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Paul Kalkbrenner

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Paul Kalkbrenner is a German electronic music producer, born in 1977. He grew up in Lichtenberg, in the former East Berlin. When the Wall came down he was thirteen. Soon afterwards he was playing records in Berlin youth clubs, despite his mother's evening curfew. With his school friend Sascha Funke he immersed himself in techno between 1992 and 1997. They admired Underground Resistance from Detroit and visited clubs such as E-Werk, Planet and Walfisch. At school Kalkbrenner also learned to play the trumpet and music theory.

Music and breakthrough

In 1999 his first work appeared on Ellen Allien's label BPitch Control, under the name Paul dB+. His albums Superimpose and Zeit came out in 2001. With Self in 2004, his music, which is melodic and full of big emotions, took on a narrative line. Gebrünn Gebrünn became a crossover hit. In 2008 he left BPitch Control on good terms. The director Hannes Stöhr asked him to make the music for Berlin Calling, a film about a Berlin DJ, and Kalkbrenner also played the lead role, Ickarus. The track Sky and Sand from the soundtrack became his best-known single and reached high positions in, among other places, Belgium and Germany.

Influence

Because he builds his tracks in separate parts and reassembles them on stage, Kalkbrenner is regarded as a live act rather than a DJ. Later came, among others, Icke wieder (2011), Guten Tag (2012) and Parts of Life (2018). He shows that techno from the Berlin clubs could also carry a large audience and a film.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Sky and Sand. Notice how the beat and the synthesizer line build up slowly and how a singing voice only joins later in the track.

Discography

Studio albums

See also

Categories: ArtistsBerlin techno