Compost Germany Vinyl & CDs

Review: Ostensibly, Fred Und Luna are a German duo specialising in Krautrock and minimalism-inspired electronica, but deeper research shows they're are actually two mannequins who serve as muse for musician, poet and photo/video maker Rainer Buchmuller. Evidently an artist who loves to toy with convention, Buchmuller's idiosyncrasy extends to his music, not just imagecraft: this album, Im Funfminutentakt, is a utilitarian concept album, consisting of eight tracks that are all around five minutes long, hence the title. Burgeoning, awestruck and playful synth tropes extend across just eight tracks, demonstrating an ironic flair and love for the electro-krautrock of old.

Review: The good folks at Compost have put together a second volume of their Future Sounds of Kraut compilation and once again it is packed with exciting new takes on the age-old genres. Compiler Fred Und Luna features a couple of times including with the celestial synth charms and light electronic rhythms of 'Monotonikum' and elsewhere tried and tested talents such as Thomas Fehlmann with his widescreen cinematic cut' 'Permanent Touch' and minimal favourite Roman Flugel with his delightfully melodic and innocent 'Rules' bring plenty of class the adventurous and accomplished double album. There is plenty to get stuck into here for those who like their sounds sleek, atmospheric and star gazing.

Review: Perhaps in the future, we'll eat sauerkraut pills instead of having to actually pickle cabbage in order to make it. Such are the musings that compilations like The Future Sounds Of Kraut inspire - but also, perhaps by pure happenstance, they also lead us to wonder: what about the evolution of the contemporary German electronic rock genre of the same name? Celebrating the legacy and influence of the genre and movement that emerged in Germany in the late 1960s and early 70s - but not indulging derivations of your usual Clusters and Cans - this full-length compilation from Compost brings together 19 contemporary krautrock masterpieces, with choice, twinkly cuts from bands and solo artists including Musiccargo, Listening Center, Kosmischer Laufer and Pyrolator. Listen no further than here to hear the changing tide of kraut.

Review: Arno E Mathieu's 2022 album, Contemplation, was pleasingly hard to pigeonhole, though its' mixture of warming, kaleidoscopic and occasional tropical sounds and styles definitely tended towards the Balearic. It was ripe for remixing - hence this pleasingly epic and deliciously varied remix album. Eyes will naturally be drawn to Joe Clausell's epic 13-minute take on 'Ficus Carica' - a slow building ambient house classic in the making - Mark E's saucer-eyed deep house take on 'Colline' and I:Cube's spacey, Baelaric and lilting revision of 'Insulae', but there are plenty of other tasty treats on show. Check, for example, Next Evidence's dusty Balearic version of 'Colline Au Zenith', Gilb'r's deep space interpretation of 'O Zenith', and rising star Gigi Testa's Afro-acid rework of 'Platanes'.

Review: Strome Nr. 2 is a debut long player from Strome aka Mario Schonhofer and Tobias Weber that brings plenty of warm and sensitive sounds to an overall record that is truly powerful. It's been made using the ultra-rare and cult Moog IIIp modular synthesizer amongst plenty of other synths such as the modular system A100 by Doepfer. Plenty of these sappy ambient tracks take you to another world as well as feeding the need to dance with hints of 60s and 70s kraut. Nick McCarthy of Franz Ferdinand features on three tunes 'Right Now', 'Das Modul', and the beautiful 'Stadlberg'. The unique nature of this band really shines through here with retro flourishes next to cutting-edge sound designs.

Review: This is a new compilation album by the German DJ and producer Rainer Truby, coming as the sixth installment of the Glucklich series, which aims to showcase the best in contemporary jazz and jazz-adjacent music on an international scale. It's the latest to top up a longstanding series, which has been going since 1994. What one might call nu-jazz, broken beat and nu-soul appears across as string of contributions from the likes of Kyoto Jazz Massive, Nicola Conte, Jazzanova, Quantic and more on this slinky curator's gem.

Review: Having released a limited edition transparent pink vinyl version of this album, Compost have now also served it up on plain black but still heavyweight vinyl for the traditionalists. It finds Web Web distil everything they have done over the last seven years into a near perfect album with musically and emotionally absorbing pieces that rise and fall in dramatic and enthralling fashion. These collaborators first linked as Web Web in 2021 and it has been a fruitful partnership since then with composer and producer Max Herre larding the way amongst some fine fellow German jazz talents.