Pop Ambient 2002

They Say...

Review by Andy Kellman, All Music Guide

By the end of 2001, Kompakt seemed to be on a fevered mission to churn out the ambient goods and Cologne-ize everyone's turntables. They couldn't wait until 2002 to release Pop Ambient 2002, the successor to Pop Ambient 2001, which was released only a few months prior. It should come as no surprise to those familiar with the Kompakt label that the 2002 edition of the ambient-based series follows in the prior edition's footsteps in fine, fuzzy fashion. Somewhat surprisingly, this one is roughly half-devoted to Kompakt proper, with only four of its nine tracks coming directly from the label. Markus Guentner's twinkly/crackly shadings, Ulf Lohmann's dry hums, and Dettinger's reverberant hand chimes comprise most of the home-team fare. With the other contributions, Kompakt continues to demonstrate open support of those outside their own sphere. Donnacha Costello (Mille Plateaux), Novisad (Tomlab), and www.jz-arkh.co.uk each offer their own beatless constructs, but it's Jörg Burger (as Triola) who punches in with the highlight amongst highlights, the three-minute "AG Penthouse." A true gem based on a twinkling/shimmering keyboard vamp that's lightly punctuated with flute trills and other trebly effluvium, it sounds more like a long-lost sliver from a low-budget '70s soundtrack than the progeny of Brian Eno and Wolfgang Voigt. And quite fittingly, Voigt himself opens the disc as Tal with "Tal '90" and closes the disc as All with "Alles Fleißt Nichts Bleibt"; both offer even more subtle, sublime washes of warm synth tones and flickering FX. Taken as a whole, there might not be anything to offer in the way of BPMs or racing pulses on Pop Ambient 2002, but the SWMs (swoons per minute) register quite favorably.