Reinhard Voigt

An integral part of German electronic music institution Kompakt since its inception, Cologne’s Reinhard Voigt is an experimental techno producer of many hats and aliases. Along with his older brother Wolfgang, Jörg Burger, and Jürgen Paape, Voigt founded the Delirium record store in 1993; the store and several existing labels would combine to form Kompakt five years later. Voigt’s early solo productions under the names Pentax and Sweet Reinhard, primarily released by Wolfgang’s Profan imprint, are abrasive, rhythmic, and challenging. As Sturm, his productions for Mille Plateaux are swirling and darkly ambient; the project’s self-titled full-length is sometimes heralded as an under-recognized classic, on par with Wolfgang’s work as Gas. When using the Kron moniker, his productions for the EMI-affiliated Harvest (originally a prog/folk sublabel featuring Pink Floyd and Kevin Ayers) are at their most easily enjoyable. Forever Sweet, a collaboration with fellow Kompakt regulars Michael Mayer and Tobias Thomas, is similarly upbeat and club-friendly. S.R.I. is an outlet for the more punishing, bangin’ side of his personality. He’s also released numerous singles and a full-length with his brother as Voigt & Voigt, and a single with Burger as Echo Club. Aside from all of these projects and monikers, Reinhard Voigt frequently releases music under his own name. Following a handful of singles in 1999, Profan released his ambient full-length Premiere World in 2000. The following year, he released Im Wandel der Zeit on Kompakt, a batch of productions that flitted between more bangin’ work and the subtle textures and rhythms associated with the label. Since then, his solo output has largely been confined to singles and compilation appearances, as well as the occasional remix. He has released numerous singles as part of Kompakt’s Speicher series, including splits and collaborations with Mayer, Terranova, and Burger (as the Modernist). Following the 2007 singles “All In” and “Charge Your Dreams,” Voigt took a break from solo releases, but he resumed with 2014′s “Rachanee.” Time Is Running (with Mayer) and a single for Kompakt’s KX sublabel followed in 2015, and subsequent releases included Kontraste, “Reisen & Speisen,” and “Apokalypse Mau.” ~ Andy Kellman & Paul Simpson