Total 12

Kompakt's 12th Total is a back to basics move. The sixth through 11th volumes of the series were double-disc compilations, most of which offered too much in the way of pleasant but indistinct house and techno. The rate of output and the size of the roster increased to such an extent that the label's level of quality control slipped a couple notches, though Kompakt itself remained one of Germany's leading dance music outlets. Total 12 not only scales the series back to one disc but centers around the label's old guard. Michael Mayer reduces WhoMadeWho's electro post-punk single "Every Minute Alone" into a lithe, sleek, spacy construct that accentuates the melancholy vocals. He also contributes "That's What I Told Sanchez," a raw jacking track -- one with some slightly disturbing vocal samples -- that would have made for a prime Speicher release. On Wolfgang Voigt's "Freiden" (not to be confused with Burger/Voigt's like-titled track from Pop Ambient 2009), a swaying opera sample is cradled in glistening, softly tapping ambient techno. Reinhard Voigt's first track since the tenth Total is similarly inviting, while Jörg Burger reactivates his chugging, prickly Modernist alias. Superpitcher and Matias Aguayo, both of whom were involved with Kompakt early on, add to the disc's low-key nature, though the latter's contribution is in line with the Cómeme label's animated humor and relentless hi-hats. Tracks from the second and most recent waves of Kompakt producers have a way of looking back, too; the grinding shuffle of Gui Boratto's "The Drill" nods toward the label's Schaffelfieber compilations, while Tale of Us' hazy, seductive mix of Gus Gus' "Over" could have fit on either Immer 2 or Immer 3. Mohn, another collaboration between Burger and Voigt, debuts with "Tiefental," which resembles a heavy and woozy remix of one of Voigt's All tracks. ~ Andy Kellman