Paul Kalkbrenner Leads First Album in Seven Years with "Ninety - Two"

Paul Kalkbrenner sets the rollout for his ninth studio album and first in seven years with “Ninety - Two,” a taut, nearly five-minute track that sets the tone for what’s to come on The Essence. 

Due October 10 via Sony Music, the LP is quite simply “about the essential,” says the techno maven. “This is an album I can truly stand behind. I consider it my best. Sure, there may be more well-known hits on my other albums, but there were always two or three filler tracks. This one doesn’t have a single filler.”

As the album’s lead single, “Ninety - Two” is presumably the most indispensable number from the forthcoming project – the answer to Kalkbrenner’s 2018 LP, Parts of Life. The song, which uses a sample once featured on countless UK rave compilations, is as close to a time machine to 1992 as anyone can get. Still, the German figurehead isn’t looking to go back in time, but rather to speculate on how it would sound “if that sound had simply continued evolving to the present day without interruption.” For future nostalgia at its finest, listen below.

The story behind The Essence and, by extension, “Ninety-Two” is a tale as old as time, considering that the most compelling art often follows no blueprint. “Many songs were made during a time when I wasn’t even planning an album,” says Kalkbrenner. “I had basically moved on from making albums, but then I realized how nice it is to have something with a larger sense of cohesion again.”

While The Essence takes shape, “Ninety - Two” has become a staple of its producer’s sets, steadily bringing a bit of 1992 energy to 2025 crowds in Berlin and beyond. 

“Ninety - Two” is out now via Columbia/B1 Recordings. Buy it on Beatport.