- Was Ist Musik
Japan’s Mule Musiq has been hosting Kompakt parties in Tokyo since 2002. Their 9th Kompakt party, however, was the closest to an actual “label showcase” thus far, with not one, not two, but three Kompakt artists performing. It proved an interesting night, with each artist highlighting different elements of Kompakt’s sound.
At first glance people may feel that trance has no place on the minimal Kompakt label. Nonetheless, touches of the sound have crept into the catalogue, such as on the opening track of Michael Mayer’s “Touch” album. Japan’s very own Kaito, however, is undoubtedly Kompakt’s king of “neo-trance”. Starting around half past one, Kaito performed a live set of old, new, and unreleased material, soaring uplifting melodies filling the club. Kaito’s music evokes feelings of joy, innocence, and unrestrained optimism. It’s a solid set and the new material sounds promising, but such optimistic sounds are much better served for the later hours of the morning, when the sun is about to rise outside and the remaining faithful clubbers are in need of a surge of uplifting energy.
"Justus Kohncke is nothing if not daring. His live set encapsulated both his love of shimmering techno and pop songs, mirroring the “double life” of his latest album “Doppelleben”."
Justus Kohncke is nothing if not daring. Exquisite techno and a Carly Simon cover in the same set? To quote one of Justus’ track titles, “The answer is yes”. His live set encapsulated both his love of shimmering techno and pop songs, mirroring the “double life” of his latest album “Doppelleben”. Dancefloor pieces such as a fantastic live version of “Timecode” segued into pop songs, such as his cover of Carly Simon’s “Coming Around Again” (“Alles Nochmal”) and the Kompakt classic “So Weit Wie Noch Nie”. Something of a dichotomy, but it’s worth remembering that Kompakt has always had something of a pop aesthetic; Justus is merely the clearest, most obvious example of this.
Clad in a baggy red t-shirt and baggy red shorts, Justus danced around the stage throwing his arms out theatrically, even coming to the front of the stage and sitting down, singing directly to the audience. It was evident that his performance was somewhat divisive; some clubbers, clearly not expecting a shot of pure pop mixed in with their techno, moved off the dancefloor to the bar. A sizable majority, however, stayed put on the dancefloor, enjoying the mix of styles. The ladies at Unit, in particular, whooped with approval whenever Justus would pick up the microphone and begin singing his pop ballads. For the people that stayed on the dancefloor, Justus’ love of both techno and pop was both clear and infectious in a set that was daring, interesting, and most of all, fun.
Tobias Thomas’s DJ set represented the classic subtle minimalism of Kompakt. Tobias built his set very carefully, each track ever so subtly building on the last, moving through an hour or so of minimal and slightly melancholic sounds. The beats gradually became stronger, the set moving into a solid core of rocking minimal sounds, such as the Michael Mayer/Superpitcher remix of Losoul’s “You Know”. It was clear that Tobias was judging his tracks and his audience carefully; he’s not a “rock star” DJ, out to dazzle you with fame or jedi-like mixing skills. Tobias instead focuses on carefully exploring the minimal groove, moving forward ever so gently, asking you to join him in his explorations.
"Tobias instead focuses on carefully exploring the minimal groove, moving forward ever so gently, asking you to join him in his explorations."
Towards the end of the night he moved into some sweeping dancefloor anthems, such as WestBam and Nena’s “Oldschool, Baby” and Superpitcher’s cool rocking remix of M83’s “Don’t Save Us From the Flames”, bringing the set’s gentle explorations to a joyous peak. The night finished with Tobias politely shaking hands and happily signing autographs for appreciative fans, somehow embodying the sensitive nature of his DJing.
The party functioned as an excellent mini “label showcase”, definitely proving that Kompakt is a multi-faceted label. For those who still think Kompakt is a one trick minimal pony, allow me to quote Justus Kohncke one more time: “I’ll do it as long as I can dance to it”.
Special thanks to Toshiya Kawasaki and the staff at Unit.