Kevin de Vries

Paul Kalkbrenner's 2008 film Berlin Calling turned a teenager from a small town outside Cologne into a techno producer. Kevin de Vries watched it around age sixteen, and something clicked. "The music in that film went straight into my body, like goosebumps," he told Beatportal. He moved to Berlin and released his debut EP, A Journey Through Life, on Complexed Records in November 2015. Within a year, his track "Eternity" landed on Adam Beyer's Drumcode label, immediately placing him among Berlin's most talked-about newcomers.

De Vries built momentum quickly. His 2018 EP Meraki on Sven Vath's Cocoon Recordings paired his own trance-inflected techno with a collaboration alongside New York-based producer Weska. That same year, he connected with Tale Of Us, the duo behind the Afterlife label. They began playing his tracks, invited him onto the roster, and he has been a core Afterlife artist ever since. The relationship gave him both a global touring platform and a creative home that matched his melodic, emotionally charged production style.

In 2020, de Vries took on a career-defining remix: Chicane's 1999 trance anthem "Saltwater," featuring Moya Brennan. Released on Armada, his version threaded the original's haunting vocals through a driving techno framework. Tale Of Us, Kolsch, and Mind Against all picked it up, and it became a staple in sets across the melodic techno circuit. The remix crystallized what de Vries does best: bridging the emotional pull of trance with the weight and rhythm of techno.

His 2022 single "Dance With Me" on Afterlife pushed him further. Built around a hypnotic vocal loop, punchy drums, and layered synths, the track drew support from David Guetta and Adam Beyer and accumulated millions of streams. A Kolsch remix extended the record's reach even further. The following year, he debuted on the Tomorrowland Music imprint with "Pegasus," a track he had been using as his closing song throughout 2022 before finally releasing it in March 2023.

De Vries has performed at Coachella, Tomorrowland (including mainstage sets in 2024 and 2025), Time Warp, Awakenings, and EDC Las Vegas, as well as clubs like Hi Ibiza, Space Miami, and Brooklyn Mirage. His catalog spans releases on Drumcode, Cocoon, Afterlife, Armada, and Tomorrowland Music.