Tag Archives: Kompakt

Switched On – Blank Gloss: Cornered (Kompakt)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

This is the third album from Sacramento duo Blank Gloss, following up their Melt debut from February 2021 – which made a strong impression on Arcana around its release.

For this record, Morgan Fox (piano and synthesizers) and Patrick Hills (guitar) united for just two days at the studio in Sacramento in December 2020. During the sessions the music came together quickly, Hills benefiting from the use of a MIDI pick-up on his guitar that gave it a darker sound.

What’s the music like?

There is a sparseness to the music of Blank Gloss this time, stripping their music back to the bare elements while looking to still paint pictures of the great outdoors. In many respects the cover encapsulates this approach, replacing the dusky orange cloud of Melt with a black and white image, a single tree in a field. The tree represents some of the inner detail Fox and Hills bring to their music, while the listener can almost feel the wind in the long grass around.

To start with, the duo take their listeners and place them once again in a huge space under a starry sky, the reverberant guitar track of Sender replicating the ‘ambient Americana’ of the previous album. Yet this time there is a sense of unease, perhaps reflecting the lockdown conditions under which the recording may well have taken place. The piano for Dusted has a distracted thought pattern, reflecting nagging pulses and signals from outer sources.

By contrast the extended No Appetite, though reserved in mood, has a soothing and sustained set of chords in which the listener can float, and Salt is similarly static. On The Ground pans right out to take in solemn piano threads and ambient outdoor noises, while Soda Lake bubbles under the surface, its positive energy just held in check.

Dressed Alike finishes the album with a warm glow.

Does it all work?

Yes. The less is more approach works really well, giving opportunity for the listener to place their thoughts. The colours given to the piano and guitar are carefully managed and beautifully achieved, with a damper often applied to the keyboard to soften the attack.

Is it recommended?

Yes – a strong complement to Melt, but a sign that Blank Gloss are moving on in their thought patterns and musical phrasing. Cornered feels like a wholly appropriate response to the troubles of the world, and while sombre in mood it offers ample consolation for darker times.

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Switched On – De Lux: Do You Need A Release? (Innovative Leisure)

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Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Do You Need A Release? is a highly appropriate title for our times. It is the third album from Californian band De Lux, who are principally the founding duo of Sean Guerin and Isaac Franco. However on the sessions for this album they brought their live band into the studios at Long Beach and made this set of powerful, electronically sourced pop music.

What’s the music like?

De Lux offer an invigorating album of time travelling, switching effortlessly between the past (Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club and Blancmange are all palpable influences) and the present / future. Like a poppier version of The Rapture or !!!, they hit the listener right between the eyes with a set of euphoric choruses, sharply defined electro disco and highly effective power pop.

The live aspect is important and keeps the music with a quickly beating heart. They Call This Love provides a brilliant first chorus, a sign of strength for the album lying ahead. Validation has a sharper edge, nicely realised, while Some Things Never Break mines the archive for a riff that could easily have been transported in from a Telex record. The punchy guitars are a great complement here.

On And On (Till The End Of Us) has a strutting beat and a strong chorus (going on and on and on!) while by contrast The Final Breath You Take is a poignant and understated number, and rather moving with it.

Does it all work?

It does indeed – a really strong set of grooves and sentiments for our times. The only slight problem is one of length, with some tracks fulfilling a 12″ structure – but if you’re happy with that, there really are no problems.

Is it recommended?

Yes, and especially if you like any of the names mentioned above. If you do need a release, you know exactly what you should do!

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Switched On – Agents Of Time: Universo (Kompakt)

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Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Italian duo Andrea Di Ceglie and Luigi Tutolo return with their second album as Agents Of Time. Having boosted their profile with recent single Afterlife and a remix of The Weeknd’s Take My Breath, the pair return to an approach blending techno knowhow and song-based structures – with a few instrumentals thrown in for good measure.

What’s the music like?

Strong and assured. Agents Of Time are pretty consistent in their marriage of full bodied, club-based beats and song structures, and get a satisfying variety in their choice of material. The net result is a set of what can only be called ‘moody bangers’!

There is a good deal of versatility in this music. Dream Vision, for instance, makes a really strong impact with its cinematic strings, while Blu proves its worth as one of the strongest vocal tracks.

Clipped beats and moody vocals from Audrey Janssens in Fallin’ hark back to the UK garage sound at the turn of the century. Janssens reappears later on the tougher Poison. Interstellar Cowboy goes for a futuristic approach, the vocal accents balancing a solid instrumental backing.

On the instrumental front, Pulses and Ciao are both excellent in the way they channel evocative lines through driving beats with a sharper edge to the bass. Finally Dinasty signs off with no beats at all, succeeding through a trancey loop instead.

Does it all work?

Mostly. There are some curious vocal additions (The World Is Dump, for instance) but most of Universo squarely hits the mark.

Is it recommended?

It is, if you like a dose of vocal pop against melodic techno as part of your dance music experience. Expressive and cinematic, this is an album well worth trying.

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Switched On – Sascha Funke: Treets EP (Kompakt)

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Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Berlin-based DJ Sascha Funke marks his return to the Kompakt label with a five-track EP, his first release for them since 2014. In that time he has been very busy, recording for a multitude of labels, while continuing to flit between genres, a musical butterfly who rarely alights in the same area for too long.

And yet, as the press release for Treets states, his style is very distinctive, bringing in snatches of electro pop and rave to new and vibrant rhythms.

What’s the music like?

The title track is more than a bit odd, a straight break beat given a very odd, disembodied vocal to play with – but then a bass line and riff straight from the 1980s are teleported in, and everything makes sense. E-Plus mines similar territory for its source material, but now the sounds are nocturnal and give off a foreboding atmosphere.

Alles Paletti is another story, a beauty with richly layered textures producing golden colours over a solid, two-step rhythm that keeps it zipping along. Haus More enjoys textures of a similar warmth, though the riff itself has a bit of a wary profile, more monotone and watchful.

Finally Treets (The Other Version) is stripped back, more percussive and industrial, striking out for the corners of the room it’s in – and with that weird vocal back to create some sinister shivers again.

Does it all work?

It does. Funke gets a good blend of challenging his listener and giving them free rein on the dancefloor, an effective combination that gives the EP a solid sense of continuity.

Is it recommended?

Yes – followers of the producer will not hesitate, and it’s a good way back in to Sasche Funke’s music if you haven’t heard any of his more recent productions. On this evidence, he remains on good form.

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Switched On – Various Artists: Pop Ambient 2021 (Kompakt)

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What’s the story?

Pop Ambient’s place in the calendar is a reassuring recurrence, as is the music it contains.

For more than 20 years now, Kompakt’s beatless compilation series has given a steadying hand to its listener’s, and the Cologne label see no reason to tinker with their formula.

Once again the tracklisting is a blend of familiar names and new talent, curated as ever by Wolfgang Voigt. His question is simple: What happens when the dancefloor is empty, and everyone’s home to drift away?

What’s the music like?

Once again the carefully selected and sequenced music of Pop Ambient takes its listeners to a special place. Voigt has an uncanny ability of choosingmusic that takes the heat off everyday life, but retains an exquisite tension keeping the listener on board.

The steady chimes of Coiling, from relative newcomers Blank Gloss, is a great example before a deep dive into the watery textures of Yui Onodera‘s Cromo 6. Kari, a collaboration between Markus Guentner and Joachim Spieth, is absolutely lovely, suspended in a blanket of sound.

The bell-like sonorities of Reich & Würden‘s Grainscan prove unexpectedly moving with the addition of a poignant trumpet line, while the steady pulse of Triola‘s Mutterkorn is dressedwith birdsong. Perhaps inevitably some of the best music comes from Thomas Fehlmann, whose Rosen Fliegen has waves of consonant harmony. Later on the notable Retrospektive, from Max Würden, sparkles around the edges.

Elsewhere the calming selection includes blissful moments from Andrew Thomas, Thore Pfeiffer and Weiht, a strong collaboration between Morgan Wurde and Maria Estrella. Closing out the sequence we find Blank Gloss again, further enhancing their reputation with Anticlimbers.

Does it all work?

Yes. It may be a tried and tested formula for over two decades now, but there is surely no need to change the record for Voigt and Kompakt.

Is it recommended?

It almost goes without saying. Pop Ambient is as important now as it ever has been, and shows how Kompakt still have their finger on the reassuringly slow pulse.

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