Tag Archives: Kompakt

Switched On: Various Artists – Pop Ambient 2024 (Kompakt)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

The first Pop Ambient compilation was released in 2001 – since when our need for ambient music is arguably greater than it has ever been, and the annual wander down Pop Ambient lane has become one of the most reassuring fixtures in the electronic music calendar. Arriving near the close of the year, it always coincides with the point where the end of year rush is starting to get too much.

As with previous years, it is a carefully selected blend of Kompakt favourites and rarities, none of them in a rush to get anywhere, and none of them containing any drums or rhythm tracks.

What’s the music like?

Regular listeners will know what to expect here – music suspended in time, with long drawn out notes that slowly shift across the sonic landscape. Many of the productions appear weightless, taking the listener through a dense cloud of ambience that soothes the fevered brow.

Yet while the music is familiar, Kompakt always manage to bring us something new. That means that while the listener is immediately soothed by diving into the ambience of T.Raumschmiere‘s Eterna 2, Mikkel Metal‘s Octarine offers a pattern of distinctive, metallic chimes that draw the listener in. Sono Kollektiv also presents an ambient face on Ever Last Thing but this track has dramatic crescendos within, pulling the ear towards them on headphones.

Joachim Spieth and Głós deliver the sort of weightless gem we have come to know and love from this source, Panta Rhei turning out to be a bottomless wonder, while Blank Gloss deliver some considered but rather beautiful guitar work on Weedless Hook.

Other airy beauties include Morgen Wurde’s Hiernach, with trumpeter Tetsuroh Konishi, and a similarly improvised space where Reich & Wurden make room for Alex Linster and Joel Jaffe on Orbit. Finally Segensklang (Bergfrieden) and Ümit Han (Nirgends) deliver atmospheric moods, the latter with a wandering melodic line.

Does it all work?

It does. None of this will come as a surprise to regulars, but that is a good thing – for Kompakt’s quality threshold is always high.

Is it recommended?

Definitely – with as much enthusiasm as all the others. Pop Ambient needs to remain a permanent fixture in our listening year.

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Switched On: Captain Mustache: The Super Album (Kompakt)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

We last encountered Captain Mustache two years ago, as part of the excellent Quattro Artists collection released by Bedrock. His contribution was Indigo Memories, where the intersection between techno and electro functioned particularly well.

Now we find him returning to the Kompakt label with an imagined an imagined ‘whole day for party people’, with a raft of guests in tow.

What’s the music like?

The captain delivers a captivating blend of darkness and light in the course of the day. The darker stuff is the four to the floor electro and techno workouts, some really well produced numbers that hit the floor without any nonsense. These include the instrumental cuts Laser Me, Clair-Obscur and Galaxian Symbiosis, the last two of which would be more than half Detroit-based if you cut them open. Acapulco Citron has a chunky bass profile, as does Pulsions Organiques, which pans out a bit to softer electro up top.

Then we have the more humourous tracks such as the vocal playful Gimme Your Mustache or Shifting Basslines, where Chicks on Speed work particularly well. The Arnaud Rebotini collaboration I Love Watching U is excellent, too.

Does it all work?

It does – the album has a really satisfying ebb and flow.

Is it recommended?

Indeed it is, another fine opus from the man with immaculate facial hair.

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Switched On: Various Artists – Total 23 (Kompakt)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

The end of summer brings one of those reassuring points in the Kompakt calendar, the annual release of their Total compilation. Once again it draws a line in the sand to bring us a snapshot of the music the Cologne label’s artists have been making over the last year, while throwing in the gratefully accepted new versions and rarities that we collectors treasure.

What’s the music like?

Very good indeed. While techno is the broad area where the 13 tracks lie, the range of the music runs from soulful introspection to peak time euphoria (aka Rex The Dog)

The collection begins with the subtle shades of Kollmorgen‘s Muddy. After that, Argia’s No Concept is quite stark but movingly so, before the confident poise of Jürgen Paape makes itself known. Talmi is a cracker, brooding and bristling over a strong four to the floor beat. The cinematic dance is suitably nocturnal. Four Down is classy, while Jon Tejada offers a lovely heat soaked number on Wild Ride. Rex tge Dog an excellent vocal number with its hook take away my sorrow and this pain. Hardt Antoine’s All We See sends tracers out into the night

Does it all work?

It does. Kompakt are well-versed in compilations of this sort, so there is no reason the 23rd instalment should be any different! It has a very satisfying ebb and flow, played out to a nocturnal background.

Is it recommended?

It is – a consistently good guide to where the label is at musically right now.

It is – typically thought provoking work from one of Britain’s finest electronicmusic makers.

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Switched On – Wata Igarashi – Agartha (Kompakt)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Wata Igarashi makes his Kompakt debut with this multi-dimensional album, the latest chapter in a career that has seen him release for The Bunker NY, Delsin, Midgar and Time To Express, as well as his own WIP net label.

Here he is for a full-blown concept album release, around the mythical secret kingdom of Agartha. In his own words, “Named for the mythical secret kingdom, understood as a complex maze of underground tunnels, perhaps designed by Martians who colonised the Earth tens of thousands of years ago, it’s a similarly mystical, perhaps even cosmic trip – but this time, exploring an inner, deeply personal cosmos.”

On his journey, Igarashi creates scenes from an imaginary film based on the kingdom, teeming with musical incident.

What’s the music like?

Deeply mysterious from the start. Igarashi sets the mood with a thick cloud of ambience, that folds gradually over the music and sets a mood of disquiet through its use of microtones. This unsettled outlook continues when the beats arrive on Searching, but with Subterranean Life it feels as though the explorer has arrived at their destination and are beginning a journey of discovery.

The music becomes more fragmented and improvised, exploring more dimensions with metallic snippets of percussion, but then the mood changes with Ceremony Of The Dead, whose urgency increases as the melodic layers build. This track was originally written as part of a Sony 360 Reality Audio spatial sound concert, and it sounds great on headphones especially when a fresh vocal loop crosses over with Igarashi’s beats. The mood raises still further with Floating Against Time, a beatless number doffing its cap to Steve Reich, while at the same time showing Igarashi’s ability to cross-pollenate a number of different melodic lines with beautiful results. Abyss II runs with similar material, adding electronic sharpness.

Another scene change plunges us into the experimental climate of Burning, where musical activity and syncopation is rife, busy riffs trading off against each other. Agartha itself is the most descriptive scene, Igarashi painting pictures at a slower tempo even with the brush of a hi hat or the crescendo of a drone. This ushers in Darkness, but not the expected downward turn of mood – rather a cosmic interplay from swooping lines on the treble synth over an exquisite held chord. The mood settles towards the end, segueing nicely into Eternally, where the cosmic mood prevails but in much calmer waters.

Does it all work?

It does – though Agartha is definitely best experienced in one listen, so you get the twists, turns and mood changes of the whole journey.

Is it recommended?

It is. This is music of dense textures and intense colours, rewarding the listener who is prepared to revisit on several occasions. That way the secrets of Agartha can be fully unlocked.

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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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