Kompakt Bosses Voigt & Voigt Talk

You know what we love? We love the video for the new Voigt & Voigt single. A perfect Lego recreation of a record shop, it makes our inner nerd  perform a small, complex jig of delight… The tune soundtracking the video is a killer as well – a piece of wonky disco from Voigt & Voigt that announced the release of another installment in Kompakt's ever reliable compilation series 'Total'. With exclusive tracks from Superpitcher Thomas/Mayer, Jurgen Paape and more, Total 14  is looking pretty damn essential. We caught up with Voigt&Voigt for some thoughts on the video, the comp, and the bewildering amount of names Wolfgang has used in the last 20 years….

The limited edition vinyl release is pretty cool, what made you go for the Lego record shop look? And who came up with it?

It’s made by the 14 years old son of a friend of one of kompakts owners. he is a real lego nerd. a while ago he sent us a photo of a record shop he made. we all loved it very much and we asked him to make the shop look like the kompakt shop, and so he did…

You’ve gone for a broad range of artists for the compilation "KOMPAKT", what made you go for the ones you chose? What was special about them?

The selection of the annual total compilation is made by michael mayer. it’s a subjective mixture out of so called “best of“, “most interesting“, and a current track of the basic kompakt members. the problem of a compilation like this, is always that there is never enough space for all the good tracks you would like to put on.

So your 20th anniversary was last year? Do you have any regrets or paths you wished you’d gone down?

Of course we have. In more then 20 years, we had time enough, apart from the things we might have done right, to make any kind of mistakes, as well. but we don’t really regret anything. in the end everything makes sense somehow. think postive and be happy about what you have reached.

With so much variety to your work, is there ever a time when there’s a clash of minds as to which path to go down creatively?

For sure. “ too many cooks , too many minds“ like we say in Germany. sometimes there is a lot of variety regarding taste and creative decisions. but the basic policy has always been clear. the rest is the great art of making compromises at the right time, in the right way.

Who do you think the target audience is for the new compilation?

You never know completely. we guess it’s a mixtures of old time fans from the very first days, as well as new followers. the so called “ kompakt sound “ is always on the way around the world. and sometimes people like it or do not like on this part of the world and sometimes it’s the other way round.

Who do you think will most appreciate it?

If we would really think about that, we would not be able to make any musical decisions .

What would be your favourite place to play "TISCHLEIN DECK DICH”? Germany? Or have you got a favorite venue away from home?

At home, next to our kitchentable, as well as at the end of the world

Wolfgang, you seem to go by many names, over the years releasing huge amounts of music under different guises. Why is this? And what's your favorite?

I used to invent many different monikers for many different music projects in the very fast and wild 90s, when it was cool and made sense to remain anonymous behind the records. Today it makes more sense to bring all my project (names) together under one main (favorite) name which is Wolfgang Voigt.

Kompakt’s Total 14 compilation is out now. Grab it here