Remember Kompakt Extra? Once a deluge of choice DJ material—the Cologne powerhouse's floor-ready sublabel released 13 Speicher 12-inches at their peak in 2007—its output has slowed to an unsteady trickle. And with releases mostly coming from German techno artists or within the Kompakt extended family, Extra has admittedly been short of "wow factor" recently. So on paper, a split release from Ostgut Ton's Nick Höppner and Glaswegian party-starter Auntie Flo, is exactly the sort of intriguing (if not double-take-inducing) lineup Extra could use right now.
And while the resultant Speicher 72 doesn't contain either artist's most distinctive tracks, they're a breath of fresh air nevertheless. Höppner's "Ipso Facto" has a hit of Kompakt impresario Wolfgang Voigt coursing through its veins, with Gas-style murk flowing up like muddy floodwater through otherwise squeaky-clean sound design. Auntie Flo opens "Sun Ritual" with a quasi-melodic drum break that wouldn't sound out of place on an old Villalobos remix. But as mallets begin tapping out a simple melody, Flo starts to settle into the shuffling sound he's known for, even if (like Höppner) he's let a cool forest breeze temper his usually sweat-stimulating sound.
