Armin van Buuren plans “very different” album for May 2013

(Inthemix) “It’s the best thing about my job,” Armin van Buuren quipped when asked by DJ Mag about the album-making process. The interview in DJ Mag’s current issue, which follows the Dutchman’s reclaiming of the #1 spot in the Top 100 DJs poll, touches on the follow-up to 2010’s Mirage. The pop-trance route of that album – which saw him collaborating with songwriter Guy Chambers, responsible for penning hits for the likes of Robbie Williams – proved divisive with fans.

In the DJ Mag interview, Armin reveals the follow-up is about 70-percent done, with a projected release date of May 2013. When inthemix heard him speak at the Amsterdam Dance Event last month, he jokingly claimed that his manager has served him a strict deadline of having the studio work completed by the end of January. “I’m really curious how my fans are going to react because it’s very different,” he told DJ Mag. “There are a few more safe tracks, and I’ve been road-testing a few of the more trance-y tracks off the new album, but making an artist album always allows you to experiment a little bit more.”

At ADE, Armin expanded on the tricky balance of fans’ expectations. “I can’t please everybody; you can never please 100-percent,” Armin told the audience. “First and foremost, I have a responsibility towards myself as an artist, to be who I am. The feedback that people sometimes give me is, ‘This is not you, Armin’. Yes, this is me, and you have to learn to accept that. I’m growing, and my musical representation is changing. I grow older, and I become drawn to different musical styles, this is a normal thing. If you don’t like it, you can switch it off. You don’t have to like Armin van Buuren.”

Also looming on the trance don’s agenda is the A State Of Trance 600 celebration. The world tour will be swinging close to Australia, with ASOT 600 taking over the first night of Future Music Festivalin Kuala Lumpur. Armin and co. will headline Friday 15 March, while The Prodigy, Feed Me, Bloc Party, Kill The Noise and more lead the next night. Super-fans might want to start investigating flights.