| DJ Sets ::Paul Van Dyk
N0. 5 RATED DJ IN THE WORLD ON THE
DJ LIST
Matthias Paul, better known by his stage
name Paul van Dyk (born December 16, 1971(1971.12-16) in Eisenhüttenstadt,
Brandenburg, German Democratic Republic) is a Grammy Award–nominated
artist, and one of the world's leading electronic dance music
DJs and producers. He was named "World's No.1 DJ"
by DJ Magazine in both 2005 and 2006, and has remained in
the "Top 10" since 1998. As of 2007, he has sold
over 3 million albums worldwide.
A trance producer in the early-late 1990s, Paul quickly achieved
popularity with his famous remix of Love Stimulation by Humate
in 1993, and his hit single, For an Angel, but in recent times
he no longer likes to describe his music as trance, but rather
simply as electronic dance music.
Early Life and Musical Beginning
Paul van Dyk grew up in East Berlin in a single parent household;
his father left him and his mother when he was four years
old. While living there, he worked as broadcast technician
and began training to become a carpenter. Paul van Dyk claims
his musical education came from radio. Because where he grew
up there were no record stores at which to buy music, he kept
in touch with the world beyond the Berlin Wall by secretly
listening to the popular but forbidden Western radio stations
RIAS (Radio in the American Sector) and SFB and mixtapes occasionally
smuggled into the country and copied among school friends.
Shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall, van Dyk and his
mother were given permission to leave East Germany and moved
to Hamburg to live with his aunt. In 1990, van Dyk moved back
to Berlin. His first appearance as a DJ was in the Tresor
in March 1991. After several more dates, he was given the
chance to perform at Juergen Kramer's famous Dubmission parties
in the Turbine club, together with the highly popular young
resident DJ Kid Paul. The shows were called Paul vs. Paul.
His mixing style drew the attention of Cosmic Baby and the
two collaborated as The Visions of Shiva. Their single "Perfect
Day" was released by the renowned Berlin independent
label MFS (Masterminded For Success) Records, run by English
ex-patriat producer Mark Reeder and manager Torsten Jurk.
In February 1993, van Dyk and Kid Paul hosted an installment
of the weekly three-hour "HR3 Clubnight" radio show
perform for a nationwide audience on German radio. The second
and final Visions of Shiva single "How Much Can You Take"
was released, and van Dyk and Cosmic went their separate musical
ways. By late summer, Paul released his first DJ-mix compilation
"X-Mix-1 - the MFS Trip" and remixed Humate's trance
hymn "Love Stimulation".
The growing popularity of the Dubmission parties forced venue
changes, first to Cafe Moskau and then into the larger E-Werk
where van Dyk began hosting regular MFS nights.
1994–2007
In 1994, Paul released The Green Valley EP, Pump This Party
and Emergency 911. Meanwhile, MFS acquired many remixes for
Paul and Reeder's close friendship with artists such as New
Order gave Paul the opportunity to mix the track "Spooky"
from the Republic album. Persuaded by Reeder, he finally recorded
his debut LP 45 RPM with Johnny Klimek and VOOV. Reeder also
compiled the album's running order and design, and chose the
album's title as a reflection of the 45 rpm speed typical
for dance vinyl.
Reeder compiled Seven Ways, which established van Dyk as
a trance pioneer and was van Dyk's first real success in Britain.
Reeder had successfully convinced his old friend Rob Deacon
(formerly of Volume) to license the album for the UK and his
new Deviant label. Seven Ways was voted the #1 album by readers
of DJ Magazine.
In early 1997, Paul van Dyk began collaborating with U.S.
music producer, BT. Together, they produced tracks such as
Flaming June, Forbidden Fruit and Namistai (1999). The singles
"Forbidden Fruit" and "Beautiful Place"
did not cause a great impact at first, but with the release
of Seven Ways and "Words" appearing at the height
of the British superclub phenomenon, van Dyk's own material
began to attract attention. "By the time they realised
I was a German, it was too late!" van Dyk said. Van Dyk
also remixed a well known early.90s track, Age of Love in
1997.
In 1998, 45 RPM was re-released in the UK and in the US.
To mark the event, and in homage to the defunct E-Werk, Paul
released a remix of "For An Angel". Van Dyk took
up a residency at Sheffield's Gatecrasher and declared himself
anti-drugs, which led to home-made "No E, Pure PvD"
T-shirts, also a sly note to journalists that his surname
contained no "E". In 1998, Paul remixed British
trance duo, Binary Finary's famous "1998" single,
which was a successful version that took Binary Finary to
the top of the German Dance charts.
In mid-1998, Van Dyk left MFS Records and took a controlling
share in the new label Vandit Records. In 2000, Paul flexed
his skills with his melodic, dancefloor-friendly Out There
And Back, which included the hit single "Tell Me Why
(The Riddle)", a collaboration with Saint Etienne. It
also included the European hit We Are Alive, a remixed version
of the Jennifer Brown song Alive. His first mix album The
Politics of Dancing (2001) was followed by a world tour and
a DVD release Global (2003) and the Mexican film "Zurdo",
for which van Dyk composed the soundtrack.
Reflections (2003) derived from van Dyk’s trips to
India, was a more melancholy affair, and includes the single
"Nothing But You", a collaboration with Hemmstock
& Jennings. It was nominated for a Grammy in the category
of Best Electronic Album. The mix album The Politics of Dancing
2 (2005) was preceded by a single "The Other Side,"
featuring Wayne Jackson; a song dedicated to the victims,
and their families, of the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake and
the subsequent tsunami that struck Thailand on December 26,
2004.
2007–Present: 'In Between'
Paul van Dyk released his fifth studio album, In Between,
worldwide on August 14, 2007. The album, which he created
over a three-year period, debuted at number #115 on the Billboard
200 and #2 on the Billboard's Top Electronic Albums and Top
Heatseekers. The album also reached #16 on the Mexican Albums
Chart and #5 on the Mexican International Chart. The album
was released accompanied by a special edition limited to two
thousand copies which included a mixed version of the full
album, along with an eight-track bonus CD and an eight-page
photo anthology.
Paul van Dyk in El SalvadorThe album was produced primarily
by Paul van Dyk himself, and features a wide range of collaborators
including David Byrne of Talking Heads, Jessica Sutta of the
Pussycat Dolls, Ashley Tomberlin from Luminary, Alex M.O.R.P.H,
Lo Fi Sugar, Rea Garvey of Reamonn, Ryan Merchant and Wayne
Jackson. It also features a vocal sample from Ben Lost from
Probspot's "Blows My Mind" on the song "Another
Sunday". In June 2007, Paul van Dyk embarked on the worldwide
"In Between Tour" to promote the album.
Paul van Dyk hosts a show on Radio Fritz every Saturday at
20:00 GMT. In his latest[when] gigs, he blurs the line between
DJ'ing and live performance engineering by utilizing two 17"
MacBook Pro laptops sporting Mainstage (Logic 8 Pro) and Ableton
Live software on both, two MIDI keyboards, enabling a more
fully-featured club experience more akin to a concert than
a standard night out at a dance club. On-the-fly
remixes, mashups and compositions are just some of the capabilities
of this new performance method.
In May 2008, Paul van Dyk set up a remix competition with
digital download network Beatport.com, inviting aspiring producers
to remix his single 'Far Away' which appeared on his 2007
album 'In Between'. Paul has recently appeared as one of the
DJs at Trance Energy 2009.
Personal Life
He is married to Natascha van Dyk, who also appears on some
of his releases (vocals on "Together We Will Conquer").
The two were married in Cancún, Mexico.
Politics
Since 2001, Paul has taken an interest in politics. His
creation of The Politics of Dancing compilation was inspired
by electronic dance music's universal acclaim by different
people around the world. "Palestinians are dancing with
Israelis. Lebanese people are dancing with Israelis –
without war, without anything in their minds other than treating
each other respectfully", said van Dyk in 2006. He also
has called EDM "...a political and diplomatic tool that
could be used." Having grown up with little freedom,
his musical career has helped him voice his opinions about
politics. He opposes the Iraq War and the U.S. invasion of
Afghanistan. He describes himself to be anti-war, he showed
his anti-war beliefs in gig in New York, Paul wore a shirt
reading "Make peace, not war" which he said to have
been criticized by a fan.
He took part in to fight poverty, as well as participation
in social programs to help disadvantaged people in India,
New York and Berlin. He also participated in Rock the Vote
in 2004 and 2008, the only non-American artist to join the
campaign and encouraging young people to vote. He also believes
that U.S. foreign policy is an important factor that affects
other nations around the world.
N0. 5 RATED DJ IN THE WORLD ON 
