Oblivious To The Scene

Berlin's Paul Kalkbrenner is bringing his full “concert” experience to Australia but, again, he'll be leaving his Berlin Calling alter-ego DJ Ickarus at home. The live muso first visited in early 2011. “We ate fantastic steak,” Kalkbrenner, on tour with Sonar in Denver, recalls in halting English. Many Germans turned out. It was “successful in all manners.” 

This time, Kalkbrenner's show will be on a different scale, despite the relatively intimate venues. “It involves in the first place the inability for people to stand 50 centimetres in front of my desk and scream and touch me, because it's like a bigger thing, that concert,” he says. There are visuals. And Kalkbrenner has his own sound guy. In later years EDM performers have become ever more competitive, minimal hero Richie Hawtin, aka Plastikman, confessing as such. But Kalkbrenner doesn't check out rivals' sets. “No, because I'm one of the few guys who plays this live show like it is for more than a decade.” It is authentic, however. “I saw a show once – I don't wanna say the name, a very big electronic act – and there were 909s not even plugged [in] electronically!”

Kalkbrenner was born in Leipzig, East Germany. The muso was fortunate that the Berlin Wall fell before he was old enough to “ask questions” (he was 13). Nowadays, Communism is “romanticised” – “everything was all fluffy” – when the reality was sinister. Germany reunified, Kalkbrenner revelled in the techno scene. He'd eventually produce his own. Friends with Sascha Funke, Kalkbrenner joined Ellen Allien's BPitch Control stable, issuing several albums from 2001. Kalkbrenner played his music live, being disinterested in DJing – though, he did spin as a teen. Like fellow live practitioner Deadmau5, he's incongruously polled in the DJ Mag Top 100.

Ironically, the sometime TV editor found himself a celebrity when he portrayed the fictional DJ Martin “Ickarus” Karow in Hannes Stöhr's 2008 cult clubbing film Berlin Calling. The director initially contacted Kalkbrenner to compose the soundtrack, but then persuaded him to accept the starring role. Kalkbrenner enjoyed a record-breaking pop hit from the OST in Sky And Sand, sung by his younger brother, “soul boy” Fritz. Distancing himself from Berlin Calling, Kalkbrenner presented a live documentary after a sell-out European tour. Meanwhile, he split with BPitch Control, launching Paul Kalkbrenner Musik. Last year he proffered the resolutely instrumental Icke Wieder.

Kalkbrenner has just released his sixth album, Guten Tag, led by the groovy Das Gezabel. As with his live show, Kalkbrenner has refined, not changed, his approach. Indeed, he considers his music in post-structuralist terms. Kalkbrenner describes his evolution as “like always remixing yourself.” Markus Schulz has suggested that Kalkbrenner produces trance-friendly melodic techno. “Some people even call my music 'stadium techno' – so it always works better in bigger [venues] than in very small clubs,” he responds.

Kalkbrenner remains oblivious to much of what is happening in electronic music. “I'm not a big music listener,” he says. Nor is Kalkbrenner inspired by other techno. “I'd rather stay completely uninfluenced by anything, especially when I make an album.” He admits that this is a “privilege” for a live artist. A DJ must stay abreast. “I think you could name me the most successful 10 record labels in techno of this year – I've never heard of them.” Inspiration is less important than devoting time to his work and drawing on experience. 

Kalkbrenner may have crossed over with Sky... but, a Moby remix aside, pop production doesn't appeal to him. So what if Katy Perry calls? “I probably don't do shit like this,” he laughs. And Kalkbrenner, who reveals that he's had “stupid” offers to play “the crazy, druggy DJ,” has no desire to pursue acting. The early mornings on set were “really challenging,” he rues. He's opposed to the idea of a Berlin Calling sequel. 

Kalkbrenner might be the most idiosyncratic individual in techno today. Tellingly, while recently marrying a DJ, Simina Grigoriu, and with Fritz active in the biz, the thought of further collaborating with either deplores him. He can't “compromise” in the studio. Kalkbrenner has tried in the past with “good friends”. “It ended in a fight after minutes.”

Paul Kalkbrenner will be playing the following dates:

Friday 14 December - Billboard, Melbourne VIC
Saturday 15 December - The Hi-Fi, Sydney NSW