The kick drums of tomorrow once again begin to rumble in the smog infested, strobe stricken clubs of today. Kompakt’s Speicher series always strives to provide the dance floors with a soundtrack to grant our mind and body temporary refuge and escape. We feel it is more than ever needed considering the darkness that surrounds us all in these times.

We welcome back Marc Romboy. A gifted producer, DJ and friend that has been behind the decks as a key supporter of Kompakt’s music since the beginning. Beyond that, Marc is an astute musician, with releases on many of the esteemed; from Ovum to Innervisions and of course his own Systematic Recordings his music is incredibly varied.

They say that the third time is a charm but in this case he returns to our Speicher series again with a two track EP that feels more like a sequel that is true to the excellent consistency of his previous output. Armed only with a Buchla Music Easel, the Roland TR-909 and an Arp 2600, “Randomized” is pure techno as it tweaks and twists into a complete frenzy. Marc pays homage to the legendary Californian synthesizer inventor Don Buchla with the very trippy churner, “Monsieur Buchla”. More

German veteran Marc Romboy is back on André Hommen’s ?These Eyes imprint with a stellar two track release entitled ?Elka, ?showcasing Marc’s effortless ability to portray alluring and emotive characteristics through music?. ?This offering follows up from ?Trapped In An Orbit?, which he released on the label in 2017 and remains a label highlight to this day. The title track ?Elka provides a stirring and suspenseful journey that plays out as it’s melodies unfold over a bassline that pulses gently and impels the listener. ?Unreal Sun ?ups the energy with a groove thats ready to fall into and chords that lead the way, dictating the pace as their intensity undulates. More

MARC ROMBOY returns to our KOMPAKT EXTRA series with STALKER / BEYOND. Since we last saw him in 2018 on SPEICHER 103, Marc has kept plenty busy with a release on Bedrock, a collaboration with Stephan Bodzin, plus a series of releases with Petar Dundov on his own Systematic Recordings. Beyond Marc’s rigorous DJ touring schedule, he performed live in a Planetarium and ended the year with a highlight, performing live at Philharmonie Cologne together with violinist Miki Kekenj and the Takeover! Ensemble. Marc appears to be looking back to the deep, twisted forms of techno that shaped his early years with this double header. STALKER clearly delivers a typical Detroit-ish 90’s grittiness and drive which resounded the dancefloors of the German rave scene of that era. BEYOND is a deeper cut for those late-night dreamers who are into the sound of Carpenter. A growling synth and laser light synth mingle relentlessly until a delicate piano quickly realizes that IT’S THE place. More

Unless you're too young to know or have been living under a rock for the past twenty years, there's little chance that you haven't come across Marc Romboy's music in one way or another. The Systematic Recordings boss has had many irons on the fire since establishing his first imprint, the now defunct Le Petit Prince - gathering an untold number of releases on labels as diverse as Ovum, Innervisions, Rebirth or 20:20 Vision in his two decades of intense activity. Tracing back to 1994, when he used to rummage through the crates of Delirium - the primitive incarnation of KOMPAKT (closed and revived under its new name in 1998), the friendship between Romboy and the KOMPAKT family has largely withstood the test of time. After losing touch for a few years, Romboy and Michael Mayer would resume contact during a festival in the south of France - a reunion that eventually led to Systematic joining Kompakt's distribution catalogue a couple months later. With such a longstanding complicity to build from, it was about time for the Rheinland natives to actually team up on a release from start to finish, and SPEICHER 103 is their inaugural act of faith. A cosmic storm in a teacup, the A-side opener 'Galaxy In An Atom' blows some furious stellar winds across a shape-shifting tide of loud kicks and mutant bass moves, beating across uneven arpeggiated synth reliefs through thick and thin. Then, the chaos makes way for emotive piano stabs to take over in the track's last third, gracefully gliding into a further appeasing compass. Following up pedal to the metal, the pulsating 'Elektrisiermaschine' makes for a proper peak time ball of fire. Built upon a rolling and pitching bass comber, the track sets its pistons and rods in dancing motion straightaway, tightening the bolts bar after bar as it expands its abraded melodic lines and batucada-like rhythms with amplified magnitude for over seven minutes of sustained mind-bending onslaughts. More

Finally the two main protagonists of the current live electronic movement and founders of our fair label Carl Cox and Christopher Coe have stepped up to the plate with this truly innovative and uncompromisingly live collection of techno tunes that defy categorization and are certain to land us fair and square on the dancefloors of the underground clubs of the world! What can we say.. This EP just bangs! Improvised, recorded live and straight to 2 track in one day, this 4 tracker comes straight from the machines of Carl and Christopher’s collaborative studio in Australia and onto wax! It is with great delight that we can present this collaboration straight after the release of Carl’s first solo album in 10 years. This is a statement of definition from the boys, they have planted their feet firmly in the live scene with this edgy, experimental and jackin’ collection of beats! The mindset is real. More

With obvious intent Nui and Simon set out to create an album that encompasses all of their influences and experiences as musicians and journeymen in the world of African inspired rhythm and sound and have arrived at a work that is at once global, innovative and deeply funky ! It's been an incredible journey that has taken them from the wilds of the northern hinterlands of New South Wales in Australia to the dreamy secret gardens of Marrakesh, from the onsite recordings of Afro-Cuban choirs of Havana, to the Gnawa street sounds of Moroccan medinas. Nui and Simon have traversed the globe to create these recordings and have collected diverse and international group of artists to collaborate with in the making of Heart of Drums. Artists such as Cazeaux Oslo, who is an African-American Mc and vocalist hailing from California. Olugbade Okunade , Nigerian trumpeter and vocalist , was formerly a member of the Femi Kuti Positive Force band. Members of Clave y Guaguanco, One of Cuba's foremost folkloric groups, who have been around since the 60's. Lalita Yagnik, Portuguese Speaking Indian, vocalist and martial artist. Radouan Naim, Traditional Moroccan vocalist and instrumentalist . And Close Counters, Australian Up and coming Electronic duo. Digital Afrika is made up of two main protagonists: Zhonu 'Nui" Moon (Future Roots)
An African-Australian producer, percussionist and Dj that has performed and recorded all over the world. With a strong focus on African music,He has worked with the likes of Femi Kuti , Mulatu Astake and Tony Allen. And Simon Durrington (Si Fixion ) who is an Australian based producer, keys player and DJ. With extensive experience of working with Melanesian , Indian and world musicians. Drawing on these influences, Si weaves these styles together seamlessly with his unique high quality electronic production. This album 'Heart of Drums' is a synergy of lush analog electronica and fiery African percussion, vocals and instrumentation. With occasional reinvented throwbacks to the Disco and Funk era as well as forward thinking Afro-futuristic Record bag essentials, Heart of Drums really brings the party! These are constructed dance floor motivators for any environment. The artwork for this record deserves special mention as the mask was handcrafted by the interesting and talented artist Ju Mu Monster. Based in Berlin, the studied fashion designer creates colourful, wildly dancing image-worlds, in which beings from diverse cultures are combined with shamanism and spiritual worlds. Her enchanting works of art include murals and canvases as well as magical masks. More

Honeysmack brings the acid back on this fresh take on his track Entity which was lifted from the album “Post Acid” released last year. He invites remixes from his dear friends in MSTRKRFT, CJ Bolland and the elusive two4K. This EP is made for the dancefloor with MSTRKRFT creating an acid house style banger from the future and CJ Bolland bringing his A-game with the electro style that never gets old. two4K takes it on a deeper and darker journey while Honeysmack reprises the tune with his trademark acid workout! With Honeysmack currently tearing up the dance floors by literally setting up and playing live right in the middle of them, it was time to bring this EP to the world! Need we say any more? More