Loveland presenteerde tijdens het Amsterdam Dance Event de officiële DVD van Loveland Festival 2008. Ruim 40 professionals hebben zich tijdens het festival ingezet om de mooiste momenten vast te leggen.
Aanstaande zaterdag is alweer de derde editie in 2008 van eartharea in de Sugar Factory. Elke editie nodigt resident dj Per een grote naam uit het Nederlandse dj-circuit uit om een bijzondere set neer te komen zetten. Ditmaal is de eer aan Lucien ‘the dreadman’ Foort.
More often than not, a live album is nothing more than a greatest hits collection played live. Well, most of the time. Paul Kalkbrenner recorded this live set in the Berlin club Maria am Ufer, and it is full of surprises.
I have had this album for quite some time now, and I have been meaning to write a full review of it ever since got it, but for some reason or another I just never got to the point of writing it down. Until now, and for a very obvious reason. Paul Kalkbrenner is making an appearance at Awakenings next week, and that knowledge has re-envigorated my efforts. Unfortunately, I have never been able to see him live - yet - and this album has long been the only thing that gave me any idea as to what his live show must be like. I was hooked from the word go.
I must admit that I am not very fond of live recordings, and dj sets are the only common exception. More often than not, a live album is nothing more than a greatest hits collection played live. Some songs are played faster, another one is played in an extended version - if you’re lucky - but most of the time it is, although enjoyable, all too predictable. Well, most of the time. Paul Kalkbrenner recorded this live set in the Berlin club Maria am Ufer, and it is full of surprises.
A few handfulls of them can already be found in the tracklisting. New songs make up more than half of this album and sent my usual objections down the drain. Who does not like to be treated with so much previously unreleased material? I can only guess at his motivations (Has he opened the secret vault to the general public? Does he give us a sneak preview of things to come?), but I must commend him for doing so. It really adds to the overall experience of this album.
The casual fan must be warned though. Do not expect this live performance to be anything like his studio albums. Zeit and Self are small treasure boxes filled with deep emotions and soothing melodies, and they are the gems that introduced me to Paul Kalkbrenner’s music, but Maximalive shows us an entirely different Kalkbrenner altogether. His live sound takes more from his dancefloor hits like FFWD and Steinbeisser, and it is these two tracks that lie at the very heart of this album.
The epic live experience that Maximalive really is, is built up much like a classical drama. It is a three act play, with a start, a center, and a finish, and all three parts are almost equal in length. Like a playwright, Paul Kalkbrenner takes his audience by the hand and leads them to the innevitable conclusion of this musical journey. One that ends with a twist: this brilliant piece of work does not end in catharsis, it ends in euphoria.
(9/10) 
