Today

by Andy Kellman The leisurely paced Today naturally warrants a comparison or two to other mix albums released by Kompakt. Less extroverted than DJ Koze's All People Is My Friends and more sleek than Tobias Thomas' Smallville, it's a straightforward and up-to-date report on wallflower house, custom-made for sulky night people who wish they could live inside the sleeve of Roxy Music's For Your Pleasure. Like Michael Mayer, Superpitcher is a master at sequencing, and he's even more "respectful" to the tracks he selects, with each one averaging well over six minutes in playing time. (Anyone familiar with Kompakt's mixes should know not to expect any turntable trickery or rushed transitions.) All the previous Kompakt mixes made a point to introduce listeners to outside producers and labels, but the setup for this one isn't much different than one of the label's earlier Total compilations, with several recent and upcoming highlights surrounded by picks off Kompakt-distributed labels. Even if you're already intimate with most of these tracks, it's still potentially thrilling to hear them arranged in this fashion. Lawrence's "Spark," the opener, is the ideal mood-setter; unlike the producer's expected soundtracks for hatchets dangling in the wind, this chimes and glints, more adaptable to a stroll down a recently beautified boulevard at dawn. Oliver Hacke's "21.31" is as much of a highlight on this set as it was on Thomas Brinkmann's Tour de Traum, its brilliantly scampering bassline melted into the relatively jacking and full-on goth Highfish & Zander mix of the Psychonauts' "World Keeps Turning." The surprises are kept to a minimum, left only to the very end: the elegant, sweeping chamber pop of Sebastien Tellier's "La Ritournelle" is a major stylistic switch, but an entirely fitting coda. Other points of interest: Lawrence's twinkling mix of Superpitcher's own "Happiness," Wighnomy Brothers' stern mix of Triola's "Leuchtturm," Wighnomy Brothers' torrid depth charge "Wurz und Blosse."