AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS (Top40 Charts/ Armada Music) The last 365 days have formed a year to remember for electronic music artisan Paul van Dyk. Inside that time he completed production on his long awaited, corner-turning sixth album, which in turn unlocked a new trove of PvD music. These he's used to power his extraordinary globe-spanning EVOLUTION stage performances and, of course, his now iconic radio show, VONYC Sessions.
This December van Dyk will leave his final musical mark on the year, with the release of the fourth instalment of the radio broadcast's mix annual. Featuring the cream of the audio it championed over the last 12 months, it includes tracks from Cosmic Gate, Orjan Nilsen, Tritonal, Judge Jules and of course much from the master himself… This is the year that was. This is 'VONYC Sessions 2012'.
(Forthcoming through VANDIT Recordings, December 14th 2012)
'Life is busy for all of us. Whatever we do, there's seldom enough chance to think about what happened last month, let alone a whole year. For me the annual 'VONYC Sessions' provides that rarest of opportunities - a moment to look back and relive some truly great memories through the power of its best music. I hope you enjoy listening as much as enjoyed compiling and mixing it!' - Paul van Dyk, Berlin, November 2012.
Week by week, over the last 52, the playlists of VONYC Sessions have built up a picture of another boundary-breaking, standout year of electronic dance music. To encapsulate it van Dyk has draw together the tracks that have generated the most heat on his floors, the most buzz on VONYC Sessions Show and fashioned them into a pair of thrilling, year-honouring mixes.
Heading straight into the thick of the action, Disc One lines up the punch-packing drum structure of Orjan Nilsen's 'Endymion', Lisa Lashes' tech-threat 'The Bends' and Protoculture's crowd-wowing 'Cobalt'. Working the mix in masterful peaks and drops, he tempers its tone with the stargazing sounds of Ost & Meyer's 'Safari' and the celestial-ism of Starshifters' 'Driveby'. As you'd expect from the double disc compilation, it draws plenty of resource from VANDIT Recordings' class of 2012. In and amongst them are the razor-sharp synths of Judge Jules 'The Attack', (cited by Paul as his 'favourite track of 2012'), Maarten de Jong's blood-pumping trancer 'RAW' and Sean Tyas and Giuseppe Ottaviani spirited, elevating 'Arcobaleno'.
Naturally with the release of 'EVOLUTION' - his first artist album year in five years - the VONYC Sessions' tracklists have been supremely stocked with PvD's own material. From the castaway beauty of 'The Ocean', to the unstoppably uplifting 'Eternity', its tracks thread the two mixes. The endemic, from-Miami-to-Ibiza EDM of 'Verano' (here in its 'Such A Feeling' vocal form) to the vocal ache of Plumb's 'I Don't Deserve You' and the lovers lament of Mix-2 close-out 'Lost In Berlin, they soundtrack an incredible year.
With 'Stone Pony', VANDIT's latest hot-pick signing Las Salinas' strike an early harmonic note for the second of 'VONYC Sessions 2012's discs. With its low-slung bass, whip-cracking FX and tight percussive loops, the Israeli duo provides a progressive induction to the mix. PvD fully ignites its engines, bringing in the vocal reach of JES (on Cosmic Gate 'Flying Blind'); channels trancestep with Tritonal's 'Slave' and makes room for more melodic vistas with Jaco's epic 'Malaysia'. The breakbeat/dubstep breakdown and killer vocal hook of Jules and Dale Corderoy club rocker 'Give Me A Reason' charges the mid-section, whilst at its summit, the poignant vocals of Amba Shepherd on Giuseppe Ottaviani 'Lost For Words' finally splits this 'Session's atom.
Over 31 tracks PvD picks out the brightest track stars in 2012's musical galaxy and recalls the year that was. The ultimate Christmas gift for EDMophiles the world over, it's available through all good musical retailors on December 14th.
TRACKLISTING VONYC SESSIONS 2012
CD 1
1. Paul van Dyk ft. Plumb - I Don't Deserve You (Remix Mashup - Seven Lions Remix + Maor Levi & Bluestone Remix + Original Extended)
2. Manuel De La Mare & Alex Kenji - Acid as 303 (Original Club Mix)
3. Orjan Nilsen - Endymion (Original Mix)
4. Maarten de Jong - Raw (Original Mix)
5. Lisa Lashes - The Bends (Heatbeat Remix)
6. Sean Tyas & Giuseppe Ottaviani ?]Arcobaleno (Classic Mix)
7. Ost & Meyer - Safari (Original Mix)
8. Andrew Bayer & Matt Lange ft. Kerry Leva - In And Out Of Phase (Original Mix)
9. Jerome Isma?]ae ft. Zoo Army - My Breath Has Been Taken (Instrumental Mix)
10. Judge Jules - The Attack (Original Mix)
11. F.L.X. - Initiation (Original Mix)
12. Dave Silcox & Matt Nash ft. Chris Warne - Change My World (Original Mix)
13. Paul van Dyk ft. Adam Young - Eternity (Paul van Dyk & Alex M.O.R.P.H. Club Mix)
14. Protoculture - Cobalt (Original Mix)
15. Suncatcher & Mihai M pres. Starshifters - Driveby (Original Mix)
CD2
1. Forgotten ft. Blackfeel White - Earth (Abstract Vision & Elite Electronic Dub Mix)
2. Cosmic Gate & JES - Flying Blind (Tom Fall Remix)
3. Egorythm & Marsbeing - Inhale (Original Mix)
4. Paul van Dyk ft. Austin Leeds & Elijah King - Such A Feeling (Alex M.O.R.P.H. Remix)
5. Las Salinas - Stone Pony (Original Mix)
6. Sequentia & Jaco - Crossfire (Original Mix)
7. Genix - Moments (Original Mix)
8. Tritonal - Slave (Ben Gold Club Dub)
9. Corderoy & Judge Jules - Give Me A Reason (Original Mix)
10. Nitrous Oxide - Tiburon (Original Mix)
11. Noah Neiman - They Have Laser Eyes (Original Mix)
12. Jaco - Malaysia (Original Mix)
13. Stonevalley ft. Shannon Hurley - Something To Say (Johan Malmgren Dub Remix)
14. Giuseppe Ottaviani ft. Amba Shepherd - Lost For Words (Club Mix)
15. Paul van Dyk ft. Arty ?]The Ocean (Las Salinas Remix)
16. Paul van Dyk ft. Michelle Leonard - Lost In Berlin (Giuseppe Ottaviani Remix)
