KOMPAKT - Forced Exposure

$16.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 3/17/2023

Sacramento, CA duo Blank Gloss's third album, Cornered, is an exquisite statement of pop ambient starkness, an album that oscillates between lush beauty and spare melancholy. It follows from their 2021 debut for Kompakt, Melt (KOMP 174CD/KOM 437LP), an album that saw Morgan Fox (piano, synths) and Patrick Hills (guitar) aligned, loosely, with the cosmic pastorale of the "ambient Americana" movement. Cornered feels like a significant step forward, though -- by peeling back the layers of their music, they've revealed both its restful core and its solemn gravitas. It is unendingly lovely, but with something disquieting at its center. Cornered was recorded quickly, over two days in December 2020. There's nothing rushed or haphazard about the album, though; everything has its place, with each sonic element contributing profoundly to these nine miniature dioramas. It signals change, quietly but perceptibly, through the way the duo sculpts their material, building out of loose improvisations that morphed into songs. While there was no plan in mind when Blank Gloss settled into the studio, Fox recalls that "right away we realized that things were sounding and feeling a bit different than any of the sessions we had previously." That difference can be heard in the increased amount of space Blank Gloss gift to their sound sources. Some of the most moving moments on Cornered come when Fox and Hills strip everything back -- see, for example, "Crossing", which sets pensive piano across a shyly humming drone and quiet arcs of guitar, recalling the driftworks of Roger Eno. Curiously, the album's distinctive shape and mood develops, at least in part, from a change in instrumentation, with Hills using a MIDI pick-up on his guitar. Elsewhere, on songs like "Salt", the piano tussles with flecks of guitar, single tones sent out to mingle with the stars, like Morricone at 16 RPM, while Cornered's centerpiece, the eleven-minute "No Appetite", lets long arcs of electronic texture breathe and sigh, tangling together in a cat's cradle of bliss. Throughout, it feels as though the music is blossoming as you hear it, like watching time-lapse footage of flora in bloom. But perhaps the most seductive thing about Cornered is the sense you get, listening, that the music was something unexpected, a visitation.

$18.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 3/17/2023

Hardt Antoine is a London based DJ producer of French and West Indian descent, who continuously combines his hugely colorful and eclectic taste in music. He has also made a name for himself with his Reculture label and club nights. His Kompakt debut clearly shows why he's one to watch in the years to come. "Nobody's Watching" is a dark grooving beast with bending synth lines and a haunting vocal; counterbalanced with uplifting Eastern analog pads. It's from this rare breed of tracks that shine in a frantic peak time set and sexy, late-night moments alike. "All We See" follows a similar path. Its mandatory bassline and dark melody evolve into something uplifting, as if to say -- "We always see light at the end of our tunnel." "Radial" takes a more cinematic approach and largely neglects the dancefloor in a classic Kompakt three-track EP fashion, following a lovely tradition that began with Dettinger's Blond and later on spawned the Pop Ambient movement. Hardt Antoine proves himself a jack of all trades... Keep an eye on him!

$29.50 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 3/17/2023

LP version. Sacramento, CA duo Blank Gloss's third album, Cornered, is an exquisite statement of pop ambient starkness, an album that oscillates between lush beauty and spare melancholy. It follows from their 2021 debut for Kompakt, Melt (KOMP 174CD/KOM 437LP), an album that saw Morgan Fox (piano, synths) and Patrick Hills (guitar) aligned, loosely, with the cosmic pastorale of the "ambient Americana" movement. Cornered feels like a significant step forward, though -- by peeling back the layers of their music, they've revealed both its restful core and its solemn gravitas. It is unendingly lovely, but with something disquieting at its center. Cornered was recorded quickly, over two days in December 2020. There's nothing rushed or haphazard about the album, though; everything has its place, with each sonic element contributing profoundly to these nine miniature dioramas. It signals change, quietly but perceptibly, through the way the duo sculpts their material, building out of loose improvisations that morphed into songs. While there was no plan in mind when Blank Gloss settled into the studio, Fox recalls that "right away we realized that things were sounding and feeling a bit different than any of the sessions we had previously." That difference can be heard in the increased amount of space Blank Gloss gift to their sound sources. Some of the most moving moments on Cornered come when Fox and Hills strip everything back -- see, for example, "Crossing", which sets pensive piano across a shyly humming drone and quiet arcs of guitar, recalling the driftworks of Roger Eno. Curiously, the album's distinctive shape and mood develops, at least in part, from a change in instrumentation, with Hills using a MIDI pick-up on his guitar. Elsewhere, on songs like "Salt", the piano tussles with flecks of guitar, single tones sent out to mingle with the stars, like Morricone at 16 RPM, while Cornered's centerpiece, the eleven-minute "No Appetite", lets long arcs of electronic texture breathe and sigh, tangling together in a cat's cradle of bliss. Throughout, it feels as though the music is blossoming as you hear it, like watching time-lapse footage of flora in bloom. But perhaps the most seductive thing about Cornered is the sense you get, listening, that the music was something unexpected, a visitation.

$30.50 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 2/24/2023

LP version. The 23rd edition of the Pop Ambient compilation, compiled as always by Wolfgang Voigt. With the first tracks of Leandro Fresco/Thore Pfeiffer, Gen Pop (Burger, Pfeiffer, Würden), Morgen Wurde featuring Tetsuroh Konishi, and Max Würden up to Triola's gloomy and melancholic "Kupferblüte", the feeling of a slowness and calmness not experienced before, of an exceedingly lively standstill, creeps over us. A mental state that resembles dreams, in which you follow strange events as if paralyzed, yet awake and sensory. The Cologne-based Sono Kollektiv, an association of experimental artists Annie Bloch, Stefanie Grawe, Joel Jaffe, Alex Linster, Luis Weiß, Moritz Riesenbeck, Lukas Schäfer, Emily Wittbrodt, and Max Würden, is represented for the first time with two contributions on Pop Ambient. The two works, the fragile "Bolzano Sessions IV" and the rather light-flooded "Bolzano Sessions V" nestle perfectly into the musical whole of this year's compilation, not only in terms of their majestic leisureliness. In Jens-Uwe Beyer's "Nero", melancholic guitar chords reduced to the bare minimum are carried away by the wind like leaves, the reverberation holding the last note so long that it almost comes to a stop in the ear. If you like it synesthetic, look at the once again ravishing cover artwork by Veronika Unland right at this moment. Colors and shapes in which there is both everything and nothing to discover. Both feel equally right. The final third of Pop Ambient 2023 begins with Reich & Würden's herbaceous "Receiver," a track so dignified and carried by pads reminiscent of the sound of bagpipes. The slowness is joined by togetherness at the end: Pop Ambient veteran Joachim Spieth cooperates with American sound artist zakè on his literally weightless "Air", Thore Pfeiffer co-produced the wonderful "Instinct" with Scottish brother duo Andy and Mike Truscott aka Kinbrae. California duo Patrick Hills and Morgan Fox aka Blank Gloss close out with the yearning "Down At The Heel."

LP features Gen Pop, Morgen Wurde, Tetsuroh Konishi, Max Würden, Triola, Sono Kollektiv, Jens-Uwe Beyer, Reich & Würden, Joachim Spieth / zakè, Thore Pfeiffer / Kinbrae, and Blank Gloss.

$18.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 2/24/2023

There's no 123 without 4 in Kompakt's beloved Speicher series. Robag Wruhme is back with two intense, low-slung monster tunes in his unique masterful fashion. "Glut" is destined to set your peak time dancefloor on fire with its killer bassline and trippy sequences. "Un-spok-en" is equally relentless and unfathomable, garnished with a haunting vocal snippet.

$16.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 2/24/2023

Egypt-born Barcelona resident Ahmed Raxon has proven himself to be one of the most consistent DJ producers of his generation. His ability to make big room techno funky and highly entertaining has landed him releases on some of techno's finest powerhouses like Cocoon, Drumcode, or Ellum. His new double header for Speicher again ticks all the right boxes. "Slip Mode" is a robotic workout with that trademark irresistible Raxon drive. "Nu Waze" is more of a cheeky affair, combining an Arab quarter tone hook with an ultra-funky back beat that would make "Phunk Phenomena"-era Armand Van Helden proud.

$16.00 IN STOCK

Melt is the debut full-length album by Blank Gloss, the Sacramento duo of Patrick Hills and Morgan Fox. Attentive listeners will recall their lovely contribution to Kompakt's Pop Ambient 2021, "Of A Vessel", which reappears here; others might know their 2020 mini-album, January, released on the stylish Miami label, Night Young. With Melt, Blank Gloss make a heavy contribution to Kompakt's ongoing explorations of the hundreds of hues of Pop Ambience. A lush dream of an album, it's a remarkable index of the gilded eternities that you can magic from a reduced tonal palette: glistening guitars, ruminative piano, warps and weaves of subtle drone and hum. The two members of Blank Gloss met through their shared involvement in punk and experimental music. Fox's band had recorded at Hills' Earthtone studio a number of times; they hit it off and made the decision to explore making music together. Their initial explorations resulted in their mini-album, January; for Melt, they aimed for something more minimal and improvised. Choosing not to spend too much time hyper-focused on any one thing freed Fox and Hills to make music that's guided by intuition, inhabiting the moment and reaching for the next surprising possibility. The long reels of e-bow guitar that wind through opener "Those Who Plant" ease the listener into an album that says plenty by doing less: witness the dream scripts that play out through pieces like "Hollowed Out" and "Of A Vessel", the gentle weightlessness of "Almost Home", or the clusters of guitar, expressive yet restrained, that sculpt "Rags" into being. It's an album that feels sui generis, somehow, much as it clearly sits within a number of fields -- pop ambient, touches of new age and drone music. Some provisional clues, though, for music that echoes Melt's loveliness: the humble ambience of the artists on Cold Blue Music; the eventless horizon of Bark Psychosis' "Pendulum Man"; the emotive pointillism of Labradford; some of the snippets of song that drift through Pieter Nooten and Michael Brook's Sleeps With The Fishes. Like all of this music, Melt embraces a radical ambiguity, one that allows the listener to enter the frame and inhabit the corners of the duo's music. There's pleasure and joy here too, of course -- you can hear it in the ease of the playing and the beauty of the melodies that Blank Gloss carefully dapple across the tonal field.

$16.00 NOT IN STOCK

The 23rd edition of the Pop Ambient compilation, compiled as always by Wolfgang Voigt. With the first tracks of Leandro Fresco/Thore Pfeiffer, Gen Pop (Burger, Pfeiffer, Würden), Morgen Wurde featuring Tetsuroh Konishi, and Max Würden up to Triola's gloomy and melancholic "Kupferblüte", the feeling of a slowness and calmness not experienced before, of an exceedingly lively standstill, creeps over us. A mental state that resembles dreams, in which you follow strange events as if paralyzed, yet awake and sensory. The Cologne-based Sono Kollektiv, an association of experimental artists Annie Bloch, Stefanie Grawe, Joel Jaffe, Alex Linster, Luis Weiß, Moritz Riesenbeck, Lukas Schäfer, Emily Wittbrodt, and Max Würden, is represented for the first time with two contributions on Pop Ambient. The two works, the fragile "Bolzano Sessions IV" and the rather light-flooded "Bolzano Sessions V" nestle perfectly into the musical whole of this year's compilation, not only in terms of their majestic leisureliness. In Jens-Uwe Beyer's "Nero", melancholic guitar chords reduced to the bare minimum are carried away by the wind like leaves, the reverberation holding the last note so long that it almost comes to a stop in the ear. If you like it synesthetic, look at the once again ravishing cover artwork by Veronika Unland right at this moment. Colors and shapes in which there is both everything and nothing to discover. Both feel equally right. The final third of Pop Ambient 2023 begins with Reich & Würden's herbaceous "Receiver," a track so dignified and carried by pads reminiscent of the sound of bagpipes. The slowness is joined by togetherness at the end: Pop Ambient veteran Joachim Spieth cooperates with American sound artist zakè on his literally weightless "Air", Thore Pfeiffer co-produced the wonderful "Instinct" with Scottish brother duo Andy and Mike Truscott aka Kinbrae. California duo Patrick Hills and Morgan Fox aka Blank Gloss close out with the yearning "Down At The Heel."

CD features Leandro Fresco / Thore Pfeiffer, Gen Pop, Morgen Wurde, Tetsuroh Konishi, Max Würden, Triola, Sono Kollektiv, Jens-Uwe Beyer, Reich & Würden, Joachim Spieth / zakè, Thore Pfeiffer / Kinbrae, Blank Gloss, and Ümit Han.

$35.50 IN STOCK

For over two decades, Kasper Bjørke has cut his own path, as a solo artist and enthusiastic collaborator. Bjørke's Copenhagen home may be one of Europe's great cultural hubs, and he's certainly added a paragraph or two to that story, but his music is distinctly international. Even a cursory listen exposes an impressive, ever-evolving career. However, few expected him to initiate the collaborative ambient/neo-classical project Kasper Bjørke Quartet. In 2018, The Fifty Eleven Project (KOM 393LP) was released on Kompakt Records, a deeply personal record that musically documents Bjørkes encounter with, and triumph over, cancer. The album topped many critics' lists, and was included among The Guardian's Best Contemporary Albums of the year. Mother represents a quantum leap forward. Literally, when you consider the terrestrial shifts that informed it. Six compositions explore what the evolution of our planet sounds like. While Holst may have gotten there first, Mother singularly focuses on the orb where we reside, from its formation, to its likely conclusion. Other artists have tackled song cycles that parallel a day, a year, or even a lifetime. Mother spans a timeframe from 4.5 billion years ago up to humankind's impending demise. It hints at how that may be sooner than we think, as well as the earth's resilience, and the promise of another chapter. Additional gravity comes courtesy of evocative choir arrangements -- and marimba recorded at the Copenhagen Opera House. "Formation" condenses 20 million years of runaway accretion into 20 minutes. It is sublimely padded by feature artist Sofie Birch's gentle synths. "Abiogenesis" intimates a different type of emergence: the first life to inhabit our nascent planet. The entire cosmos is condensed into the layered vocals of Philip|Schneider. Birch returns on "Miocene," which signals the divergence of proto-humans from primates not with foreboding, but rather cascaded notes and swells adumbrating a pure and curious being, revealing nothing of what the Catch-22 of knowledge will bring. That's addressed in the diptych of "Anthropocene" and "Tipping Points," respectively marking the dawn and foreshadowing the probable downfall of homo sapiens, through wondrous advancements and their climate damaging byproducts. It's tempting to think the album's finale, "Requiem," implies only a dark conclusion, owing to its sparkling verrillon's coronach, and the return of Philip|Schneider's empyrean vocals, but its juxtaposition with revolving, enigmatic piano chords infers the earth will enter its next act. Mother is a staggering achievement, encouraging contemplative thought.

$15.50 IN STOCK

Italian duo Agents Of Time have been incredibly busy over the past few years, from releasing a string of classic singles -- including their recent single for Afterlife, "The Mirage" -- to remixing The Weeknd's "Take My Breath", which appeared on his recent Dawn FM (Alternative World). But the biggest news is here now -- their second album, Universo, is ready. Elevating their trademark melodic techno with an exquisite pop-ness, Universo has found its ideal home with Kompakt, following their Music Made Paradise 2020 debut EP for the label (KOM 417EP). It's a meeting of minds that makes perfect sense. Andrea Di Ceglie and Luigi Tutolo, the two members of Agents Of Time, used their time during the pandemic to work on Universo, an album loosely conceptualized around their "personal universe", a manifestation of the world Di Ceglie and Tutolo built both within and around their studio. This accounts for the sparkle and brightness of Universo -- it's full of personality, vim and vigor, the duo experimenting with their music, exploring its furthest corners. If you come to Universo expecting just another album of melodic techno, get ready to be pleasantly surprised -- there's a whole lot more going on here, and it's all equally compelling. After a typically poetic opening gesture -- the swirling, synesthetic, self-titled intro track -- expectations are immediately blindsided with the two-step pop of "Fallin'", sung with gentle clarity by guest Audrey Janssens, a dream of a song that harks back to the glory days of early '00s UK garage. "Interstellar Cowboy" is a confident, lithe, disco-fied strut; the gentle minor-key piano of "Liquid Fantasy" spirals into a gorgeously melancholy techno-pop epic, Vicky Who?'s voice rich with yearning. Janssens also reappears on the electro-swirl of "Poison"; "Dream Vision" revisits their single "The Mirage", soft with sweeping strings, loaded with drama; "Part Of Life" sashays into view with a schaffel-stomp. This rich variety throws the more dancefloor-focused tracks, like "Ciao", into even starker relief -- they're more decisive, streamlined, yet rich with detail, chugging, Moroder-esque bass meeting strobe-lit synths that fire melodies out into the firmament. Universo feels texturally dense, but it still breathes, its sounds so tactile you want to reach out and grab them, its tunes so seductive you can't get them out of your head. Universo is a fiercely beautiful album, brave in its spirit, a perfectly poised meeting-point of pop melody and stylish, lush techno.

$15.50 IN STOCK

It's common knowledge that Kompakt's Total series serves as our yearbook, a musical wrap up of the past 12 months. Therefore, it doesn't come as a surprise that 2022's edition is informed by another pandemic year, where dancefloors were still mostly deserted and the devastating developments in Eastern Europe. Kompakt's A&R team still kept on foot on the imaginary dancefloor, while scouting different realms apart from the big room euphoria. Anyway, brain dance has always been a key ingredient to our catalogue. Kompakt founding member Jörg Burger adequately opens Total 22 with a groovy midtempo chugger that reminisces "Blue Lines" era Massive Attack as much as the late Andy Weatherall's low slung psychedelia. Jürgen Paape is calling a spade a spade with "Le Monde À Changé" -- the world has changed. Parisian rookies, Archil & Leon won the label's hearts over with an EP full of laidback, funky pop played on their self-made instruments. "Loving You" rightly made it onto this compilation. Matias Aguayo returns to the mothership with "The Tiger", a lascivious beast of a track, perfect for getting lost in reveries. Dutch-American techno legend Orlando Voorn continues his foray into Kompakt's sonic continuum with "Deeper Shades". Perel is spreading love with her ravishing piano house tune "Matrix", taken from her recent album Jesus Was An Alien (KOMP 171CD/KOM 451LP). The Voigt brothers (Voigt & Voigt) are further building the vibe with their crispy exclusive contribution "Why", before Jonathan Kaspar ultimately pushes the energy to (almost) post-pandemic levels. Barnt's tranced-up secret weapon "This Is For Decor Only" makes a welcome appearance and Mexican musician Rebolledo delivers a first solo appearance on Total with his trademark hypnotic desert sound. Agents Of Time are melting hearts with "Blu" while proudly putting Italian vocals back into Italo house. Michael gives the overly talented Danish singer songwriter eee gee a proper Michael Mayer treatment before a whole bunch of Berlin legends, Bleep Gigaverse, are closing Total 22 with a bang.

$35.50 IN STOCK

Double LP version. Italian duo Agents Of Time have been incredibly busy over the past few years, from releasing a string of classic singles -- including their recent single for Afterlife, "The Mirage" -- to remixing The Weeknd's "Take My Breath", which appeared on his recent Dawn FM (Alternative World). But the biggest news is here now -- their second album, Universo, is ready. Elevating their trademark melodic techno with an exquisite pop-ness, Universo has found its ideal home with Kompakt, following their Music Made Paradise 2020 debut EP for the label (KOM 417EP). It's a meeting of minds that makes perfect sense. Andrea Di Ceglie and Luigi Tutolo, the two members of Agents Of Time, used their time during the pandemic to work on Universo, an album loosely conceptualized around their "personal universe", a manifestation of the world Di Ceglie and Tutolo built both within and around their studio. This accounts for the sparkle and brightness of Universo -- it's full of personality, vim and vigor, the duo experimenting with their music, exploring its furthest corners. If you come to Universo expecting just another album of melodic techno, get ready to be pleasantly surprised -- there's a whole lot more going on here, and it's all equally compelling. After a typically poetic opening gesture -- the swirling, synesthetic, self-titled intro track -- expectations are immediately blindsided with the two-step pop of "Fallin'", sung with gentle clarity by guest Audrey Janssens, a dream of a song that harks back to the glory days of early '00s UK garage. "Interstellar Cowboy" is a confident, lithe, disco-fied strut; the gentle minor-key piano of "Liquid Fantasy" spirals into a gorgeously melancholy techno-pop epic, Vicky Who?'s voice rich with yearning. Janssens also reappears on the electro-swirl of "Poison"; "Dream Vision" revisits their single "The Mirage", soft with sweeping strings, loaded with drama; "Part Of Life" sashays into view with a schaffel-stomp. This rich variety throws the more dancefloor-focused tracks, like "Ciao", into even starker relief -- they're more decisive, streamlined, yet rich with detail, chugging, Moroder-esque bass meeting strobe-lit synths that fire melodies out into the firmament. Universo feels texturally dense, but it still breathes, its sounds so tactile you want to reach out and grab them, its tunes so seductive you can't get them out of your head. Universo is a fiercely beautiful album, brave in its spirit, a perfectly poised meeting-point of pop melody and stylish, lush techno.

$18.00 LOW STOCK LEVEL

With The Tiger, Matias Aguayo returns to Kompakt with his first EP for the label since 2014's Legende. Since then, he's been busy with all manner of experiments and explorations -- a monthly radio show on Worldwide FM, 2019's Support Alien Invasion; the essential El Rudo Del House series; an album on Crammed Discs with his group The Desdemonas. But something special happens when Aguayo returns to the mothership, as though he's reconnecting with something essential: "pop melancholy is just right there," he says. On The Tiger, Aguayo is in touch with the core of the flame, the music that's at the center of his being. While most of the music may have originated "in the foggy Mexican forest," he's sure that the EP is "still a Cologne record," something you can hear as soon as the prowling bass, shuffling rhythms and ghostly voices of the title track lope stealthily into earshot. The titular character is caught up in the sensuous tangle of the night, that space between dusk's delirium and dawn's dreaming. Aguayo sings, "Do you see the same I see? Are we having the same dream?" -- here, he's picturing an after-hours revelation, "on a warm muggy night with all sorts of background noise from various nightwalking animals -- but at the same time, I was a city dweller stranded in the jungle, who still dressed like he was about to go to the disco." The ascending, ever-circling bass of "Nightshift, The Red" tells another story, a spiraling mantra that's hypnotically psychedelic, yet elegant, refined, filled with sonic textures you can almost reach out and touch, like knotted twists of exotic fabric. "Show Me What You're Feeling" takes you back to the 1990s, with Aguayo re-working some vocal and lyrical fragments from three decades ago, its beautiful uncertainty remarkable in what Aguayo calls its "extremely emotional openness". Dappled with melancholy, it's a lover's hymn to intimacy and vulnerability. Aguayo signs off The Tiger with "El Propio Propio (Jubliant Mix)", a celebratory ending to an EP that's rich and complex, full of lovely musical moments -- the tender melodies woven through "Show Me What You're Feeling"; the warping, pliable, plastic textures that Aguayo crumples and crinkles through "El Propio Propio".

$32.00 IN STOCK

It's common knowledge that Kompakt's Total series serves as our yearbook, a musical wrap up of the past 12 months. Therefore, it doesn't come as a surprise that 2022's edition is informed by another pandemic year, where dancefloors were still mostly deserted and the devastating developments in Eastern Europe. Kompakt's A&R team still kept on foot on the imaginary dancefloor, while scouting different realms apart from the big room euphoria. Anyway, brain dance has always been a key ingredient to our catalogue. Kompakt founding member Jörg Burger adequately opens Total 22 with a groovy midtempo chugger that reminisces "Blue Lines" era Massive Attack as much as the late Andy Weatherall's low slung psychedelia. Jürgen Paape is calling a spade a spade with "Le Monde À Changé" -- the world has changed. Matias Aguayo returns to the mothership with "The Tiger", a lascivious beast of a track, perfect for getting lost in reveries. Perel is spreading love with her ravishing piano house tune "Matrix", taken from her recent album Jesus Was An Alien (KOMP 171CD/KOM 451LP). Jonathan Kaspar ultimately pushes the energy to (almost) post-pandemic levels. Mexican musician Rebolledo delivers a first solo appearance on Total with his trademark hypnotic desert sound. Michael gives the overly talented Danish singer songwriter eee gee a proper Michael Mayer treatment. Double-LP version features Voigt & Voigt, Perel, Rebolledo, Jürgen Paape, Bruno, Matias Aguayo, Jonathan Kaspar, eee gee, Michael Mayer, and Jörg Burger.

$18.00 LOW STOCK LEVEL

The long-running Kompakt imprint will release an EP by German DJ and producer Sascha Funke in September. Sharing five tracks that traverse quirky house and techno, Treets marks Funke's monumental return to Kompakt since his Zug um Zug two-tracker in 2014. Speaking about Treets, Funke says he is "very happy to be back on the mothership Kompakt" after an eight-year break. As one would expect with Funke, the EP fits the cosmic world of Kompakt to a tee. The title track conveys a weird, tripped-out atmosphere as an alien-like vocal burbles between an acid bassline and squeaky percussion. It's a tantalizing glimpse of Funke's freaky underworld. "E_Plus" follows a similar wonked-out vein, only this time, the vibe is ominous. Funke pairs an orchestral vocal with bleepy pads and signature acid-drenched melody 00 a solid offering oddball of energy. On "Alles Paletti", a 2-step drum pattern and string of bright claps create a sunny soundscape, complemented by a robust bassline and ethereal synth notes. It's fairytale house music, the kind only Funke can produce. The penultimate track "Haus More" is subdued, as chugging drums slither between a wobbly melody.

$15.50 IN STOCK

Italy's Agents Of Time have long been on the Kompakt radar. It started thanks to their exemplary releases on Correspondant and other labels such as Stem, Ellum plus 2019's collaboration with Mathew Jonson (from whom their name is inspired by). Michael Mayer had chance to play with them last summer at one of their Obscura parties and their friendship was cemented. Which leads now to their four track Kompakt debut, entitled Music Made Paradise. From Kompakt's early days of releasing landmark tracks from Justus Köhncke, the label has never been shy of exploring the enigmatic fringes of disco in their own way. Agents Of Time follow these footsteps but head into galactic territory with Music Made Paradise. They continue their knack for bridging synth-wave with modern bass rhythms in a means which are purely designed for today's dancefloors. This label debut is an incredible selection of music from this talented trio. French touch meets Italo chic on "Drive Me Crazy". At first, "My Heart Is A Microchip" comes across as a segue track, but opens into cascading synths and a predatory breakbeat to lead its own charge. "Under Control" is classy Moroder disco brought to the modern age. Aptly titled "Interstate 10" is an EP highlight -- the percussion lead is infectious and ready for prime-time exploration.

$18.00 LOW STOCK LEVEL

New great four-tracker EP by Jonathan Kaspar. Renowned German artist Jonathan Kaspar will make an eagerly-awaited return to Kompakt next month via his Umfang EP, with the four-track offering acting as his first full-length solo release on the label since March 2021. "My third Kompakt EP feels particularly special as it is the first time I'm releasing on my home label with dancefloors being open again. The result is four different tracks producing four different vibes, each of which transport my pandemic desires into today's world." --Jonathan Kaspar The title track leads the way, taking the form of a retro-leaning cut that features whirring synth stabs throughout. "Kupfer" comes next, a track packed full of emotive chords and a delicate underlying bassline, before "Am Raster" leads us to the dancefloor and beyond courtesy of minimal-laced kick patterns. "Gemach, Gemach Herr Rabe" ends proceedings on an incandescent note, as symphonic keys combine with intermittent crow samples to form a slice of wholesome, nature-inspired musical bliss. Hailing from Bonn, Germany, Jonathan Kaspar is an integral part of the scene in Cologne. He is a resident at the city's renowned Gewölbe club and also one of the current main figures at the legendary Kompakt label. His discography boasts releases on some of contemporary dance music's most esteemed labels, including Innervisions, Cocoon Recordings, and Crosstown Rebels to name a few, whilst performances at Watergate (Berlin), NDSM (Amsterdam) and Extrema Festival (Hasselt) have brought his sound to global audiences. The Umfang EP proves exactly why he has become one of Germany's most exciting prospects in recent times and with a highlight year ahead, the future certainly shines bright for Jonathan.

$18.00 IN STOCK

Bleep was the hype par excellence at the beginning of the techno movement in 1990-91. Bleep -- inspired by the beeping sound of small toy robots -- stood for a phase of good mood and sounds that had never existed before. LFO with their groundbreaking track of the same name and Tricky Disco were two protagonists of those happy days. More than 30 years later, Jürgen Laarmann (editor of the legendary Frontpage Magazine 89-97, promoter of Love Parade and Mayday 91-97, Bash Records 91-94) had the thought that nothing is missing in current electronic dance music as much as bleep. The idea came about when discussing how to create a soundtrack for the art and techno hype of the day and the crypto art moving currenting stirring up the art market. The comeback of bleeps in a new guise is surely a tried-and-true remedy: the Bleep Gigaverse makes the blockchain shake. With his old friend and Bash Records buddy Mijk van Dijk, Laarmann developed the "NFT" anthem with the striking Fazer bullet intro and a fat 2022 bleep that has been extensively tested on post-Corona dancefloors. Club legend Justus Köhncke (Whirlpool Productions among others) himself a big Bleep fan and Laarmann's neighbor, contributed a house mix. Most recently, they managed to bring the great Michael Wells -- the Godfather of Bleep into the Bleep Gigaverse. He contributes as Tricky Disco with all new bleeps and also with a hardstyle mix, so the EP offers a spectrum with really different mixes.

$18.00 LOW STOCK LEVEL

The kick drums of tomorrow once again begin to rumble in the smog infested, strobe-stricken clubs of today. Kompakt's Speicher series always strives to provide the dance floors with a soundtrack to grant our mind and body temporary refuge and escape. Kompakt feel it is more than ever needed considering the darkness that surrounds us all in these times. Kompakt welcome back Marc Romboy. A gifted producer, DJ and friend that has been behind the decks as a key supporter of Kompakt's music since the beginning. Beyond that, Marc is an astute musician, with releases on many of the esteemed; from Ovum to Innervisions and of course his own Systematic Recordings his music is incredibly varied. They say that the third time is a charm, but in this case he returns to our Speicher series again with a two track EP that feels more like a sequel that is true to the excellent consistency of his previous output. Armed only with a Buchla Music Easel, the Roland TR-909 and an Arp 2600, "Randomized" is pure techno as it tweaks and twists into a complete frenzy. Marc pays homage to the legendary Californian synthesizer inventor Don Buchla with the very trippy churner, "Monsieur Buchla".

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For over three decades, Orlando Voorn has been a force in dance music like few others. One of the first Dutch producers to establish a connection between Detroit and Amsterdam (check "Game One" his collaboration with Juan Atkins for Metroplex). He has recorded under a trove of alias that include Fix, Frequency, Format, to name a few. He maintains a relentless release schedule, and we are very grateful that he found the time to make his return to Kompakt after his well received 2021 Internal Destination EP. The track "So Deep" lives up to the title. A soulful vocal and sincere house beat simmer through an eerie soundscape loop. "Deeper Shades" keeps the vibe of the A side and makes for a serene and moody deep house journey of epic proportions. Last but not least, "March Of Freedom" brings out the best of Orlando's visionary production. Sweeping synths and sounds cascade into a momentous track that fits the peak time or in those eternal late-night sets.

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A double A side from two artists on Kompakt's beloved Speicher series hasn't come in quite some time so the label figured it was high time for the return. A full dose of floor-filled power for the festivals of 2022. The duo that are Extrawelt should be no strangers to your ears -- since you last heard from them in 2019 when they took over Speicher 110, they've released with Feel My Bicep, Further Electronix, Watergate, Dream Awake, Traum, and of course Cocoon. "Stabilo" is raw and powerful, a synthesis of their analog prowess with a beat that is just unstoppable. Say hello to 1979 as comes onboard with his debut with Speicher. Famously known for the HOSH collaboration "Midnight" (Ministry Of Sound) and fresh off a remix for Speicher alumni Anfisa Letyago, Kompakt happily feeds you a summer bomb to nourish your peak time palate. A provocatively raw bass drum and dirty synth keep "Vulcano" in an eternal eruptive state. Take every breath as an event.

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Siberian born and since 2010, a proud resident of Naples where her musical journey began, Anfisa Letyago has brought to the next generation of techno DJ/producers a sincerity and passion few others can. Of which she is successfully channeling to an incredible growing fanbase. From her releases on Drumcode, Rekids, and her newly minted imprint N:S:DA, Kompakt welcome her to their long running Speicher series. "Keep Flight" is bare and punishing. Taking cues from the greats -- think early Hood, Broom, or Surgeon -- Anfisa takes you down a relentless wormhole fortified by a pulsing vocal and EBM synth. In contrast, the flip side "Rhythm Tension" is a more slowed down, acid squelched affair where Anfisa's vocals keep the vibe fully in check for those feel good moments everyone is currently needing in a DJ set.

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Kompakt fans should have been familiar with the name Nicky Elisabeth for some time now. At the beginning of 2019, Nicky joined the Kompakt family and from then on was spotted more and more often not only at Kompakt events, but also in the line-ups of renowned festivals (DGTL, Strafwerk, amongst others) and clubs. And who doesn't remember the legendary "Kompakt Pop Up Party" in October 2019 during the Amsterdam Dance Event, streamed live from Nicky's living room, where together with Michael Mayer and Rex The Dog she finally conquered Kompakt's hearts in a flash... Nicky Elisabeth lives and works in Amsterdam and is one of the resident DJs of De Marktkantine, one of the most established clubs in the Dutch capital and long-time host of Kompakt parties of all kinds. Anyone who has experienced one of these parties there will find much of the special atmosphere and punchy sound of those nights in Nicky's Kompakt debut 12" Celeste. It seems obvious to interpret the two tracks "Celeste" and "Say" as a kind of loving homage to the Kompakt sound of the last three decades. With sparing means Nicky manages to elicit a maximum of energy and catchiness from her two tracks, always carried by a sure instinct for breaks and the right timing for small escalations -- something that good DJs simply have in their blood. In the end, it's always about the dramaturgy. The two remixes of the title track "Celeste" from the hands of the grand masters Robag Wruhme and Roman Flügel are no less "celestial" than the original. Robag Wruhme in particular gives the piece something wonderfully floating and dreamy in his arrangement, as he also managed to do on his 12-inch Yes/Calma Calma (KOM EX115EP). Roman builds in little deconstructions here and there, sometimes going left, sometimes heading right, to finally let himself be carried away by the good-humored nineties vibe. One can hardly wait to finally experience all this on the dancefloor again.

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LP version. The dancefloor as devotional is a trope as old as the club itself. But, with her new album, Jesus Was An Alien, Perel subverts the stakes of our collective communion: Who are our arms raised to? Who are we seeking salvation from? "Jesus Was An Alien is a discourse about whether Jesus was an actual alien," she explains, "but also a social debate about what is and implies religion today." She offers up her provocative second record -- her first on Kompakt -- as a soundtrack for the listener's own journey through the intricacies and ironies of modern belief. Picking up on the themes she brought to her debut, the 2018's LP Hermetica on DFA, Perel has created ten tracks rich with spirit and allusion. Her influences are myriad, from the indie dance hitmakers of the early 2000s -- Hot Chip, Simian Mobile Disco, Justice -- to rave compilations that predate her ascent to the DJ booth, to more abstract inputs. Living with synesthesia, she says, "I feel emotions and colors piling up inside me . . . My tracks are color streams that tell a story." Jesus Was An Alien is not just multicolored -- it's multi-lingual too, slipping in-and-out of tongues in a single track, sometimes dispensing with words altogether (the ecstatic breakdown of "The Principle of Vibration"). The album features Perel's voice almost entirely but for her special collaboration with Canadian songwriter Marie Davidson on the title track. "Jesus Was An Alien" stirs like a late-night revelation, a heady discovery awakened in the dark. Perel lays out a fiercely disciplined electro pulse, with Davidson's proclamations growing more fervent over the song's sensual stride. Perel drives further not only spiritually but sonically across the ten tracks, taking thrilling production risks: standouts include her breathy vocals atop a melodic piano strut on "Matrix"; the delirious blur of ghostly chimes and disembodied voices of "Religion"; and the retro radiance of "The Principle of Vibration", in which Perel exhorts you to "come on and vibe" over an athletic riff and shuffling percussion. "Kill The System", meanwhile, hits the listener with tense acid pulses, building to only an imagined release and calls out the end of patriarchy. Album closer "Am Kanal" starts as a pensive cloud of a track, finally breaking into a rich textural rain of synths and stabs. The variety throughout Jesus Was An Alien underlines Perel's purpose in this latest project; she's experimenting her way to answers -- or maybe just more questions.

$15.50 IN STOCK

The dancefloor as devotional is a trope as old as the club itself. But, with her new album, Jesus Was An Alien, Perel subverts the stakes of our collective communion: Who are our arms raised to? Who are we seeking salvation from? "Jesus Was An Alien is a discourse about whether Jesus was an actual alien," she explains, "but also a social debate about what is and implies religion today." She offers up her provocative second record -- her first on Kompakt -- as a soundtrack for the listener's own journey through the intricacies and ironies of modern belief. Picking up on the themes she brought to her debut, the 2018's LP Hermetica on DFA, Perel has created ten tracks rich with spirit and allusion. Her influences are myriad, from the indie dance hitmakers of the early 2000s -- Hot Chip, Simian Mobile Disco, Justice -- to rave compilations that predate her ascent to the DJ booth, to more abstract inputs. Living with synesthesia, she says, "I feel emotions and colors piling up inside me . . . My tracks are color streams that tell a story." Jesus Was An Alien is not just multicolored -- it's multi-lingual too, slipping in-and-out of tongues in a single track, sometimes dispensing with words altogether (the ecstatic breakdown of "The Principle of Vibration"). The album features Perel's voice almost entirely but for her special collaboration with Canadian songwriter Marie Davidson on the title track. "Jesus Was An Alien" stirs like a late-night revelation, a heady discovery awakened in the dark. Perel lays out a fiercely disciplined electro pulse, with Davidson's proclamations growing more fervent over the song's sensual stride. Perel drives further not only spiritually but sonically across the ten tracks, taking thrilling production risks: standouts include her breathy vocals atop a melodic piano strut on "Matrix"; the delirious blur of ghostly chimes and disembodied voices of "Religion"; and the retro radiance of "The Principle of Vibration", in which Perel exhorts you to "come on and vibe" over an athletic riff and shuffling percussion. "Kill The System", meanwhile, hits the listener with tense acid pulses, building to only an imagined release and calls out the end of patriarchy. Album closer "Am Kanal" starts as a pensive cloud of a track, finally breaking into a rich textural rain of synths and stabs. The variety throughout Jesus Was An Alien underlines Perel's purpose in this latest project; she's experimenting her way to answers -- or maybe just more questions.