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Editorial Reviews

Smallville is Kompakt's fourth mix (fifth if you count Kompakt Extra's Speicher), and it's Tobias Thomas' second for the label. Like his 2000 mix, Für Dich, only a pinch more stimulating, it's full of subdued microhouse productions and a couple minor surprises from unexpected sources. You can almost sense the fact that Thomas mixed these 12 tracks in Cologne's Studio 672 while it was vacant, on a pair of analog turntables -- which is how this went down. Dance music is, by its nature, communal. Dance music intended for private listening makes about as much sense as a singer/songwriter concert in front of a festival of thousands sprawled across a large amphitheater. However, Smallville makes a case as strong as any other for dance music's intimate, introverted capabilities. While the whole disc can be danced to, its steady torrent of elongated and hardly unornamented grooves is more suited for a lonely, early-morning drive through fog. There's a very gradual increase in intensity, starting with Dntel's fragile indie-electronic "Season" and the beatless mix of Kaito's "Release Your Body," a track full of exquisitely intertwining keyboard patterns with an a cappella of Erlend Řye's "Ghost Train" laid on top. From there, a clutch of downtempo microhouse tracks with darker hues takes over. It culminates with the pulse-quickening slice and scrape of Sami Koivikko's "Grunis," the most mystifying production in the set. The moody Detroit-like synth shadings help make the transition to Aril Brikha's "Aqua" a more natural one than most would think. Once the slightly loony screaming squalls of Le Dust Sucker's "Mandate My Ass" enter in, it's easy to forget that, less than an hour ago, some fellow was mummering inaudibly into his microphone. Thomas and Michael Mayer's reconfiguration of Tonetraeger's "Welcome Back Kotter" nearly brings the mix to a level of relative hysteria, and then Forever Sweet closes it out with a highlight from the Kreisel 99 series. Andy Kellman, All Music Guide

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