Sound Check — Geoff Carter: Van Dyk is ‘Out There and Back’ with his new CD

Friday, Aug. 18, 2000 | 9:26 a.m.

Geoff Carter's music column appears Fridays. Reach him at carter@ vegas.com

Let's cast this in terms that the rockin' man can easily understand. If this recent burst of invention in the realm of techno and trance music had taken place in the progressive rock movement of the 1970s, Sasha would be the King Crimson, Ferry Corsten the Pink Floyd and Paul Van Dyk the ... actually, I don't know which progressive rock band Paul Van Dyk would be. It's a stupid comparison; forget I ever made it.

Anyway, German producer and DJ Van Dyk is one of the world's top touring DJs, often mentioned in the same awed breath with Sasha, John Digweed, Paul Oakenfold and Pete Tong. It's a tough crowd to run with -- even non-technophiles are beginning to learn their names -- and Van Dyk proves more than worthy of inclusion with his new CD "Out There and Back" It plays like a benchmark, something the other DJs will strive to match and use liberally in their globetrotting sets.

In a way, it already is a DJ's set. Every track on "Out There and Back" segues into the next; Van Dyk takes pains to match every beat, so the album rises and recedes like the tides. The spacey beats of "Vega" become the straight-up disco bump of "Pikes," then the trance anthem "Another Way" -- and the listener won't notice the change until a good minute after it's taken place.

He's got some good stuff to mix with, too. "Another Way" is, actually, quite beautiful: it puts the listener in mind of the Ibiza beaches where the track is almost certainly playing right now. "Travelling" (sic) cuts through the atmosphere faster than radio waves, recalling Giorgio Moroder's acclaimed score to "Midnight Express." The title track bubbles and pops with irresistible energy; it promotes instant activity, doing anything from dancing at your desk to breathlessly running an impulsive mile.

In a perfect world, "Out There and Back" could even spurn a radio smash. "Tell Me Why (The Riddle)," featuring vocals by Saint Etienne's Sarah Cracknell, is as perfect a specimen of Now Disco as you're likely to hear out of Madonna, without the portentousness the title implies. It is breezy, light and gorgeous.

The true single mix of "Tell Me Why" appears on "Out There and Back's" second disc, a disc of remixes and bonus tracks that also includes two videos playable on your PC. One of them, "Another Way" finds the DJ pensively awaiting a phone call that never comes; he stalks around his apartment, looking like a young, angst-ridden Nicolas Cage.

Hey, that works. Think of "Out There and Back" as Van Dyk's "Moonstruck" -- the first real glimpse of the invention Van Dyk's got up his sleeves. Yeah, that's better than the progressive rock analogy. As it did to young Cage, the wake-up call has come to Paul Van Dyk, and he's answered it with full-hearted enthusiasm and unwavering skill.