By Jason Randall Smith

Depending on whom you talk to, Paul van Dyk is either the greatest DJ alive or the man responsible for ruining electronic dance music. His fans are sure to be pleased with In Between, an album of epic, arena-style techno that’s dramatic in presentation, simple in structure, and accessible by pop music standards. Nowhere is this more apparent than on “White Lies”, featuring Pussycat Doll Jessica Sutta. If you remember the Traci Lords album, picture that magnified a thousand times, perfectly packaged for mainstream dance radio. Ultimately, the instrumentals are the kinetic energy driving this album. “Sabotage” is a momentum-filled stomp for the clubs and “Another Sunday” is that peak-hour cut veering into trance territory, somewhat darker and more suspenseful. No stranger to dance music collaborations, David Byrne joins van Dyk for the album’s closer, “Fall With Me”. While it’s arguably the album’s best song, Byrne sounds surprisingly average in van Dyk’s world.

In Between won’t change your life, it doesn’t break new ground, and it won’t make the Paul van Dyk haters stop hating. However, if you bring this to the gym with you, it could motivate you to have a kick-ass workout.