Tag Archives: reviews

Switched On – Various Artists: Total 26 (Kompakt)

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Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Having celebrated a quarter of a century of top-level electronic music, Kompakt look to the next phase with another annual round-up. With sixteen tracks primed for fans, they include reassuringly familiar names who the label followers will immediately lap up.

As the Cologne label say in their humourous press release, “It’s as sure as night follows day, one of the last truly reliable things in these uncertain times, a rock in the storm of information overload, and still one of the best things you can make from PVC.”

What’s the music like?

Typically varied and occupying slots both inside and outside of the box. Kompakt always bring fresh inventions to their compilation, which never feels like a cast-off of nearly or forgotten tracks, and is sequenced to ensure the biggest benefits are felt from listening start to finish.

To which end, DJ H0TLINE gets us off to a strong, four to the floor-based start, picked up by Orlando Voorn who brings more of a breakbeat edge to the remix of So Deep. What then works is a very satisfying variation of speeds, from the wondrous dub-heavy sounds of Jürgen Paape, with Fenja Ludwig guesting on Unter dem Himmel, to the sparse but driven techno of Robag Wruhme. Sabrah Desha is one of the collection’s biggest thrills, its bassline deserving of the biggest possible subwoofer.

The smoky Burn Attitude of Michael Mayer leaves its mark, as does an extended version of Rex The Dog’s Far Out! and an introduction to Jörg Burger’s Team 85E project courtesy of Komm Schlaf Bei Mir. Add productions from Reinhard Voigt, Sog (aka cofounder Wolfgang Voigt) and Frankey & Sandrino and you have a very strong line-up.

Does it all work?

Yes, it does – and any idea that this might be a routine exercise is dismissed very early on. Listen several times and this will become your electronic playlist of choice to round off the summer.

Is it recommended?

Fans will need no persuasion of course, but in the unlikely event that you haven’t yet dabbled in anything Kompakt, the Pop Ambient and Total compilations always act as the ideal springboard from which to plan your discoveries. This is no exception!

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Published post no.3,032 – Tuesday 29 September 2026

Switched On – BUNKR: Signs EP (VLSI)

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Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

As James Dean, aka BUNKR, writes: “Signs is a companion piece created from the same sessions as my recent album Signals, but looking in a different direction.

Where Signals explored the mysteries, memories and hidden histories of the Surrey Hills, Signs follows those signals towards the distant glow of the city beyond.

The EP captures the pull of the metropolis: the lights, movement and endless energy of urban life viewed from afar. Built around hypnotic loops, shifting rhythms and immersive electronic textures, Signs continues the story begun with Signals: a journey through memory, place and the unseen connections between the natural and human worlds.”

What’s the music like?

If you know BUNKR, you know Dean has a high quality threshold for what he releases, and this EP is no different, presenting typically atmospheric and evocative music, with a hint of mystery and bags of widescreen colour.

From the outset Construct Collapse grips the listener with its widescreen panorama, reaching a thrilling high when the four to the floor beat drops. Cruisen presents a cooler but equally rewarding picture, before the reassuring thick drone backing Eternal Cities comes to the fore. When it cuts loose, the beat and busy synths on this track are a killer combination – and are complemented by The Distance Ate Itself, bringing us back to earth.

Does it all work?

It does – time and space are a given in BUNKR’s music, but so are melody and imagination. All are present here.

Is it recommended?

Absolutely – the ideal companion piece to the excellent LP. If you don’t have either yet, get both!

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Published post no.3,031 – Monday 28 September 2026

On Record: Sondre Lerche – Acrobats (PLZ / Virgin)

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Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

This new album from Norwegian singer-songwriter Sondre Lerche is his first in four years. The record explores a dissonance he has identified between the “increasingly dystopian world we live in and finding beauty and peace in your private life”, where “falling in love feels more and more like an act of defiance”.

Acrobats was recorded across no fewer than nine studios, Lerche’s eleventh album completed with long time partners and producers Matias Téllez and Kato Ådland, and Vetle Junker, Alexander von Mehren and Jørgen Trœen. There are orchestral arrangements by Sean O’Hagan of The High Llamas, with a substantial body of musicians from the Stockholm Studio Orchestra, Norwegian Radio Orchestra and sundry jazz and classical artists.

What’s the music like?

At times, epic – especially in the album’s core, where the songs Love Is All and Follow The River carry all before them. Lerche wears his heart on his sleeve in songs of unabashed romanticism, which works especially well when combined with his penchant for lyrical directness.

The music is pleasingly off-centre, with the urgent How Much Of This Was Planned also showing a carefree side. The strings of Little Kids curl around Lerche’s observations that “there’s cracks in everything”, while his playful side comes out best in Drive Me Away From You.

Love Is All is one for the romantics, beautifully observed and delivered, with an exquisite dialogue between Lerche and the clarinet of Solveig Wang. Meanwhile the chorus of Follow The River – inspired by an encounter with Mahler’s Resurrection symphony – is warm hearted and given with a ‘glass half full’ energy.

Does it all work?

It does, even if the songs sometimes have a lopsided structure. Lerche sings from the heart, and the arrangements are beauties.

Is it recommended?

It is. Lerche does not enjoy the same profile in the UK he perhaps did around 15 years ago, but this album shows his songwriting – and vocal delivery – are better and more meaningful than ever. In many ways he is the Nordic answer to Rufus Wainwright.

For fans of…Rufus Wainwright, Ed Harcourt, The Divine Comedy, Kings Of Convenience, Midlake

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Published post no.3,022 – Sunday 20 September 2026

Switched On: Paul Cut – Circle People (Automatic Writing)

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Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Paul Cut has illustrious connections within the world of techno. A keyboard player with Larry Heard, he has also worked with Ron Trent and Chez Damier.

Here Cut, real name Paul Culliver, goes solo for the first time in what appears to be six years, on an eight-track LP of original productions.

What’s the music like?

Cut’s experience of what makes people dance shines through on each track. It is pretty effortless music making, the album unfolding like a DJ set would, building on minimal material for maximum effect.

Shady Nasty is classic Detroit techno, with a simple offbeat riff driving a track full of incident. Next one even better, before On The Rocks cuts up a sample from the Sensi-tize classic Burn Baby Burn. Meanwhile She Comes Around is an excellent, bassy groover.

Does it all work?

It does – very nicely, too.

Is it recommended?

With some ease. Paul Cut’s expertise is clear on an album that frequently presses all the right buttons.

For fans of…Larry Heard, Ron Trent, Kenny Larkin, Chez Damier, Charles Webster

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tbc

Published post no.3,013 – Thursday 10 September 2026

Switched On: Christian Prommer: Rhythmique Nocturne (Compost Records)

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Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Rhythmique Nocturne is the first solo album from Christian Prommer in over ten years, picking up from the successes of Drumlesson Zwei and Übermood, complementing his work as part of Trüby Trio, Fauna Flash, Drumlesson and Voom:Voom.

Prommer, in the words of his Bandcamp, “distils ten years of Berlin into a twilight drift between order and abandon. Daytime studio sketches are pulled apart at night, reshaped by shifting perspectives that swing between jazz harmony, textural experimentation, and the heavy gravity of techno basslines and analog drums. Intimately close-mic’d piano, drums, percussion, cello, and strings are constantly recontextualized—dropped into new rooms, resonances, and imagined spaces—so their meaning keeps mutating. Room noise, human breath, and accidental sounds are folded into the pulse, turning spill and imperfection into rhythm. Even a piano lid thudding shut on Dark Matter is claimed as part of the beat, underscoring an album that embraces freedom, spontaneity, and the beautiful lack of accountability that defines this city at night.”

What’s the music like?

The extended quote shows everything that this album is about, rhythm being the prime focus but with instrumental colour always carefully considered and imaginatively sourced.

What strikes the listener is the forward momentum Prommer enjoys on each track, the fusion between jazz and dance that working extremely effectively, the grooves driven by the lower end of the piano working a treat.

The likes of Algorhythmic and Dark Matter reach thrilling highs, powered by sharp piano stabs and quick beats, their lean and wiry kinetic energy getting the foot tapping straight away. Black Mamba adds deeper feeling, a darkly glinting track that builds effectively, while Bosss lets Kelvin Sholar’s piano run free. Tryin’ Times harks back to the Truby Trio, sashaying into the room in the company of Justine Hoerwarth, whose vocal timing is ideal.

Providing contrast is the deep Struck, vocalist Leona Berlin multitracked on a smoky slower jam, and Night Society, whose orchestral palette grows in poise and power.

Does it all work?

It does – and with atmospheric slower tracks complementing quickfire missives, the contrast is ideal.

Is it recommended?

Yes. An album that fizzes and pops in all the right places!

For fans of…St. Germain, Brandt Brauer Frick, Truby Trio, Jazzanova, Kyoto Jazz Massive

Listen / Buy

Published post no.3,006 – Thursday 3 September 2026