THE ESSENCE

Album ∙ Dance ∙ 2025

Paul Kalkbrenner

It doesn’t take long to realise what Paul Kalkbrenner’s THE ESSENCE is about. As soon as opening track “NINETY – TWO” kicks in, with its evocative piano sequence, beat and soulful vocal, memories of ’90s British rave culture come flooding back. Kalkbrenner is aware of the legacy of the music he plays and, as one of dance’s driving forces now, that he’s repeatedly giving it crucial updates. What is the essence of this work? “For me, it’s about honesty,” Kalkbrenner tells Apple Music. “I try to make music that feels real—without tricks.”

Created over a span of several years, THE ESSENCE distills the best from the genre, blended with the peaks of his own musical biography—skilfully weaving together expansive structures, classic techno and sounds rooted in ’80s electro-pop. “DREAMING ON”, with its Depeche Mode sample, points most clearly in this direction. But none of the tracks are purely retrospective, as a line from “KLETTERMAXE” makes clear: “I don’t stand still, I always keep going / I always climb higher on the career ladder.”

Kalkbrenner started as a DJ in the late 1990s and made his name with releases on BPitch Control, one of the most important techno labels of the time. In 2008, he not only took on the lead role in the dance-culture-themed dramedy Berlin Calling but also contributed the soundtrack, which brought his music to the mainstream. Besides reaching the heights of the album charts, he’s DJed at the iconic Brandenburg Gate and even as far afield as Afghanistan.

THE ESSENCE shows that he has not lost his sense of adventure. The driving and idiosyncratic techno track “SPIGITO BITE” stands next to “QUE CE SOIT CLAIR”, a piece that features a turn from Belgian singer-rapper Stromae with an unusually percussive groove. “I made a remix of [Stromae's track] ‘Te Quiero’ some time ago and sent him the instrumental,” Kalkbrenner says. “A few days later he sent me back the vocals—and they were absolutely spot on. I especially like that they are somewhere between singing, speaking and rap.”

The album underlines that this propensity to experiment is Kalkbrenner’s core brand. Perhaps the most beautiful example of this is in “CRONITIS BOY”, where an Eastern pop melody floats over a finely pulsating beat, evoking a big, wide world. At the same time, it sounds like a night on the floor in Berlin as only he can do it.

And what follows THE ESSENCE? “Playing shows, making music, staying curious,” Kalkbrenner says. “The rest will take care of itself.” The most important aspect to his work, he says—whether performing live or on record—is the right flow: “You have to take people with you without pushing them. If they forget the time, it has worked.”