Techno in German cities, like the beer, has regional variations, which locals can be a bit precious about: the dregs of Munich Helles is sent to Cologne to make Kölsch, or so the joke goes.
Techno labels, like those on Augustine, Reissdorf, or Astra beer bottles, can function as totems for certain cities and the individual flavours of house and techno in Germany. Just as Hardwax has become totemic of the brooding dub minimalism of Berlin, Kompakt has planted Cologne’s flag squarely in the storied lineage of European dance music, its logo, referencing the Cologne coat of arms, has become a stamp of quality melodic house and techno.
I first came across Kompakt while digging in a little Toronto basement where the boxes were stacked with what seemed like only records with the ulta-Teutonic looking twin Eagles on the labels, and the word “Speicher”, sometimes called Kompakt Extra, a DJ-friendly sub-label of Kompakt. Kompakt’s other offshoots,such as the Pop Ambient series, kicking off in 2001, have produced some canonical records, some of which available only as exclusives adorning the walls of the ground-floor shop in central Cologne.
Which brings me to Erdgeschoss. German for “ground floor”, Erdgeschoss is the most recent imprint from the Kompakt stable and the love child of a union between cofounder, Wolfgang Voigt, and front of house vinyl-slinger and musician, Max Hytrek, who go by Pop Vampires Cologne. Their debut release, Karianne E.P., could maybe be more accurately described as a mini-album: despite having bags of variety, the seven tracks work as a cohesive whole, embued with the same playful avant-garde juju. As far as dance/club records go, it is a funny fish, playing like two producers having fun in the studio, trying on different hats, and it’s hands down one of my favourite records of the year.
The A side kicks off with the titular Karianne, served 3 ways: Slambient mix, Schaffel mix, Rock mix. Slambient is a charmingly odd, slightly unsettling slice of ambient pop, with disembodied snatches of female vox and accompanied with a fun pop video featuring the producers in glammed up and posing with guitars in Lynchian-strobe lighting, reminiscent of the type of high-jinx that Cologne’s legendary clown-prince, Holgar Czukay, might have gotten up to. The Schaffel mix gives it the shuffle treatment, a distinctly, swingy, Cologne innovation that emerged in the 90s and was presumably a reaction to the tyranny of 4/4. Schaffelbeat always reminded me a bit of “Tiger feet”, or one of those 70s glam rock hits. Even the Orb got in on the action with their 2002 Kompakt release, Cool Harbour, an unsung schaffelbeat classic, if you ask me. The Rock Mix sounds like it was re-worked by James Murphy for DFA.
But it’s the side A closer, Über Nacht, that steals the show. Über Nacht is a deconstruction of Adriano Celantano’s cult prisencolinensinainciusol, a party starter that exemplifies the centring of fun bang in the middle of the funk. This is the kind of track that you could imagine being a jewel in the crown of one of the late Andrew Weatherall’s Love From Outer Space sets. A dubby, spacey chugger, it pays respectful homage to the source material. The second side is straight in with high tempo techno, swingeing yet playful, and clocking in at 3 and half minute pop song length. Zweierlei Blut goes in further, more eyes down and direct, with skiffley, scrunch-face rolling percussion. Garage 1 closes out the E.P., a nod to the U.K., maybe, with some Northern England bloke spraffing off about something or other, over a skanky, beatless 2 drop. The effect is like passing out on a sofa at an afters, with dub on the system and the guy from Sleaford Mods nattering in your ear.
As E.P.s go, Karianne isn’t your average random collection of club tracks, it’s like a little snapshot of Cologne club music taken through the lens of one of its institutions, with the usual quality control. Über Nacht is a monster. Erdgeschoss is the ground floor in the Kompakt buliding, with the record store to the left, distribution to the right. This space has birthed 500 releases, each a little cultural artifact of a city’s techno culture. Amongst those releases there are better entry level points for someone new to the label- Kompakt Total 2, or 3, for example, or Pop Ambient 2009, 2010 or 2026. But Erdgeschoss’ first release functions as a little playful overview of the state of club music in this corner of Germany, its cellotape gun logo an apt symbol of a celebratory love letter to the fluid nature of a team of producers and DJs in a space, who for over 30 years have eaten lunch together, packed records, and drank beer made of the dregs sent from Munich. Long may it continue.
Moo Kid 