Tag Archives: Wolfgang Voigt

Switched On – Various Artists: Pop Ambient 2025 (Kompakt)

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Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

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.

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Published post no.2,400 – Saturday 21 December 2024

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

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reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Pop Ambient has always been one of Kompakt’s flagship projects, but in 2021 it is surely needed more than ever. With no reason to change the winning formula of seasoned regulars and bright new things, the series – in Kompakt’s words – becomes ‘a sprightly young adult waltzing out of its teenage joys and tears’.

What’s the music like?

It is no understatement to say this really is balm to soothe the soul. From the moment new Kompakt signings Blank Gloss begin the music takes its listener to a special and very relaxed place, the Sacramento group letting their guitar run free through On A Vessel.

Then Yui Onodera pans out with Chromo 5, with similarly warm textures that seem to hang on a gentle breeze. Reich & Würden‘s Lens proves to be rather special, with a slightly mournful trumpet lead that hints of a detective or intelligence series theme. Joachim Spieth & Pepo Galán‘s Libration proves to be one of those wonderfully immersive ambient tracks, holding still on one pitch but moving subtly above it. Max Würden‘s Center does the same, with a simple but probing piano line, while Neozaïre‘s Vor Den Toren Europas resembles the sound of an orchestra playing slowly outdoors.

Neozaïre is one of three new Kompakt artists on this release, along with Blank Gloss and Seventh World, whose Light The Waves Before Dawn is a beautifully stretched mood piece suggestive of the lazily moving waters themselves.

Does it all work?

Effortlessly so. The great thing about Pop Ambient is that it works so well but never rests on its laurels, giving new pointers in ambient music with each installment.

Is it recommended?

You know the answer. As a standpoint in the ambient music calendar, Pop Ambient is eagerly awaited and delivers with as little effort as possible. As, indeed, ambient music should.

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Switched on – GAS: Oktember (Kompakt)

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What’s the story?

This second EP from Wolfgang Voigt‘s GAS project actually dates from 1999, when it was released on Mille Plateaux, but now it has been ‘transferred’ to his home Kompakt label. There are only two tracks but half an hour of music, released in part to offer some comfort in isolation.

What’s the music like?

This is music for mindfulness. Tal 90, the first track, feels like it is played on vinyl, with the reassuring clicks and scratches serving as a background to Voigt’s fuzzy overall sound. His concept is orchestral, with serene violins high in the mix and a soft but majestic line for horn. There are no drums but the music floats in suspension, resulting in a comforting feeling for the listener.

The second track Oktember is much darker and denser, and has an immediately subtle menace to its sound. The steady tread of a four to the floor rhythm underpins thick, brooding chords, which are still strangely comforting despite their straight-faced approach.

Does it all work?

It does. GAS is an incredibly well-revered project and in all recent ambient music it remains one of the most recognisable styles. Time really does stand still when Voigt finds the right level of musical hypnosis, and Oktember finds him towards top form.

Is it recommended?

Yes – and if fans don’t already have it they will want to snap up these two recordings. They work particularly well as early morning or late night balm.

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