you've got plenty of time to get your entry in. The winner will get a framed, one-of-a-kind A2 reproduction of your design alongside the original's artwork + a sackload of other 'EA²' goodies!

From the start of next month, fed out of Solarstone's soundcloud channel, each and ever track from the new album will premiere on the microsite. From Prog greats, Hybrid, Tilt and Medway among them, to EA1 alumni inc. Majera and Jahawi + the completely new, yet-to-be-heard names like Piotro, Aerium and Offo Ezzy, the tracks Solarstone has been uncovering and signing over the last nine months will be previewed. Automatically uploaded to the microsite, they'll unfurl to provide the soundtrack to your design recreations.

'Is There Anyone Out There?' is taken from Solarstone's critically acclaimed new album 'Touchstone', and is the second single to feature the vocal talents of ex Southern Electrics frontman Bill McGruddy. The album version wowed critics with its warm analogue synth atmosphere and fabulous vocal from Bill, so here are a selection of club cuts for you.

First up, the 'Nude' Mix is a stripped down, warm, phat, stark & chunky big room vocal progressive beauty, reworked from the original album cut, at a sedantry 128bpm pace the tribal drum hits and clever bassline drop are massively powerful moments. Matvey Emerson delivers the first of the remixes, in a style gleaned from his stunning 'Prizma' single on System he creates a deliciously cool progressive trance mix which delivers some wicked moments, the production is ultra modern and the grooves are deep. The Smashing Atoms Remix is the one for your big room trance floors, tested out by Solarstone over recent months it takes the roof off with its pristine, melodic, warm & solid production - so much so that we've added an instrumental too for those long dark nights. We've also included the handy Video Mix for radio jocks.

Solarstone's brand new artist album 'Touchstone' will be released on June 28th 2010 on Solaris Recordings. The microsite will keep you up to date with all the news about it, including on-location mini-documentaries, free music downloads and amazing competitions Check it out here at www.solarstonetouchstone.com.

In a wholly new cutting-edge fashion we want you to Participate in its release! We have created a points = prizes feature on the website for registered users to help us spread word of ‘Touchstone’ around the worldwideweb. You can help us by embedding Touchstone widgets on your social networking pages, forums & websites. The widgets enable people visiting your pages to listen to tracks from the album and them themselves get involved. You can recommend friends to join and every time your widget generates a friend recommended by you signs up or creates a sale, you automatically get points added to your account. And remember: Points are going to equal some pretty incredible Prizes! For more information go to signup & participate page.

Out now is Solarstone ft Bill McGruddy 'Electric Love' with mixes from Joof vs Digial Blonde, Elfsong and Rafael Frost. Coming up soon is a second selection of mixes featuring a proto-Chicago house meets italo remix from Bottin and a beautiful drum & bass mix from Royal Sapien. You can view the official video for 'Electric Love' over on Solarstone's youtube channel Solarstonetube.

We've just released Solarstone & Alucard's remix edition of 'Late Summer Fields', cunningly entitled 'Later Summer Fields' (see what we did there? Clever huh?!). The release is spearheaded by Ferry Corsten's stunning remix and also the in-demand Forerunners Dub. Look out for Alucard's forthcoming debut solo release on Solaris soon - entitled 'Elation' with a wicked remix from Dj Eco.

Solarstone - RSEMIX out now It was one of the biggest EDM albums of 2008, gave life to 6 killer singles and most decisively ushered in the 2nd coming of Solarstone. Now, a year after the release of ‘RainStarsEternal’, and following a meticulous remix A&Ring period, Solarstone is delighted to present… RSEMIX! Buy it here or there.

Part Of Me Physical Release Today Solarstone's collaboration with Elizabeth Fields is now fully out. Get it here or there.

Early Bird Offer: Get in quick with the orders! Solarstone ft. Elizabeth Fields - Part Of Me is available on Limited CD and download a whole month before the official release. The 12" vinyl will be out on July 27th. Visit the product page on the Solarstone website.

Alpha Radio (Bulgaria) Joins The Solaris Radio Broadcast: We're extremely pleased to announce that Bulgaria's biggest (and indeed national) FM station Alpha Radio has joined the ranks of quality stations broadcasting the Solaris International show. Alpha Radio recently received the 'Best Dance Radio in South & Eastern Europe' award at the SEE ME festival in Sofia. Their broadcast of Solaris International will commence on Friday July 10th @ 18:00, and then every Friday.
To check out this wicked station, click www.alpharadio.bg
For full Solaris International listings and to listen to previous shows, click here.

Solarstone International Meets Trance International: Our very own Solaris International show joins forces with another 'International' from this month. We're not sure if that means exactly ('multinational'? 'bi-international'?), but we'll figure it out in due course. Trance International , the cult e-magazine that pops into thousands of inboxes every month is sponsoring a new feature on the show... With 'The Resurrection Section', the Mag will be dipping into their hefty mp3 collection each week to pull out a nugget from trance music's esteemed history and spinning it on the show. And talking of things Solaris International, the show is now available in its Podcast version as a 128k download. Quality pimped for your increased listening pleasure, it's available through the website or via iTunes... Bitchin'!

Electronic Architecture - The Unmixed Collection: If you're randy to get hold of some mixable tracks from Solarstone's recent 'Electronic Architecture' album en-masse, we got some very good news for you! 'Electronic Architecture - The Unmixed Collection' CD, which features 11 full length tracks taken from the album, is forthcoming on Solaris Recordings. A full rundown of the featured tracks will be up on the Solarstone Website shortly. If the forums are anything to go by the hunt appears to be very much on for 'E.A.' singles. Out now on Solaris is Souls In Motions' stunning uplifter 'Sensual Illusion' and coming very soon is Harley Soan's instantly-anthemic 'Long Drive Home', with a remix from fellow Australian Majera.

Coming Soon On Solaris: The next (and indeed final) single to be plucked from Solarstone's 'RainStarsEternal' album will be 'Part of Me'. Vocalled by Elizabeth Fields (who also sang on 2004's 'Speak in Sympathy'), the track is based on the classic gypsy composition 'She Moves Through the Fair'. The single also comes with a gold-plated, possibly even diamond bejeweled (!) remix coup. It's the first track in 4 long years to come with a studio remapping from The Thrillseekers! Following his extended sabbatical, Steve Helstrip has re-focused all his production powers on 'Part of Me' to give it a stunning deeper trance accent. Stellar, Vlind and Solarstone's own Extended Album Mix complete the package which will be ready to come coursing down your telephone wires on the 30th of June.

The awesomely named Arkadiusz Los and Piotr Krupa release their first single, Sensual Illusion, on Solaris under the name Souls in Motion, with help from Forerunners and Vlind.

Lullabies without words. The Solarstone mix of Winterlight's 'Mirror', along with the original, was released today (SLRS031).

It's the news we've been waiting to deliver for the last 6 months... In April Solarstone will once again re-draft the dance music map with the release of the first chapter in his new compilation series. Lifted from the veritable arsenal of forthcoming Solaris Recordings material, the 2XCD release will paint the definitive picture of Solarstone, the DJ. Standing out in the crowded compilation field, really rising head and shoulders above the rest has required a herculean 6-month A&Ring mission. Matched with its super-immersive, multi-level mixing, that is exactly what Rich is about to bring with 'Electronic Architecture'. See the press release

The official trailer for Dj Orion's forthcoming Solaris release 'One Sunday' is now available to listen/view. It is hosted on the new Solaris Recordings Youtube channel (http://www.youtube.com/solarisrecordings) and contains clips of all the mixes of the track. Release date for 'One Sunday' is March 30th.

Welcome to the new website, which has been lovingly redesigned and reconstructed as your gateway to everything Solaris. You can interact with the label and radio show via our forum, keep up to speed with our signings and releases, upload your tunes for us to check out and also buy limited edition and exclusive LCD editions of our releases.

Solarstone 'Lunar Rings' has been confirmed as SLRS027, taken from Solarstone's acclaimed 'Rain Stars Eternal' album. Featuring a slew of stunning remixes from the likes of Tritonal, Heatbeat and Santerna, the track features the haunting vocals of San Francisco songstress 'essence'. By the way, a free download of the full lyric sheet for the 'RSE' album (naturally including 'Lunar Rings'!) is available at www.rainstarseternal.com

Forerunners 'Dragonfly' has received a stellar 'Money Shot' review in DJ Mag: "It's taken longer than we would liked, but Brenden Forerunner's LaBonte has finally come good on a sequel to the formidable 'Lifecycle'. Cut from the same cloth, Dragonfly's dynamic beats & lush, tropical harmonies, culminate with spellbinding, celestial main-line. Stan Void's mix builds well on the original's themes, but it's Ilya Malyuev who ulimately tips those Money-Shot's scales. His labyrinthine prog-staged number captivates with an intoxicating sound-bank of wistful effects and studio wizardry. 5/5"

Tiesto has put considerable weight behind Stan Void's 'Transiense' (SLRS025). The track has has also been receiving spins from Ferry Corsten, Armin van Buuren and Above & Beyond on their respective radio shows. Limited edition pre-release LCDs are available now in our shop.