Paul Kalkbrenner
Parts of Life

It's hard to imagine a techno-house dj-producer becoming a pop icon, yet Paul Kalbrenner seems to have achieved just that. He has earned all his success right from the start, album after album, constantly pursuing his musical vision and definitively exploding in 2008 with the film 'Berlin Calling,' signing a memorable soundtrack that became a timeless cult thanks to tracks like 'Sky and Sand' and 'Aaron.' Not to mention his dj-sets, true concerts, where Paul pours all his energy and passion for music onto the console.

In 2018, he released his latest album (so far) titled 'Parts of Life,' which compiles a series of tracks produced during his career between various projects and previously unreleased. After collaborating with Sony, which led to the 2015 release of the album '7,' in my opinion a good work but a bit too commercial, PK in this latest release seems to want to go back to his roots, baring himself and showing us his musical vision. The 15 techno-house tracks in the album do not belong to the category of repetitive and pounding tracks à la Hawtin, which after a while become tiresome and hard to bear for a sane mind, but are simple and immediate tracks, almost banal, that could even be played over the speakers in a dentist's waiting room. And this is where PK's skill lies, making an obscure genre accessible and not always appreciated by the masses. His touch is recognizable in all his tracks, where powerful and fluid melodies always intertwine beautifully with choruses composed of almost always 'cheeky' vocal tracks. It seems easy, yet he's the only one who does it so well.

An album worth listening to, composed of some excellent tracks and others a bit less successful, but in any case, an excellent travel companion, especially when you're going through a 'no' period and want the boost that only the music of good Paul can convey.