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| Pitchfork |
 Over the past decade Kompakt seems to have mostly lost grips on what made their seminal Total series a must-hear. Total 3 and 4 weren't great merely because they contained a lot of fantastic tracks; they were great because they offered a peek into a developing strain of electronic music and, as such, were of a piece. They often felt as much like albums as compilations. Changes were natural; Kompakt grew in esteem and minimal techno progressed from upstart to establishment. The Total series morphed from essential to... a consistently lukewarm and increasingly lengthy collection of label tracks. For years, this has been acceptable.Total 11 doesn't reverse this trend-- it's too long and offers less in the way of keepers than its immediate two or three predecessors-- but it does seem to signal a small but meaningful shift in the label's makeup. For the first time in the Total series, the Kompakt label seems explicitly in tune with the heritage of German electronic music, rather than obliquely so. To put it another way, Kompakt artists have always owed debts to Kraftwerk and Cluster-- how could they not?-- but they buried those affectations in a unique style. Total 11 is backward-looking and variant in ways not often associated with the Cologne label. As recently as Total 9, Tim Finney said Kompakt's "apparently endless stream of glistening tech-house chugathons shows no sign of flagging." Total 11 flags: DJ Koze (leading off for the second straight year; probably time to drop the "underrated" label) dives further into his own Wonka-inspired hole; Mugwump all but ditch techno, favoring instead a looped slide guitar and loping back-porch beat; It's a Fine Line's "Eins Fine Grind" set a rockabilly riff to... Hammond organs? There's very few-frills pop music available too, in Popnoname's years-too-late Postal Service impersonation and GusGus' Ada-aided tropical lounge....full text |
| Bbc |
| Continuing to answer the poser “When is a techno label not a techno label?”, Cologne-based imprint Kompakt has garnered a deserved reputation as electronic innovators putting a humanistic face to the minimal-leaning side of the genre and beyond. This two-CD compilation continues an annual series stretching back to 1999, offering a route into realms often impenetrable to outsiders in other hands. But while constant evolution characterises the German stable, Total 11 doesn’t need to redefine Kompakt as such, because its eclectic roster have busied themselves doing exactly that over the past 12 months. For dabblers, the most immediately recognisable conspirators – to listeners in the indie-rock/techno crossover of music’s great notional Venn diagram, at least – are pigeonhole-detonating Swedish soloist The Field and bleary-eyed digi-psych London twosome Walls. Both are present and correct here, respectively with Caroline and a refix of Hang Four by related production team Allez-Allez. Yet they’re an entry point, rather than the pinnacle. Matias Aguayo lends the first genuine peak, the Chilean’s Rollerskate (Sanfuentes & Thunders version) polished into a funky hip-mover fit to please LCD Soundsystem disciples. That’s immediately superseded by Superpitcher’s Lapdance, its sleazily insistent nature rendering N*E*R*D’s previous widely dispensed wisdom on the subject comparatively wholesome....full text |
| Factmag |
| What’s a label to do after setting electronic music standards for 15 years? Release another Total compilation, of course. The latest year-in-review from Cologne-based label Kompakt is an orgiastic sampling of what’s driving dance music. A cast of veteran producers and several new names offers wide-ranging sounds, many of which lie outside the label’s sonic signature. Total 11 finds Kompakt being unpredictable and embracing the eclectic across its two discs, while still sticking close to the pulse of modern electronic music. The mid-tempo arrangements of the first CD shuffle through multiple subgenres. From languid machine-sampled techno (‘Mensch und Maschine’ by Jurgen Paape), it jumps to R&B bounce (‘Walk Over’ by Ada & Heiko Voss), spacey rockabilly (‘Eins Fine Grind’ by It’s A Fine Line), and even stuff that sounds like UK funky (‘St. Anne’ by Sebastien Bouchet). It’s so varied that the Field’s ‘Caroline’, which sounds like something Harmonia would have recorded 35 years ago, doesn’t seem out of place. Total 11’s track-to-track incongruity assures that everyone will be entertained. And, over the years Kompakt has shown that techno needn’t only be melodic, emotive, and immaculately produced – it can also be fun. Thus, less serious moments – the prankster, off-key vocals of ‘Lapdance’ by Superpitcher, and the sassy disco of Justus Kohnck’s ‘I Wouldn’t Wanna Be Like You’ – suggest that electronic music isn’t ruined if it’s humorous or whimsical. While much of Total 11 doesn’t capture the label’s core aesthetic, straight-laced techno isn’t completely forgotten. Label co-founder Michael Mayer contributes one of the few club-friendly numbers, the slow-building and sexy ‘Picanha Frenesi’. The modulating arpeggios of ‘Bruxelles’ by Coma, as well as rigid dynamics of ‘For Eves’ by Jonas Bering, bring to mind the linear manoeuvres of classic German techno....full text |
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