Is Kompakt starting to show its age? In his review of Klimek's Music to Fall Asleep last month, my Pitchfork colleague Mark Richardson lamented the diminishing returns of the pop ambient star's shtick of gently decaying guitar chords: You heard one ostinato dissolving into digital echo, you heard 'em all. But those diminishing returns, especially in terms of the now six-year-old Pop Ambient series, have been in evidence for a while. A crank (or a critic) could argue that Kompakt's kartographers had mapped out everywhere they wanted to go by late 2003. Is all that's left for the venerable techno label to ride the thin lip of the vinyl that separates style from mannerism?
Listening to Hundred Million Light Years you have to wonder. Most of Kompakt's producers have a few pet sounds they like to switch up. See the difference between Superpitcher's skeletal glam reworking of Quarks' "I Walk" versus the humid, turgid fog of his own "Heroin", the bones of Marc Bolan versus the baleful billowing of Bark Psychosis. But no Kompakt producer has a sound as signature as Japan's Hiroshi Watanabe. His 2002 album as Kaito, Special Life, was the record that made many trance haters finally throw down their arms. Kaito's tracks were strings of blinking Christmas tree lights, almost comically poignant one-finger piano runs, and Sunday morning synth melodies--intimate, introspective, verging on twee. Put it on while doing the dishes. Take it home to mom and not worry about explaining the pacifiers and the big pants. Special Love was the record Boards of Canada would have made had they ventured out from the Scottish countryside and into a city club.
And apparently that's all Watanabe can or wants to do. Hundred Million Light Years is Special Life 2.0--or, hell, 1.5. No full-on operating system overhaul here, just a few tweaks to the look of the desktop and maybe an email improvement or two. The basic two-stroke engine of chugging motorik trance rhythms remains unchanged. Funk? Forget about it. Like most Kompakt producers, Kaito's more into freeing minds than asses. Or maybe hearts. He knows those emotion-tugging melodies are his sole reason for existence, and sure enough Hundred Million Light Years finds Watanabe cascading up and down his keyboard like Phil Glass riffing on the "Theme from Love Story." And again. And then again.
He's certainly good at it. Few other producers could get away with releasing a version album (Special Love) that ditches rhythm entirely for the kind of half-baked approach to harmony and melody that's a hallmark of electronic dance music whenever it abandons the hips. But after the 900th iteration of a two-note vamp or Vangelis sunrise, you may start to wonder if anyone can feel this wistful. Kaito records create a strong mood for sure, but like the Pop Ambient series, a little dab will probably do you.
