Kompakt News & New Releases Feb 03, 2012

Here is your weekly round-up of news and new releases. More after the jump!

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Icelandic cult label Bedroom Community released the vinyl version of "Solaris" today, a stunning collaboration between label staples Ben Frost and Daníel Bjarnason, featuring Sinfonietta Cracovia reinterpreting Tarkovsky's classic dystopian movie about a man haunted by his memories, which in turn was based on Stanislaw Lem's masterful novel from 1961. For a free download of the song "Reyja" go here, while a series of delicately crafted teaser videos can be found here. If this world would know any justice, "Solaris" would sell out as quickly as Demdike Stare's undeniably brilliant 4-part collector bait "Elemental", but for all of you still sitting on the fence, we have compiled some of Bedroom Community's greatest releases in our "Featured Releases" section to be found on Kompakt.FM's starting page.

Coma are well-known for their sweeping stage presence, and Total Confusion's The Köln Show at Stadtgarten Cologne made no difference. Watch the goosebump-inducing live rendering of the duo's seminal "Playground Altona" from their "Famous EP" on Kompakt, filmed in Technocolor by Cardinal Sessions and set to the gorgeous light show by Kompakt's trusted Okinawa 69 and Bruno Tait.

Witness the highly evocative stage show that underground architects and designers Jonathan Haehn & Maxim Tyrakowski aka Superartitecture Studios presented during this year's Passagen Festival in Cologne. Notorious prankster Popnoname and singer Isis Z. were headlining, supported by awesome visuals coming from our very own Okinawa 69 in collaboration with Bruno Tait. The video was edited by Eva-Maria Popp.

Der ewige Kampf zwischen Gut und Böse, Hell und Dunkel, Vampir und Mensch wird heute Abend im Design-Quartier Ehrenfeld (Heliosstraße) ausgetragen. Die Ergebnisse des halbjährigen Design-Projektes "Keine Nacht ohne Linie" liegen vor: 15 Illustratoren widmeten sich dem Thema Vampirismus und entdeckten weit mehr als die ausgeschlachteten Stereotypen von untoten Blutsaugern, schlaflosen Fürsten und exzessivem Knoblauchgenuß. Einlass ist ab 18:00 Uhr (wenn es, ja genau, dunkel wird), mit Bar, Wein und eventuell Gesang. Letzteres kommt ganz auf die DJs an, die es natürlich auch gibt - durchaus dem Thema entsprechend. Das Warm-Up startet um 20:00 Uhr mit kid.data und einar.zuviel, gefolgt von Kompakt's Denis Stockhausen und Marc Lansley ab 22:00 Uhr. Fragt sich nur, wo Van Helsing steckt, wenn man ihn mal braucht.

The eternal battle between the good and the bad, light and dark, vampires and humans is taking place at Cologne's DQE (Design-Quartier Ehrenfeld at Heliosstraße) tonight, with 15 illustrators reinterpreting the myth of vampirism. Doors open at 18h00, with DJ-Sets starting at 20h00, including our very own Denis Stockhausen and Marc Lansley.

It's not like we expect many surprises from any kind of club charts, so color us slightly flabbergasted, when we saw WhoMadeWho hit the ground running: they immediatly took the 6th spot in the German Club Charts with their new single "Inside World" on Kompakt, and they even beat the master of puppets himself, Skrillex, who entered on 7th place. Also note the appearance of Robag Wruhme and Kölsch on places 18 and 26 respectively. Simply wow.

In case you haven't heard them yet (and you haven't, as this is a true premiere): the new project Mohn by Kompakt kingpins Wolfgang Voigt and Jörg Burger takes to the road for some choice live gigs, including tomorrow's appearance extraordinaire at Leipzig's Centraltheater (Feb 03). It's an event not to be missed by any avid connoisseur of electronic music, with both artists meticulously preparing their set since weeks and promising to let it rip... in true Pop Ambient fashion.

Philipp Gorbachev's debut EP "In The Delta" on Cómeme held some pretty heavy riddims destined to make concrete walls sweat in fear, so it's no wonder that this record has sold out as quickly as it did. Now, the Kompakt Booking newcomer presents a hell-raising video featuring the title track in all its leathern glory... and near-toxic amounts of flashlights. So if you have a history in photosensitivity or epileptic seizures, you might want to stay away from this one. Everyone else is invited to get lost in the delta.

You definitely have to check out Coma's extremely well-rounded remix for upcoming songsmith Dillon: by blending the original's hard-hitting, neo-Noir lyricism into the lighthearted Pop psychedelics of their own making, Coma demonstrate some pretty serious alchemic skills here. That's exactly how you create monsters. Only 1000 downloads off the band's soundcloud available and most of them are already gone, so get your foot in that door. Coma are playing live at Dresden's Showboxx on Saturday, Feb 04.

Cologne underground staple RaucherEcke ("Smoker's corner"), aka Sebastian Habben and Joschka Tschirley, have grown in leaps since their 2009 debut on 200 Records, developing a strong affection for floor-driven music and wooing the audience with their tightly packed sets. Now they released the "Papierfabrik EP" on Treibstoff, paying tribute to Cologne's late warehouse club that turned the city's nightlife inside out, until it closed down in 2011. Check out the video and you might get an impression of how great that club actually was. Ah, the memories...