New York, NY (Top40 Charts) A decade and a half since its first instalment and 10 years since its last outing, PAUL VAN DYK officially returns on May 4 with The Politics of Dancing 3 for Ultra Music. In nature and composition, the third Politics migrates from its former role as a various artists-style mix-comp, pivoting to become the seventh artist album from the Grammy nominated producer, DJ and electronic music bastion. It is available for pre-order now at https://smarturl.it/PoliticsOfDancing3.
Bringing the album to fruition has seen VAN DYK share studio time with 23 other producers, singers and songwriters. The result is an album that at once retains the musical frequency of the first Politics and emphatically plants the series' feet in a new decade. The Politics Of Dancing 3 contains the Beatport chart-topping singles "Come With Me," "Only In A Dream," "
Guardian" and "Louder," along with 10 other striking new-gen productions. Among PAUL VAN DYK's collaborators are established studiologists like Ummet Ozcan, Aly & Fila,
Roger Shah and
Giuseppe Ottaviani, singers/songwriters including Sue McLaren, Betsie Larkin, Tricia McTeague and
Fisher and fast-ascending newer production blood, including Genix, Jordan Suckley, Las Salinas and Mark Eteson.
It reflects the quantum change in dance music's fabric since The Politics of Dancing 2's release in 2005. VAN DYK elaborates, "So many things have changed within the music industry since the last 'Politics.' The way we make and produce music, how we release music and, of course, how we all consume it. That's natural. That's evolution. The third 'Politics Of Dancing' though needed to address that and have a different approach to the first two. The answer in how to do that lays in musical cooperation & artistic collaboration. To me, making music is one of the most stimulating, fun and fulfilling things to do in this world," he continues. "Doing it with friends and people you admire makes it that much more enjoyable still. So, maybe a little later than people might have anticipated…'Politics 3' has come to life."
The door to The Politics of Dancing 3 is opened with a vocal triumvirate. The pacific refrains of "Heart Like An Ocean" and the entrancing "
Lights" bring the first of two album performances from Tricia McTeague and vocal muse Sue McLaren. "
My World" meanwhile features the Nordic inflexion of Jahala, with co-production work from VANDIT's FKN and FSOE's Mohamed Ragab. "Around The Garden" from Algerian greenhorn Mino Safy provides a rarer-these-days opportunity to hear VAN DYK at his full locomotive remix best.
The politics of 'Politics': The 'Politics' referred to in the albums' titles are, in van Dyk's words, "those of the diplomatic kind". In Ibiza, early in his career, Paul watched his "Palestinian and Lebanese friends dancing side-by-side with Israeli friends - without war, without anything in their minds other than treating each other respectfully. In 2015 the need for these 'politics of dancing', for a form of 'dancefloor diplomacy' are even greater than it was in 2001. In a very small, personal aspect you see what sort of potential this (electronic) music has for bringing people together. In my life I've never seen any force that's had a greater unifying effect. Getting people together is the always the first step towards reconciliation. I have a hope that, in ways small and maybe even large, this new 'Politics of Dancing' music will edge us a step closer to that".
"If we only look back then we'll never know" is the message of the Patrick Droney-sung "What We're Livin' For" - PvD and Michael Tsukerman's effervescent production framing it as a summer festival monster-in-the-making. "
In Your Arms" marks the third PvD track in succession that's featured
Giuseppe Ottaviani as a co-producer. With "a hopeful sadness" vocal courtesy of Fisher, VAN DYK and the Italian trance virtuoso stir The Politics… waters deep. The We Are One's festival anthem "Come With Me," produced alongside Ummet Ozcan made a big splash in the summer of 2014. Having already drawn high praise from the UK's Mixmag magazine ("natural note arrangements, straight-to-the-heart-pianos and a lightning strike of a riff - 9/10"), on its release it claimed a Beatport's #1 spot for 10 days straight.
Featuring trance pharaohs Aly & Fila, "
Guardian" marks the album midpoint. Per DJ Mag, "a surprising, listen-without-prejudice, (9.5/10) milestone", its heartfelt paean-song touched dance floors and download charts the world over early in 2015. VANDIT Records regulars Las Salinas join PvD mixing up aquiline and pitch-bent synths on "Love Is," while singer Betsie Larkin sears in its vocal ether. "
For You" and "City of Sound" meanwhile brings VAN DYK together for the first time with the axiomatically hot U.K, producers Genix and Jordan Suckley. Alongside fellow Germans Stoneface & Terminal, there's an avant-garde interspace between "
Follow Me"'s churned 303 and analogue-styled synths.
The sound of The Politics of Dancing 3:"The third Politics of Dancing's sound is, to me more about what I'm about than the first two albums even. With them, I took music from other people and mixed, remixed and articulated it into the releases. Now we're talking about tracks that I've written and co-written with other artists. So this is pretty much my idea of what electronic music should sound like now. 'Politics' is almost like a 'sound dictionary' of where I'm at musically. For me it continues the theme/thread of the first two, whilst acknowledging the passage of time between the then and the now." - Paul van Dyk
The Politics Of Dancing 3 reaches its emotional crescendo with the stunning "Only In A Dream" ("Captivating melodies - this one could run & run!" said DJ Mag), as VAN DYK provides aegis to neophyte producers Jessus and Adham Ashraf. Perhaps the longest-discussed collaboration of all of all the album's productions is also its closeout. It finds VAN DYK co-writing with Balearic producer
Roger Shah, as Daphne Khoo lends "
Louder" its summer-yearning, high-on-life zeal. The "
Louder" remix package featuring remixes by Marteen Dejong,
Gordon John,
Myron &
Shane 54 and more is out today (March 16). Find them here: https://btprt.dj/1MFHz9p.
Look for PAUL VAN DYK to tour the U.S. this spring in support of The Politcs of Dancing 3. This month (March), he'll pass through Salt Lake City, Boston, Novi, Michigan, Bernallilo, NM and Miami, where he will headline the A
State Of Trance stage at Ultra
Music Festival as well as appear at Space. In May, around the release of the album, he'll return stateside again for shows in Denver, Costa Mesa, CA, Atlanta, Austin,
Houston and
Chicago for the
Spring Awakening music festival. See below for the routing.
The Politics of Dancing 3 Tracklist:
01: Paul van Dyk and Mark Eteson feat Tricia McTeague -
Heart Like An Ocean
02: Paul van Dyk feat Sue McLaren - Lights
03: Paul van Dyk, FKN and Mohamed Ragab feat. Jahala - My World
04: Mino Safy Around The Garden - Paul van Dyk Remix
05: Paul van Dyk and Michael Tsukerman feat Patrick Droney - What We're Livin For
06: Paul van Dyk and
Giuseppe Ottaviani feat
Fisher - In Your Arms
07: Paul van Dyk and Ummet Ozcan - Come With Me (We Are One) (Paul van Dyk Festival Mix)
08: Paul van Dyk and Aly & Fila feat Sue McLaren - Guardian
09: Paul van Dyk and Las Salinas feat. Betsie Larkin - Love Is
10: Paul van Dyk and Genix - For You
11: Paul van Dyk and Stoneface & Terminal - Follow Me
12: Paul van Dyk and Jordan Suckley - City Of Sound
13: Paul van Dyk, Jessus and Adham Ashraf feat Tricia McTeague - Only In A
Dream (PvD Club Mix)
14: Paul van Dyk and
Roger Shah feat Daphne Khoo - Louder (PvD vs Ben Nicky Remix)
PAUL VAN DYK on tour:
Wed - 3/18 - Salt Lake City - Area 51
Thu - 3/19 -
Boston - Royale
Fri - 3/20 - Novi, MI - Mynt
Sat - 3/21 - Bernalillo, NM - The Stage at The Star
Fri - 3/27 - Miami - Space
Sat - 3/28 - Miami - The Musette Yacht
Sun - 3/29 - Miami - Ultra
Music Festival @ Bayfront Park
Fri - 5/8 - Denver - The Church
Thu - 5/14 - Costa Mesa, CA - Sutra
Fri - 5/15 - Atlanta - Opera
Sat - 5/21 - Austin - Vulcan Gas Company
Sun - 5/22 -
Houston -
Stereo Live
Fri - 6/12 -
Chicago -
Spring Awakening @ Soldier Field
Paul van Dyk's album history: Van Dyk has a career-long history of putting out acclaimed long-players. In 1994 the Berlin-based producer released his debut 45 RPM, which was followed by
Seven Ways in 1996 and Out There And Back in 2000. Reflections in 2003 saw him become the first artist to be Grammy nominated in the then-new Best Dance/Electronic Album category. In Between followed in 2007 and EVOLUTION in 2012 saw him personally re-categorize his studio work to the stylistically more inclusive (and straightforward) "electronic music." The album went on achieve significant critical success. It was rated 6/6 by Raveline magazine, who proclaimed "this evolution seems to be almost perfect!" MIXMAG scored the release 9/10, observing that van Dyk had "achieved evolution in both name and nature," while DJ Mag called it "impressive" and "multidimensional." The release was another commercial success for Van Dyk-his albums to date having collectively sold in excess of three million copies.
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