Albums
July: 18 albums you need to hear this month
Laurel Halo, J Hus, Robert Hood and more
Michael Mayer 'DJ-Kicks' (DJ-Kicks)
Kompakt, the label co-founded by Michael Mayer, was arguably the most influential German imprint of its generation: techno (particularly minimal) was its stock-in-trade, but it also followed an eclectic agenda. That’s reflected in his DJ-Kicks turn, which mixes cosmic disco (Prins Thomas’ rework of The Lionheart Brothers’ ‘The Drift’), minimal (the dOP & Masomenos mix of Bvoice, Anrilov and Danilov’s ‘Papas Groove’) and neo-trance (Chris & Cosey’s remix of Death In Vegas’ ‘Consequences Of Love’). There’s even glam rock-inspired ‘schaffel’ beat (another micro-genre Kompakt championed) in the form of ‘Gary’ by Alter Ego (aka Roman Flügel). Stephen Worthy
7/10
