Kompakt Germany
2004
Touch
About This Album
The price Kompakt paid for its strong graphic identity and revered reputation can be summed up by one well-meaning but misguided phrase that is often used when discussing a bassline, a track, or even an entire DJ set: "Kompakt style." Despite releases that cover several stripes of dance and non-dance music, the concept of a Kompakt style shuts out a large portion of the label's output (in addition to shortchanging other producers and labels). We're talking about one of the most diverse dance labels around, something like a Sub Pop to Chain Reaction's Sarah. Michael Mayer, one of Kompakt's operators, deals with this very problem. None of his own adored tracks prior to Touch -- "Heaven," "17 & 4," "Amanda," "Love Is Stronger Than Pride," "Falling Hands," the co-productions with Reinhard Voigt, and on and on -- resemble one another beyond having a dance beat, and yet Immer and Fabric 13 -- his pair of mix albums from 2002 and 2003 -- have become so well-regarded that his name has become attached to the smooth-gliding, noir-ish kind of microhouse presented on both discs. Touch seems like a reaction to all of this.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,6 and 7)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.