The first review on i:Vibes this year goes back to the one just gone with Paul van Dyk's yearly annual of the very best in electronic dance music featured on his weekly VONYC Sessions...

If you’re looking to find out the very best in dance music each and every week you should be making Paul van Dyk's VONYC Sessions an essential listen. Paul van Dyk is a global dance icon, a man who a decade ago helped push Trance music into the limelight and has pushed the sound into what it is today. He's not just Trance though and never has been, its why he likes to be know as an electronic music artists. Paul is not restricted by just one style of dance music and his weekly VONYC Sessions is proof of that. Each week he looks across the electronic minefield and invites an artist to explode their tunes on his show as well as picking out his current favourites. It makes a very diverse radio show with Trance, House, Techno, Minimal, Breaks and more or less every style in between covered. Last year he decided to bring the VONYC Session into compilation form and its back this year compiling the very best of 2010.

RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW!
CATNO: VAN2018D

DISC ONE

1. Hannah - I Believe In You (Ali Wilson & Tristan Ingram Full Fire Club Mix)
2. Pryda - Inspiration (Original Mix)
3. Ben Preston feat. Susie - Remember Me (Original Mix)
4. Spencer & Hill - Excuse Me (Dub Mix)
5. Sneijder - Away From Here (Arty Remix)
6. D-Mad - She Gave Happiness (Arty Remix Edit)
7. Plastic Angel - Pascale 2010 (Green & Falkner Remix)
8. Strobe - We Are The Future (Original Mix)
9. Dan Castro - High Tide (Original Mix)
10. STFU - Going Back To My Roots (STFU Mix)
11. EDX - Thrive (EDX's Fe5tival Mix)
12. MEM - Forza (Original Mix)
13. Michael Woods - Dynamik (Original Mix)
14. Tomcraft & Jerome Isma-Ae - Trouble In The Redlight District (Weekend Heroes Remix)
15. Cirez D - Glow (Original Mix)
16. Charlie G & Vandall - Machined (Beltek Remix)

DISC TWO

1. Alpha 9 - Come Home (Original Mix)
2. Yuri Kane - Right Back (Anton Firtich Dub)
3. Mike Shiver vs Fandy - Sique (Ronski Speed Remix)
4. Filo & Peri feat. Audrey Gallagher - This Night (Alex M.O.R.P.H. Remix)
5. DJ's United - Remember Love (Original Mix)
6. Marco V and MoHawk - Zero One (Original Mix) (
7. Orla Feeney - Lesson Learned (Giuseppe Ottaviani Remix)
8. Ernesto vs Bastian - Hyper Globe (Original Mix)
9. Paul van Dyk feat. Sue McLaren - We Come Together (Reverse Radio Edit)
10. Jon O'Bir feat. Fisher - Found A Way (Original Mix)
11. Sly One vs Jurrane - Everything To Me (Giuseppe Ottaviani Remix)
12. Max Graham feat. Ana Criado - Nothing Else Matters (Aly & Fila Remix)
13. Rank 1 vs Jochen Miller - The Great Escape (Original Mix)
14. First State feat. Sarah Howells - Brave (Original Mix)
15. Giuseppe Ottaviani and Walsh & McAuley feat. Emma Lock - Ready (Maarten De Jong Remix)
16. Greg Downey - Global Code (Scot Project Remix)
17. 7 Skies - Sushi (Ben Gold Remix)
18. Mark Eteson & Ben Nicky - Altitude (Giuseppe Ottaviani Remix)
19. Paul van Dyk feat. Johnny McDaid - We Are One (Giuseppe Ottaviani Remix)
20. System F - Out Of The Blue 2010 (Giuseppe Ottaviani Remix)
21. Reverse - Absolute Reality (Original Mix)

Think back to 2009 and what a great compilation the inaugural VONYC Sessions compilation was. The signs are good from the word go for the 2010 edition as it’s been another superb year for fresh new dance music. You might even look at these tracks and think they are obsolete with the amount of new music coming through but a good tune is a good not just for the first week it comes out and everybody hammers it. Good tunes are spread galore over this two disc compilation with Paul offering different directions with each disc.

The first is a mix of the more progressive, house and tech driven records he’s been very fond of this year. From the soft vocal tones of Hannah’s ‘I Believe in You’ to the tough piano laced Dan Castro - High Tide you will find a refreshing spread of sounds across the seamless mix Paul’s put together. There are appearances from his in house VANDIT label artists Strobe and Sneijder along with Cirez D’s best release (arguably) of last year ‘Glow’. The first few tracks lead you into a vocal tone with Ben Preston’s ‘Remember Me’ being the second vocal track out of the first three. He’s an artist who has come along over the past year and one Lange has put faith in on doing the business for his own Lange Recordings label. He’s a talent I’m sure Paul wouldn’t mind welcoming into VANDIT for a release sometime. Strobe’s ‘We Are The Future’ and Dan Castro’s ‘High Tide’ were two particular favourites from last year with the latter having a hint of old school house about it. Even if this first mix is one to warm you up for the first it’s still got that typically banging nature Paul likes with his dance music.

Banging is what the second disc is all about capturing the most energy rich progressive and trance tracks to litter his VONYC Sessions show in 2010. Have a look at the tracklist and you will not have a problem recognising any of the artists on this mix. From the established trance artists like Rank 1, Max Graham, Giuseppe Ottaviani, First State and System F to the new breed of producers like Orla Freeney, Greg Downey and Reverse. He’s really spread the styles nicely in here with a smooth blend of the more progressive melodic tones of Alpha 9’s ‘Come Home’ to the non stop banging beats of Greg Downey’s ‘Global Code’, for which he drops in Scot Project’s mix. Scot’s a producer who has been around years but is always reinventing his sound and coming up with track titles these days that expand to just more than one letter! It’s a safe bet to find that Italian Giuseppe Ottaviani’;s remixes and tracks featuring in Paul’s mixes, not only is he a massive supporter of his music he’s given Giuseppe a lot of promotion on his VANDIT label in recent years since he became a solo producer. One of the most emotional vocal pieces is the mesmerising ‘This Night’ from FIlo & Peri featuring the vocal tones of Audrey Gallagher and remixed into an euphoric beauty by Alex M.O.R.P.H. It’s good to see a Ben Gold remix in here, he’s a producer doing some good things at the moment and his remix of 7 Skies ‘Sushi’ is prime example of that. The second disc is what you would expect Paul to be pumping out at 3AM peak set in the club and has a selection of tracks not just warmed over the airwaves of VONYC Sessions but also club systems the globe over.

Conclusion:
With this release already been in the open for a week or so now I don’t think you need me to tell you to buy it because the probability is you already have. Paul’s VONYC Sessions compilation is the very best if electronic dance music and a nice reminder of records that grasped your attention and emotions in 2010. Quite simply a superb release you should really get.