Known to fanatics and followers as the High Duke of Dance or simply PVD, professional party starter Paul Van Dyk (born Matthias Paul) is a total beat-freaking legend.
Over the past two decades, he has uhntz-uhtnz-ed across the globe, unleashing five stellar slabs of electronic tuneage, Rocking the Vote with Bono, and using the power of EDM to "Make Peace, Not War." He's won DJ Mag's Top 100 DJs poll — twice. He's been named "Leader of the Trance Nation." He's even been saluted for his superior social media skills, seizing 40th place in Rolling Stone's exhaustive survey "The 50 Top Tweeters in Music." And now Van Dyk is dropping his sixth studio record, Evolution, with an album launch party at Ice Palace Film Studios during Winter Music Conference.
Sharing its title with his laser-blazing, endlessly raving world tour, this new suite of tunes is being hyped as "a document of where Paul is with his own musical evolution after 20 years of making music." Specifically, though, it's a 15-part electro opus packed with collabo tracks. On "The Ocean," Van Dyk and Russian producer Arty go surfing on synths, while Owl City mastermind Adam Young slips into a vocal trance with "Eternity," and PVD soundtracks some dark summer on "Verano" with Miami-based producer Austin Leeds.
Now available for free download via paulvandyk.com, "Verano" is a strangely shimmering scorcher. "There's a sunny Miami bass vibe to it," Van Dyk says, "and I'm coming more from the darker, Berlin underground side, and when [Austin and I] work together, you find both sides there, but not in a separate way. It belongs together."
Officially, Evolution is set to be released March 20 through Van Dyk's Vandit label. But not until four days later will PVD hit the 305 to host his WMC bash. Yet even with a 96-hour time lag between drop date and public celebration, Van Dyk plans to stay totally stoked, tweeting, "Miami! Get ready for my EVOLUTION album launch party at the Ice Palace on the 24th of March!"
So c'mon, beat freaks, fanatics, and PVD followers — start uhntz-uhntz-ing and don't stop till Evolution drops. The High Duke of Dance (and Planet Earth's 40th top musical tweeter) wants to party with you.
