Name: Pop Ambient 2023
Brand: Various

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

KOMPAKTCD173

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Colour

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2022-12-09

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

4250101445927

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Total Cap

1 / CD / Extended format: No / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

Artist

Various

Genre GB

Techno / Electro

Label GB

Kompakt

Kompakt is a renowned music label that was established in 1998. It originated from the transformation of Delirium, a record shop founded in Cologne in 1993. The label operates from its base at the Kompakt record store, which also features an online shop. Over the years, Kompakt has expanded its services to include artist booking and distribution for various artists and labels. Led by Wolfgang Voigt, Michael Mayer, Jürgen Paape, and managed by Jon Berry (4), Kompakt has become a prominent figure in the music industry.

With a rich history spanning over two decades, Kompakt has solidified its position as an influential force within the music scene. Its commitment to quality and innovation has garnered them widespread recognition and respect among both artists and fans alike.

As an esteemed label with *Kompakt* as their flagship brand, they have cultivated a diverse roster of talented musicians who continuously push boundaries across genres such as electronic, techno, ambient, and experimental music. Their dedication to curating exceptional sounds has made them a go-to destination for music enthusiasts seeking groundbreaking releases.

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 feat. 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 we 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" (only available on CD) 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 &amp; Würden's herbaceous "Receiver," a track so dignified and carried by pads reminiscent of the sound of bagpipes that it would have perfectly punctuated her majesty the Queen's 8-hour funeral ceremony - a wonderful example, by the way, of the spiritual confluence of deceleration and precision that eventually turns into trance. 

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 the vinyl version with the yearning "Down At The Heel," while that honour falls to debutant Ümit Han on the Pop Ambient CD. "Sieg über das Ungute" (victory over the unpleasant) in all its beauty brings us painfully back to reality. 

Pop Ambient 2023

Music GB