At the end of last year, Jo ‘Schlammpeitziger’ Zimmermann released new album Meine Unterkunft ist die Unvernunft to mark his 60th birthday. Now Kompakt add a celebration of their own, presenting the album in remix form, with a well chosen group of long-time companions brought together to pay tribute. Schlammpeitziger adds a tribute of his own in the form of a photograph of each on the hand-decorated album cover.
What’s the music like?
Hugely enjoyable. From the opening beats of Ada’s remix of Loch ohne Licht, it’s clear this will be a fun set of remixes, with the chunky beats supporting a fine slab of disco house.
The bass driven Schlammpeitziger goes deeper, branching out musically to good effect in the company of Wolfgang Voigt, while Selten Gesehnes gets a steely edge to its piano from Stefan Mohr. Finally Parzipan, redone by Andreas Dorau and Zwanie Jonson, takes on a generous helping of Joy Division as it heads to the electro disco.
Does it all work?
Yes – none of the remixes outstay their welcome, and there is a really good variety of styles on show.
Is it recommended?
Enthusiastically. If you’re a Kompakt fan, look no further – this sort of package shows how fun a good remix album can be!
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Published post no.2,419 – Wednesday 22 January 2025
If it’s getting towards Christmas then it is most certainly time for the latest in Kompakt’s Pop Ambient series. The Cologne label have been delivering a compilation of soothing selections for a quarter of a century now – and co-founder Wolfgang Voigt has this to say:
“25 years in increasingly fast-moving times in the even faster-moving music business is an eternity that doesn’t just feel like it. It is all the more remarkable how I, as someone who is always restless and often driven by this fast pace himself, pleasantly almost haven’t realised how – in pop-ambient contexts – time does not pass (or passes differently) in the best sense.
When compiling the 25th edition I was asked, among other things, what it was like that I was still doing this and whether I had a favourite track. In the spirit of bringing all the tracks together I don’t have a favourite track, or all of them. But I have a favourite moment that I played. In this case it was a broad chord in a change of key at minute 2:55 in the piece Circles by Max Würden. A moment of majesty and familiarity that, at that moment, contains the entire Pop Ambient cosmos, that just works and doesn’t explain anything – and I said: “…that’s the reason why I’m still doing this…”
Pop Ambient is a statement without demands. Is promise without expectation. Is a path without a destination. Every year again.”
What’s the music like?
As soothing as you could wish…and with it being Kompakt, they rarely if ever resort to cliché. That means the chosen selections are purely mindful pieces of ambience. The moment Voigt refers to, in Max Würden’s Circles, is indeed lovely – adding an extra dimension to music that was already a horizontal beauty. Meanwhile Würden’s collaboration with Lukas Schäfer, Analysis Of Variance ii, is easy to dive into, with fuzzy noise and displaced sounds appearing at irregular but pleasing intervals, like being in the middle of a musical forest.
Similarly Segensklang’s Artifacts of Synthese is a lovely slab of ambience, a thick blanket enveloping the listener. By contrast Ümit Han’s Im Delirium is quite restless, a freeform bit of synthesized improvisation.
Blank Gloss bring their characteristically open sound to the party, Jennifer’s Convertible a widely-spaced panorama, while other soft-centred moments from Leandro Fresco / Thore Pfeiffer and Tamarma & Sebastian Mullaert are immediately appealing.
Does it all work?
It does. Pop Ambient is a tried and tested formula, but there is no sign of Voigt and co resting on their laurels just yet.
Is it recommended?
Most definitely. If you’re a seasoned collector in the series then you will need no further encouragement, but Pop Ambient really does take the edge off the day with music of serene beauty.
Listen & Buy
Published post no.2,400 – Saturday 21 December 2024
The Floor Is Lava is Michael Mayer’s first album in 12 years, since the collaborative long player Mantasy was released on !K7.
Here he is back on home ground at the label he runs, with an album tapping into his enormous experience as a DJ, conscious of his crowd’s attention span. “It’s a DJ album by a DJ that’s easily bored”, he says.
What’s the music like?
This is a fine piece of work, Mayer always conscious of keeping the dancefloor fully populated but getting a really satisfying ebb and flow as he does so.
The beats are established immediately, The Problem grinding into gear with deep beats and jazz-infused techno. Mayer’s beats are a prime focus on this album and they work to brilliant effect on the rolling contours of Brainwave, then the driving Sycophant, or in team with a superb, booming bassline on Ardor.
So good are the beats, in fact, that they are pretty much all you need – check The Solution for confirmation of this – but with plenty of goodness piled on top of them there is as much for the home listener to tap into as there is the club dancer.
Does it all work?
It does. Mayer takes his own sweet time with his solo albums, and the reward is a meticulous attention to detail on structure and production. Both reap their rewards here.
Is it recommended?
Very much so – The Floor Is Lava is a wonderful addition to the Kompakt co-supremo’s locker. Buy it and enjoy the compulsion to move!
For fans of… DJ Koze, Gui Boratto, Moderat, Ellen Allien
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Published post no.2,369 – Thursday 21 November 2024
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’sthemusiclike?
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.
We last encountered Captain Mustache two years ago, as part of the excellentQuattro Artists collectionreleased 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’sthemusiclike?
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.
