TuneLab
Tomorrowland Belgium 2017
Paul Kalkbrenner
There's a specific, shared sigh of relief when the festival chaos subsides and the heads-down, hypnotic pulse of proper melodic techno takes over. Paul Kalkbrenner's 2017 Tomorrowland slot feels like a welcome dose of Berlin minimalism transplanted to the Belgian fields, all hazy smoke and silhouettes against the dying light. The atmosphere is deep and introspective, built on a rock-solid 130 BPM foundation that lets every subtle texture and melodic motif breathe.
The harmonic center is firmly in 12A, giving the entire set a cohesive, slightly melancholic sheen, while the exceptionally low high-energy value (0.038) confirms this is a journey for the mind and feet, not the fists. Our crate-digging instincts are rewarded with the extended, nine-minute sprawl of Kalkbrenner's own 'Sky and Sand', a timeless journey in itself. The inclusion of 'Tibor - Coronita MNML' is a lovely, heads-down percussion loop, and the sly interpolation of 'Kendrick Lamar - Swimming Pools' into a minimal tech framework is the kind of clever edit we live for.
The set builds from the aquatic synths of 'Trianglereality - Fallen', weaves through the emotive peak of his 'Stromae - Te Quiero' remix, and lands gracefully with the cinematic resolve of 'Paul Kalkbrenner - Part Three'.