There’s been much talk among both artists and the media in the last few years concerning an EDM revolution.
The idea has seemingly been confirmed by the increase of electronic sounds in mainstream pop music. However, one of the most respected figures in global electronic dance music for the last two decades, German DJ and producer Paul van Dyk, observes scarce innovation coming from the purported revolutionaries.
“For me, electronic music has always been about breaking the boundaries on the creative side, as much as using the latest technology. If you look at what’s going on with the stuff that’s being called EDM in some parts of the world, that’s not really electronic music anymore. That’s just like the same sounding pop song.”
Evidently van Dyk perceives a major distinction between mainstream EDM and his own career output. “Every single thing that I’ve done actually has an importance to me. For me electronic music is a very intense, very important artform,” he stresses.
Van Dyk’s artistic ambitions have by no means prevented him from gaining popular success. Since emerging in the early ’90s, he’s released six albums of original music, achieving aggregated album sales of over four million. Back in 2003 his fourth LP, ‘Reflections’, was the first nominee in the newly introduced Best Dance/ Electronic Album category at the Grammy Awards.
Van Dyk offers his thoughts on the acts nominated in this category more recently. “To be really honest the only person in the last two, three or four years who was valuable or should have been the winner of the dance music award is the sound designer of the Nexus 2 software synthesizers, because everything comes from that machine. Everybody uses those presets – I mean, everybody who’s in that ‘EDM’ thing.”
Such disparaging opinions about the contemporary EDM proliferation are warranted when you consider van Dyk’s been performing and recording for over 20 years. He remains one of the world’s busiest DJs, however he’s not tiring of his profession. “What I do I’m really passionate about, so it doesn’t feel like a job. It doesn’t feel like as much work as it is,” he says.
“I appreciate every day what I can do. The fact I have such a loyal fan base enables me to see the world and play my favourite music in front of my favourite audience.”
A regular visitor to our shores, van Dyk returns for the Future Music Festival this March. Anyone who has seen van Dyk in the past will be aware that his live shows aren’t a passive undertaking. “I’m not just pressing ‘play’ on a CD player and waiting for the record to be over. There’s so much more that I do all the time that possibly can [go] wrong that gives the whole thing a very intense and a very lively feeling.
“As soon as it was possible to take production elements with me onstage I did that – more than ten years ago. Ever since, my equipment list and all the stuff that I use onstage [has] kept evolving. I have keyboards onstage and a computer and custom-made mixers and controllers. It enables me to actually play live so every set is fairly different – it varies from venue to venue.”
Van Dyk’s stage setup doubles as a mobile studio, which allows him to evade the common barriers against productivity enforced by touring. “I’m trying out things live when I play. I’m trying some riffs and seeing the reaction directly when I play it live. On the last album especially and with [the forthcoming record] ‘Politics Of Dancing 3’ as well, some of those hooks [on] the album actually came up while I was playing live. I let the basic chord play out and I had some drums and then I played a melody on top and I’m just like, ‘Wow, I really like this’. When you are inspired by the moment, directly by your audience – it doesn’t get more direct.”
Written by Augustus Welby
Paul van Dyk plays Future Music Festival
Sat Mar 01 - RNA Showgrounds (Brisbane)Sun Mar 02 - Arena Joondalup Joondalup (Perth)
Sat Mar 08 - Royal Randwick Racecourse Randwick (Sydney)
Sun Mar 09 - Flemington Racecourse (Melbourne)
Mon Mar 10 - Adelaide Showground
