Paul Kalkbrenner facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Paul Kalkbrenner
Kalkbrenner in 2016
Background information
Also known as	PK Paul dB+ Kalkito Grenade DJ Ickarus Maestro Paulito
Born	(1977-06-11) 11 June 1977 (age 48) Leipzig, East Germany
Genres	Techno ambient techno house electronica
Occupation(s)	Musician producer
Instruments	Turntables keyboards Ableton Live
Years active	1999–present
Labels	Sony Paul Kalkbrenner Musik BPitch Control

Paul Kalkbrenner (born on June 11, 1977) is a German musician and producer. He creates electronic music. Paul is known for performing his music live, rather than just playing other people's songs like a traditional DJ. He takes his own music apart and puts it back together right on stage!

He is famous for his song "Sky and Sand", which sold over 200,000 copies and became a platinum hit. It was very popular in countries like Belgium and Germany. Paul Kalkbrenner is also known for acting in the movie Berlin Calling. He played the main character, Ickarus, in the film. This movie was shown in Berlin for many years.

Paul Kalkbrenner's Early Life

Paul Kalkbrenner grew up in Lichtenberg, a part of Berlin that was in East Germany before the Berlin Wall came down. When the Berlin Wall fell, Paul was only thirteen years old. Around this time, he started playing records for his friends at youth clubs in Berlin.

He met his good friend Sascha Funke at school. They both loved techno music. Between 1992 and 1997, Paul and Sascha spent a lot of time finding and listening to the best techno music. They also listened to a radio show called "Rave Satellite" every Saturday. This helped them learn a lot about the techno music scene.

Paul also learned to play the trumpet and studied music theory in school. He is a big fan of football and supports the team FC Bayern Munich. After spending many nights at dance clubs, Paul dreamed of making his own music. In 1995, when he was eighteen, he worked in television for two years. This job helped him earn money to buy equipment for making music. During this time, Paul and Sascha lived together and started producing music using machines they bought and borrowed. Paul then decided he wanted to perform only his own music live.

Paul Kalkbrenner's Music Career

Starting with BPitch Control

Before Ellen Allien started her record label called BPitch Control, she hosted many parties in Berlin. Paul Kalkbrenner and Sascha Funke met Ellen at one of these parties. She listened to their music and gave them some advice. In 1999, Paul released his first songs on BPitch Control under the name "Paul dB+".

He released two albums, Superimpose (2001) and Zeit (2001). Paul found that he liked releasing full albums best. His music had a strong melody and often showed big emotions, fitting well with dance music. His third album, Self (2004), started to tell a story through its music. A song called "Gebrünn Gebrünn" from 2005 became very popular. Paul released six albums and ten shorter music collections (EPs) with BPitch Control. He left the label in a friendly way in 2008.

The Berlin Calling Movie

After his album Self came out in 2004, a film director from Berlin named Hannes Stöhr contacted Paul. Hannes was a big fan of Paul's work. He asked Paul to create the music for his new movie about a Berlin DJ. As they talked, Hannes realized that Paul would be perfect to star in the movie too!

Paul agreed, and they decided to call the film Berlin Calling. In late 2006, Paul moved to France for six months with Sascha Funke to work on the movie's music. The most famous song from the movie, "Sky and Sand", featured vocals from Paul's own brother, Fritz Kalkbrenner. In 2007, Paul returned to Berlin to film the movie.

Even though the movie was a made-up story, Paul felt a connection to his character, Ickarus. Ickarus was a DJ who was struggling but still had many great musical ideas. Paul's first acting role was very successful, perhaps because he understood the character so well. Ickarus also showed Paul what he didn't want to become in his own life.

After the movie was released in October 2008, the music album became platinum, selling over 200,000 copies. The song "Sky and Sand" was at the top of the music charts for weeks. The movie was first shown at a film festival in Switzerland and became a very popular film in Europe. It even set a record for being shown continuously for the longest time in Germany, playing for over 145 weeks at a cinema in Berlin. The movie was released on DVD in 2009.

Paul Kalkbrenner Musik Label

Kalkbrenner performing live

In 2009, after his Berlin Calling – The Soundtrack album was very successful, Paul decided it was time to leave BPitch Control after ten years. He felt the label couldn't help him grow as an artist anymore. Wanting to do things his own way, Paul started his own music label called Paul Kalkbrenner Musik. This was a place for him to release his own music.

In 2010, Paul went on a big tour with sold-out shows in twelve cities. This tour was filmed by the same team who made Berlin Calling. The film was released as Paul Kalkbrenner 2010 – A Live Documentary. Since starting his label, Paul has released two albums. Icke Wieder (released June 3, 2011) was very popular with other DJs and reached number two on the German music charts. It sold over 100,000 CDs, earning gold status. The tour for this album brought together more than 125,000 fans.

That same summer, Paul visited Ibiza for the first time. He spoke at the International Music Summit and played at a famous club called Amnesia. On August 25, 2012, Paul married Romanian DJ and producer Simina Grigoriu. On November 30, 2012, he released the album Guten Tag. In February 2013, he started a tour in Europe and the U.S. to support the new album. Guten Tag reached number one on the charts in Switzerland.

The Florian Trilogy

In 2015, Paul announced a series of three related music videos called the "Florian Trilogy." These videos were a preview for his album 7, which came out on August 7, 2015. The first video, "Cloud Rider," was released on May 18, 2015. The song used vocals from D Train's "You're the One for Me." The second video, "Mothertrucker," came out on June 12, 2015. The third and final video, "Feed Your Head," was released on July 17, 2015. This song used lyrics from Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit."

Paul explained that the Florian episodes were set in America, where techno music first started. The videos show how a character named Florian helps bring techno music back to America.

Back to the Future Project

In July 2016, Paul Kalkbrenner released a three-part music series called Back To the Future. This project explored how techno music arrived in Berlin in the early 1990s. It was a personal journey for Paul and also a look at the history of music. It showed how this musical style changed Berlin and modern dance music forever.

To create this series, Paul looked through over 5000 songs from 1987 to 1993 on YouTube. He then chose and edited the best parts of these songs, sometimes using just small pieces, to fit his mixes. With over 65 tracks across three volumes, Paul took listeners back to the music he heard as a young boy listening to the East Berlin radio station DT64.

These tracks were given away for free online and were downloaded over 1.5 million times. They also received great reviews from music magazines. Rolling Stone called it a "Viral, techno history lesson," and Billboard magazine described BACK TO THE FUTURE as a "work of historical excavation."

Starting in April 2017, Paul performed a series of "BACK TO THE FUTURE" shows in smaller venues across Europe. For these events, Paul returned to DJing, which is how he started performing as a teenager. All the tickets for this European tour sold out within a week.

Parts of Life Album

On May 18, 2018, Paul Kalkbrenner released his newest album, Parts of Life. This was his eighth album overall. Parts of Life has 15 songs, each named with the file numbers Paul used when he was making them. The album cover is a painting by his uncle, Paul Eisel. It shows a collection of "unique personal objects." Paul released three songs ("Part Three," "Part Six," and "Part Eight") early as a special preview for the album launch.

How Paul Kalkbrenner Makes Music Live

Kalkbrenner performing at SonneMondSterne Festival 2018

When Paul performs live, he uses computer programs called software synthesizers and a music sequencer (Ableton Live). He also uses MIDI controllers, which are devices that help him control the music software. In addition, he uses real music equipment like hardware synthesizers and drum machines. He feels very comfortable with this setup and doesn't plan to change it.

In his early days of making music, Paul used different equipment like a Roland sampler, Amiga computers, and other music devices. However, since 2001, he sold all his old equipment and now only uses Ableton Live to create his music.

Paul Kalkbrenner's Family

Paul Kalkbrenner is the grandson of the East German artist Fritz Eisel. He is also the older brother of another music producer, Fritz Kalkbrenner.

Paul Kalkbrenner's Music List

(some of his work)

Albums

EPs (Extended Plays)

Soundtracks

Singles

Albums

• Superimpose (BPitch Control, 2001)
• Zeit (BPitch Control, 2001)
• Self (BPitch Control, 2004)
• Icke Wieder (Paul Kalkbrenner Musik, 2011)
• Guten Tag (Paul Kalkbrenner Musik, 2012)
• 7 (Sony Music, 2015)
• Parts of Life (Columbia Records / Sony Music, 2018)

Compilation

• X (Paul Kalkbrenner Musik, 2014)

Soundtrack albums

• Berlin Calling: The Soundtrack (BPitch Control, 2008)
• Global Player Soundtrack (with Fritz Kalkbrenner et Florian Appl, Suol, 2013)

Mix album

• Maximalive (Minimaxa, 2005)

Remix album

• Reworks (BPitch Control, 2006)

EPs and singles

• Friedrichshain [as Paul dB+] (BPitch Control, 1999)
• Largesse [as Paul dB+] (Synaptic Waves, 1999)
• Gigahertz [as Paul dB+] (Cadeaux, 2000)
• dB+ (BPitch Control 2000)
• Performance Mode [as Grenade] (Cadeaux, 2001)
• Chromo (BPitch Control, 2001)
• Brennt (BPitch Control, 2002)
• Steinbesser (BPitch Control, 2003)
• F.FWD (BPitch Control, 2003)
• Press On (BPitch Control, 2004)
• Tatü-Tata (BPitch Control, 2005)
• Keule EP (BPitch Control, 2006)
• Altes Kamuffel (BPitch Control, 2007)
• Bingo Bongo (BPitch Control, 2008)
• Sky and Sand (with Fritz Kalkbrenner, BPitch Control, 2009)
• Das Gezabel (Paul Kalkbrenner Musik 2012)
• Der Stabsvörnern (Paul Kalkbrenner Musik, 2012)
• Der Buhold (Paul Kalkbrenner Musik, 2013)
• Cloud Rider (Sony Music, 2015)
• Mothertrucker (Sony Music, 2015)
• Feed Your Head (Sony Music, 2015)
• Part Eleven (Sony Music, 2018)
• Part Three (Sony Music, 2018)
• Part Fourteen (Sony Music, 2018)
• Part Seven (Sony Music, 2018)
• Part Four (Sony Music, 2018)
• Part Twelve (Sony Music, 2018)
• Part Two (Sony Music, 2018)
• Part Ten (Sony Music, 2018)
• Part Five (Sony Music, 2018)
• Part Fifteen (Sony Music, 2018)
• Part One (Sony Music, 2018)
• Part Nine (Sony Music, 2018)
• Part Thirteen (Sony Music, 2018)
• Part Six (Sony Music, 2018)
• Part Eight (Sony Music, 2018)
• No Goodbye (B1 Recordings, 2019)
• Parachute (B1 Recordings, 2020)
• Graf Zahl (B1 Recordings, 2021)

Remixes

• Ellen Allien "Dataromance" (BPitch Control 2001)
• Lexy / Autotune "Shibuya Love" (Jakuza / Low Spirit 2001)
• Die Raketen "The Sound für Zwischendurch" (Freundschaft Musik 2003)
• Sasche Funke "Forms & Shapes" (BPitch Control 2003)
• Agoria "Stereolove" (Different / PIAS 2004)
• Lexy & K-Paul "Happy Zombies" (Low Spirit Recordings 2005)
• Michel de Hey "Snert" (Hey! Records 2006)
• Error Error "Your Everlasting Breath" (Italic 2006)
• Ellen Allien & Apparat "Jet" (BPitch Control 2006)
• Chordian "Closed Eyes" (Soniculture 2007)
• Undo & Vicknoise "Submarino" (Factor City Records 2009)
• Modeselektor "200007" (BPitch Control 2009)
• Michel Cleis ft. Totó La Momposina "La Mezcla" (Strictly Rhythm 2009)
• 2raumwohnung "Wir Werden Sehen" (EMI 2009)
• Stromae "Te Quiero" (Polystar Records 2010)
• Fritz Kalkbrenner "Facing the Sun" (Suol 2010)
• Moby "Wait for Me" (Little Idiot 2010)
• Depeche Mode "Should Be Higher" (Miami Ad School Europe 2013)
• Jefferson Airplane "White Rabbit" (Sony Music 2015)
• Leonard Cohen "You Want It Darker" (Columbia Records 2016)
• NTO "Invisible" (Chapau under exclusive licence to AllPoints 2021)

Paul Kalkbrenner's Films

• Berlin Calling (2008)
• Paul Kalkbrenner 2010 – A Live Documentary (2010)

Awards and Recognitions

DJ Magazine Top 100 DJ Rankings

See also

In Spanish: Paul Kalkbrenner para niños