You’ll likely be familiar with the format of Kompakt’s annual Pop Ambient combination – in which case you’ll know it takes the beats away to explore slow moving music for horizontal listening. This year’s model sees no reason to change that winning formula, beginning with the weather systems of Mohn’s ‘Manifesto’. Mohn is a pseudonym of Kompakt co-founder Wolfgang Voigt, who appears under his own name with the less certain ‘Rückverzauberung 5’, which proves a disorientating listen. The languid guitar line of Loops Of Your Heart’s ‘Riding The Bikes’ is far more comforting, as are the slowly shifting chords of Superpitcher’s ‘Jackson’ and Morek’s ‘Pan’. A compilation that delivers exactly what it set out to achieve.
4 out of 5
Reviewed By Ben Hogwood
