Kompakt Germany Vinilo y CD

Review: This year marks the 24th edition of Kompakts 'Pop Ambient' series, starting way back in 2001, a celebration of predominantly German collaborators who have come together to create a digital encyclopedia of ambient for over two decades. 'Octarine' by Mikkel Metal is a gentle, layered vibraphone track that conjures dream sequences, it's subtle guitar buildup in the back adding a sense of unease into the mix. 'Panta Rhei' by Joachim Speith is a more typical piece, a droning ambient synth creating a cloudlike texture - think Lovesliescrushing or DJ Lostboi.

Review: For those that enjoy the more accessible, melodic end of ambient and deeper, gentler explorations of electronica, Kompakt's long-running Pop Ambient series has always been a must-check annual treat. The Cologne label's latest edition undoubtedly lives up to the quality of its many predecessors. Beginning with the spacey swell of T. Raumschmiere's 'Eternal', the collection attractively sashays between delicate, new-age influenced aural bliss (Mikkel Metal), immersive sunrise soundscapes (Yui Onodera), birdsong-smattered beatless beauty (Triola), enveloping sound design epics (Thore Pfieffer and Niko Tzoukmanis), crackling ambient transmissions from another dimension (Sono Kollektiv), nods to the Orb's FFWD collaboration with Robert Fripp (Blank Gloss) and cavernous explorations of slowly shifting audio textures (Umit Han).

Review: Kompakt unveils the third volume of Jorg Burger's Velvet Desert Music compilation series, dedicated to music that hits the sweet spot between the cinematic, the (pop) ambient, and the psychedelic. The Cologne-born musician is known for his various releases on Kompakt and adjacent collaborative efforts with the likes of Wolfgang Voigt; but this series is his curatorial crown jewel, spanning no end of oddball electronic mystique that touch on every cornerstone from dub to post-punk to minimal to groove, with the aim of finding music that "leads out of the desert and into the velvet universe".