Originally released in 1993, Energy 52’s Café Del Mar is one of the most iconic dance music anthems of all time – few tracks have defined the cultural and emotional impact of club culture like Kid Paul and Cosmic Baby’s trance classic.
Over the years, it’s also seen its fair share of reworks, with Hybrid, Tall Paul, Tale of Us, Ricardo Villalobos, deadmau5, Marco V and Nalin & Kane among those offering their take on the track over the years, not to mention the iconic remix by Three ‘N One, aka André Strässer and Sharam Jey.
Now, close to three decades on from its release, the track is ‘coming home’ in a sense, with the release of two remixes from Paul Van Dyk, a long-standing friend of original producer Kid Paul, and indeed someone who has played a key role in maintaining Café Del Mar‘s enchanting allure over the years.
You can stream/download it here.
In fact, Van Dyk’s first encounter with the track came in the “early 90s”, he tells 909originals. “I was actually in the studio when it was recorded, as it was the same place that we produced The Visions Of Shiva.”
As to why he has decided to take on this remix project now, he adds, “it’s a classic so there is never a wrong time to remix it. Many, including myself, have so many amazing memories with this track, and I hope we will be able to create a few new ones with the new versions.”
The track has been released on Superstition Records, a seminal techno and trance label dating back to 1993, which has lain relatively dormant since the early 2000s – a welcome return. While Van Dyk operates his own imprint, Vandit, he isn’t ruling out working with the label in future. “There is always the possibility for interesting projects,” he says.
The past few years have seen both ups and downs for Van Dyk – in early 2016, he fell through a gap in the stage at the A State Of Trance festival in Utrecht, an accident that led to severe brain and spinal injury. Thankfully he made a full recovery within a few months, and believes this period has reaffirmed his positive outlook on life.
“My inspiration is and was life in general,” he says. “Everything I see and experience somehow ends up in my music. Since the accident my perspective and way of living has changed, so has the way I am inspired.”
The coronavirus lockdown period similarly presented challenges – “it was as hard for me and my team as it was for everyone,” he says – but it did see the release of two notable projects, an ambient album, Escape Reality, followed by Guiding Light, his tenth studio album.
“Escape Reality had been planned for a few years, and Guiding Light was almost finished when we all had to lock down,” he says. “All we did was changing the order of the releases.”
As to whether Escape Reality (which notably featured an ambient reworking of For An Angel) could lead to future ambient projects, Van Dyk adds that he is “always open to interesting projects, but generally my focus is on music that is slightly more energetic.”
Over the past year, he has also been outspoken about the level of support – or lack of it – offered by the German government to the clubbing industry, particularly given the prolonged closure of the entertainment industry.
“There has not been much support for the creative people in the music industry at all,” he explains.
“The German government is simply lacking expertise and a strategy to deal with these situations. Other countries have dealt with this situations far better.”
That said, the easing of lockdown restrictions comes at a welcome time for both Van Dyk and the clubbing industry in general. As he adds, “I hope we will all be able to see friends again and listen and dance to our favourite music.” Hear hear!
Energy 52 – Café Del Mar (Paul Van Dyk remixes) is out now on Superstition Records.