Labelcode
Labelcode also known as Label Code is a unique 4 to 6-digit music label identification code that is assigned by (GVL), Germany. Since 2017, Labelcode is no longer mandatory. Labelcode is still used in some occasions, for example, CD publishing ...
: LC 12012) is a
Cologne
Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...
-based
electronic music
Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...
independent record label
An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...
and vinyl/CD distributor, owned by
Wolfgang Voigt
Wolfgang Voigt (born 1961) is a German electronic music DJ and producer from Cologne, known for his output under various aliases, such as Gas. He signed on numerous record labels, including Warp, Harvest, Raster-Noton, Force Inc, Astral Ind ...
, Michael Mayer and Jürgen Paape. They specialize in
microhouse
Microhouse, buftech or sometimes just minimal, is a subgenre of house music strongly influenced by minimalism and 1990s techno.
History
Microhouse has its roots in the minimal techno, bitpop (both developed in the early 1990s), and house (dev ...
and
minimal techno
Minimal techno is a subgenre of techno music. It is characterized by a stripped-down aesthetic that exploits the use of repetition and understated development. Minimal techno is thought to have been originally developed in the early 1990s by Detro ...
, and are known for their ''Total'' compilation series.
History
Kompakt originated from a techno record store that was opened in
Cologne
Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...
in 1993 (under the name "Delirium") by Wolfgang Voigt, Reinhard Voigt,
Jörg Burger
Jörg Burger (born 1962) is a German record producer who has had several releases on Kompakt as Triola, including an album, ''Triola im Fünftonraum'', in 2004. He is also in a duo with Wolfgang Voigt.
References
* J. Burger AMG Biography* Grooves'' magazine, "Kompakt's chief aesthetic objective has always been the perfect marriage of ambient texture and linear 4x4 structure—blending deep, granular sound design with the 4-bar rhythmic intensity and patterning that makes house and techno so club-effective". Kompakt has been noted for releases enriching abstract techno tracks with pop elements such as vocals – Mayer has stated that "We grew up with pop music and really like traces of pop in techno music. This is probably Kompakt's biggest strength-- that we can detect these pop traces and give them a home".
British music critic Simon Reynolds has characterized Kompakt as the "label that's contributed more than any other to Germany's dominance of electronic dance music this decade [the 2000s]".
Notable producers of the label include
Superpitcher
Aksel Schaufler better known by his stage name Superpitcher, is a German producer affiliated with Cologne's Kompakt music label.
Background
Superpitcher made his first appearance on Kompakt's ''Total 2'' compilation album in 2000 with the song " ...
Justus Köhncke
Justus Köhncke (born 1966 in Gießen) is a German techno producer and pop musician from Cologne.
Köhncke was a member of the house music, house trio Whirlpool Productions, along with Hans Nieswandt and Eric D. Clark. Together, they had a numb ...
,
Rex the Dog
Jake Williams (born 1974) is a British electronic music producer and remixer, who currently records as Rex the Dog. Rex the Dog currently releases on Kompakt Records. As Rex the Dog, Williams is a proponent of DIY electronics and performs live ...
and
Gui Boratto
Guilherme Boratto (born 1974) is a Brazilian electronic music producer. In the 1990s, he was a member of the Eurodance group Sect.
His debut solo record, '' Chromophobia'', was named album of the month by ''Mixmag''. He has since released six m ...
. In recent years, Kompakt has been better known for bringing a
trance
Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...
sound into minimal techno.
Techno
Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...
and electronic artists, such as
The Orb
The Orb are an English electronic music group founded in 1988 by Alex Paterson and Jimmy Cauty. Known for their psychedelic sound, the Orb developed a cult following among clubbers "coming down" from drug-induced highs. Their influential ...
,
Thomas Fehlmann
Thomas Fehlmann (born 1957) is a Swiss composer/producer who lives in Berlin, Germany, and has been active in electronic music
Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based m ...
Jonas Bering
Jonas Bering (born 9 November 1975) is a French electronic music songwriter, from Lille, France. Jonas Bering emerged from the techno scene of Cologne, Germany, through his works released on the German label Kompakt, run by Wolfgang Voigt, Mich ...
,
Aril Brikha
Aril Brikha (1976) is an Assyrian techno musician, recognized globally for his contributions to the genre. After relocating to Sweden, he gained further recognition when he was nominated for Best Dance Album at the Swedish National Radio Gold ...
,
Kenneth James Gibson
Kenneth James Gibson is a musician, record producer, composer, singer, songwriter and a founding member of Bell Gardens, Furry Things, Eight Frozen Modules, and endics.shuffle.
Career
Kenneth James Gibson was born in Canada, grew up in El ...
, and others have released material on Kompakt.
Kompakt also runs an
online music store
A digital music store is a business that sells digital audio files of music recordings over the Internet. Customers gain ownership of a license to use the files, in contrast to a music streaming service, where they listen to recordings withou ...
with a weekly newsletter, providing a large amount of techno and other electronic forms and through mailorder. The label used to run its own digital download store at kompakt-mp3.net, which according to Mayer was " ne of the firsttechno mp3 shops online", but it was not financially successful and was shut down after three years in late 2008. The company had 16 employees in 2009.
The Kompakt offices and record store appear in Amy Grill's 2009 documentary ''
Speaking in Code
''Speaking in Code'' is a character-based documentary directed by Amy Grill about people's obsessions with the techno electronic music lifestyle and the effects on their lives. It follows Modeselektor, the Wighnomy Brothers, Philip Sherburne, ...
'', which features interviews with founder Wolfgang Voigt and co-owner Michael Mayer.
Profan
Profan was founded in 1993 by Wolfgang Voigt and was later added as a sublabel to Kompakt. The label primarily featured material by Wolfgang Voigt and his brother Reinhard Voigt. Many critics considered Profan at the cutting edge of '90s
electronica
Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...
. Profan stopped releasing any new material in 2000, but resumed in August 2008 when Wolfgang Voigt's "Freiland Klaviermusik" single was released under the Profan name.
Selected releases
''Total'' series
*
Total 1
''Kompakt: Total 1'' or ''Total 1'' was released on 30 July 1999. The album is the first installment of the influential Cologne
Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Lis ...
(1999)
* Total 2 (2000)
* Total 3 (2001)
* Total 4 (2002)
* Total 5 (2003)
* Total 6 (2005)
* Total 7 (2006)
* Total 8 (2007)
* Total 9 (2008)
* Total 10 (2009)
* Total 11 (2010)
* Total 12 (2011)
* Total 14 (2014)
* Total 15 (2015)
* Total 16 (2016)
* Total 17 (2017)
* Total 18 (2018)
* Total 19 (2019)
* Total 20 (2020)
* Total 21 (2021)
* Total 22 (2022)
* Total 23 (2023)
* Total 24 (2024)
''Pop Ambient''
* Pop Ambient 2001 (2001)
* Pop Ambient 2002 (2001)
* Pop Ambient 2003 (2002)
* Pop Ambient 2004 (2003)
* Pop Ambient 2005 (2004)
* Pop Ambient 2006 (2005)
* Pop Ambient 2007 (2006)
* Pop Ambient 2008 (2007)
* Pop Ambient 2009 (2009)
* Pop Ambient 2010 (2010)
* Pop Ambient 2011 (2011)
* Pop Ambient 2012 (2012)
* Pop Ambient 2013 (2013)
* Pop Ambient 2014 (2014)
* Pop Ambient 2015 (2014)
* Pop Ambient 2016 (2015)
* Pop Ambient 2017 (2016)
* Pop Ambient 2018 (2017)
* Pop Ambient 2019 (2018)
* Pop Ambient 2020 (2019)
* Pop Ambient 2021 (2020)
* Pop Ambient 2022 (2021)
* Pop Ambient 2023 (2022)
* Pop Ambient 2024 (2023)
* Pop Ambient 2025 (2024)
Other releases
*
Gas
Gas is a state of matter that has neither a fixed volume nor a fixed shape and is a compressible fluid. A ''pure gas'' is made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon) or molecules of either a single type of atom ( elements such as ...
Gas
Gas is a state of matter that has neither a fixed volume nor a fixed shape and is a compressible fluid. A ''pure gas'' is made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon) or molecules of either a single type of atom ( elements such as ...
Gas
Gas is a state of matter that has neither a fixed volume nor a fixed shape and is a compressible fluid. A ''pure gas'' is made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon) or molecules of either a single type of atom ( elements such as ...
Dettinger
Dettinger is a German record producer signed to Germany's Cologne based Kompakt label.
His releases include 1998's Blond 12", 1999's album Intershop (the first single-artist LP on Kompakt), Puma 12" and Totentanz 12", and 2000's album Oasis.
Det ...
– Intershop (1999)
*
Gas
Gas is a state of matter that has neither a fixed volume nor a fixed shape and is a compressible fluid. A ''pure gas'' is made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon) or molecules of either a single type of atom ( elements such as ...
–
Pop
Pop or POP may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Pop music, a musical genre
Artists
* POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade
* Pop! (British group), a UK pop group
* Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band
Album ...
Superpitcher
Aksel Schaufler better known by his stage name Superpitcher, is a German producer affiliated with Cologne's Kompakt music label.
Background
Superpitcher made his first appearance on Kompakt's ''Total 2'' compilation album in 2000 with the song " ...
–
Today
Today (archaically to-day) may refer to:
* The current day and calendar date
** Today is between and , subject to the local time zone
* Now, the time that is perceived directly, present
* The current, present era
Arts, entertainment and m ...
(2005)
*
The Orb
The Orb are an English electronic music group founded in 1988 by Alex Paterson and Jimmy Cauty. Known for their psychedelic sound, the Orb developed a cult following among clubbers "coming down" from drug-induced highs. Their influential ...
Gui Boratto
Guilherme Boratto (born 1974) is a Brazilian electronic music producer. In the 1990s, he was a member of the Eurodance group Sect.
His debut solo record, '' Chromophobia'', was named album of the month by ''Mixmag''. He has since released six m ...
Gui Boratto
Guilherme Boratto (born 1974) is a Brazilian electronic music producer. In the 1990s, he was a member of the Eurodance group Sect.
His debut solo record, '' Chromophobia'', was named album of the month by ''Mixmag''. He has since released six m ...
–
Take My Breath Away
"Take My Breath Away" is a song written by Giorgio Moroder and Tom Whitlock for the 1986 film ''Top Guns soundtrack, performed by American new wave band Berlin and included on their album '' Count Three & Pray''. The song won the Academy ...
Yesterday and Today
''Yesterday and Today'' (also rendered as ''"Yesterday"... and Today'' in part of the original packaging) is a studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Released in the United States and Canada in June 1966, it was their ninth album iss ...
(2009)
*
Panda Bear
The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear or simply panda, is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its white coat with black patches around the eyes, ears, legs and shoulders. Its body is ...
– Surfer's Hymn Single (2011)
*
WhoMadeWho
WhoMadeWho is a Copenhagen-based experimental pop trio, who formed in 2003. The band consists of jazz guitarist Jeppe Kjellberg, drummer Tomas Barfod and singer/bassist Tomas Høffding.
Career
The band released several 12-inches on German dis ...
– Knee Deep (2011)
*
Gui Boratto
Guilherme Boratto (born 1974) is a Brazilian electronic music producer. In the 1990s, he was a member of the Eurodance group Sect.
His debut solo record, '' Chromophobia'', was named album of the month by ''Mixmag''. He has since released six m ...
WALLS
Walls may refer to:
*The plural of wall, a structure
* Walls (surname), a list of notable people with the surname
Places
* Walls, Louisiana, United States
* Walls, Mississippi, United States
*Walls, Ontario
Perry is a township (Canada), ...
–
Coracle
A coracle is a small, rounded, lightweight boat of the sort traditionally used in Wales, and also in parts of the west of Ireland and also particularly on the River Boyne, and in Scotland, particularly the River Spey. The word is also used for ...
Justus Köhncke
Justus Köhncke (born 1966 in Gießen) is a German techno producer and pop musician from Cologne.
Köhncke was a member of the house music, house trio Whirlpool Productions, along with Hans Nieswandt and Eric D. Clark. Together, they had a numb ...
– Justus Köhncke & The Wonderful Frequency Band (2013)
* Voigt & Voight – Die Zauberhafte Welt Der Anderen (2013)
*
John Tejada
John Tejada (born 21 April 1974) is an Austrian-born American electronic music producer and composer. Tejada's output of music began in 1994, including four albums for Kompakt, plus releases on Pokerflat, Cocoon, Plug Research, Seventh City, Playho ...
Kenneth James Gibson
Kenneth James Gibson is a musician, record producer, composer, singer, songwriter and a founding member of Bell Gardens, Furry Things, Eight Frozen Modules, and endics.shuffle.
Career
Kenneth James Gibson was born in Canada, grew up in El ...
– The Evening Falls (2016)
*
Gas
Gas is a state of matter that has neither a fixed volume nor a fixed shape and is a compressible fluid. A ''pure gas'' is made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon) or molecules of either a single type of atom ( elements such as ...
Gui Boratto
Guilherme Boratto (born 1974) is a Brazilian electronic music producer. In the 1990s, he was a member of the Eurodance group Sect.
His debut solo record, '' Chromophobia'', was named album of the month by ''Mixmag''. He has since released six m ...
–
Pentagram
A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha, pentangle, or star pentagon) is a regular five-pointed star polygon, formed from the diagonal line segments of a convex (or simple, or non-self-intersecting) regular pentagon. Drawing a circle around ...
(2018)
*
Gas
Gas is a state of matter that has neither a fixed volume nor a fixed shape and is a compressible fluid. A ''pure gas'' is made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon) or molecules of either a single type of atom ( elements such as ...
John Tejada
John Tejada (born 21 April 1974) is an Austrian-born American electronic music producer and composer. Tejada's output of music began in 1994, including four albums for Kompakt, plus releases on Pokerflat, Cocoon, Plug Research, Seventh City, Playho ...
– Dead Start Program (2018)
*
Gas
Gas is a state of matter that has neither a fixed volume nor a fixed shape and is a compressible fluid. A ''pure gas'' is made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon) or molecules of either a single type of atom ( elements such as ...
– Der Lange Marsch – (2021)
*
Dettinger
Dettinger is a German record producer signed to Germany's Cologne based Kompakt label.
His releases include 1998's Blond 12", 1999's album Intershop (the first single-artist LP on Kompakt), Puma 12" and Totentanz 12", and 2000's album Oasis.
Det ...
– Oasis (2000) (2024) Reissue
See also
*
List of record labels
File:Alvinoreyguitarboogie.jpg
File:AmMusicBunk78.jpg
File:Bingola1011b.jpg
Lists of record labels cover record labels, brands or trademarks associated with marketing of music recordings and music videos. The lists are organized alphabetically, ...
*
List of electronic music record labels
This is a list of notable electronic music record labels:
0–9
* 3 Beat Records
* 12k
* 430 West Records
* 8bitpeoples
A–C
D–F
G–L
M–O
P–S
T–Z
See also
{{portal, Record production
* List of record labels
* List of indep ...