Pop Ambient 2014
Kompakt's annual Pop Ambient comp is the venerable techno label's moody roundup of its prettiest wallpaper, a chance to show off dream-gaze clouds, barely there beats and the occasional cover. The 14th edition brings ambient music's nostalgic longing full circle: It boasts the first new music since 2000 from Wolfgang Voight's cult project Gas, whose bleary slush has long been a Kompakt touchstone. Elsewhere, German drift architect Ulf Lohmann (a staple of the comp's early years), Danish dubster Mikkel Metal and a remix of headphone-house pioneer the Bionaut all meld patient guitar plucks with thick drone fogs. Ladies and gentlemen, John Fahey is floating in space.