Fans “Deserve More Than A Top 10 Dance Chart Set Played From A USB Stick,” Says Paul Van Dyk In His Announcement Of The Genre-Blending VENTURE X Project

Although Paul van Dyk is most known for his trance music, his talents and interests go far beyond the genre. He is now showing how far.

The German pioneer is forgoing genre purity with his new VENTURE X project in favour of performing whatever music he deems to sound best. On an upcoming tour, van Dyk will combine progressive, trance, and techno.


Van Dyk tells Billboard, “I try to be attentive and open-minded about new sounds, musicians, and labels – always have.” Different facets of music, its subgenres, and its sonic nuances have always been present in my performances. I take this strategy a step further with VENTURE X; the set will define itself.

On February 17, the first of these VENTURE X performances will take place in Toronto. The tour will also stop in New York City, Montreal, Pontiac, Denver, Portland, San Francisco, and Austin. Van Dyk wants to “satisfy audiences in a level they didn’t know was possible” while on the road. I do think that fans of electronic music deserve better than a collection of the top 10 dance charts played from a USB drive.


Van Dyk’s setup for the tour will include instruments, computers, and sequencers. Because everything is essentially live programmed and played, the system “enables me to reach the correct degree of energy at any given moment throughout the concert.” He also has “no anxiety that genre purists would be alienated, rather the reverse in fact, despite the fact that certain fans can be abrasive about blending sounds. My objective as a DJ is to present you to the excellent music that is out there. At least, it is how I see it. I would otherwise feel like a jukebox.

Van Dyk, a musician for three decades, observes that genre names, sounds, and meanings constantly alter so that they hardly matter at all. Techno was the name given to all electronic music when I first started DJing. What would now likely be referred to as melodic techno was progressive house twenty years ago. On Drumcode, there are some incredible releases that would fit right in with the trance genre, and sometimes what’s referred to as techno feels more like chill out to me.

Today also sees the release of VENTURE X’s call to arms song, which does not fit neatly into any particular genre (Jan. 27.) It features Christian Schottstaedt and Weekend Heroes, a progressive house combo, working with van Dyk to create a gloomy journey of a track that acts as the project’s thesis.

Van Dyk says, “I enjoy the proggy, deeper music, but with a harsher approach.” Making this song “feels incredibly organic and natural,”

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