- In the couple of years they've been running, I have yet to really get a fix on the Kann label, but maybe that's the point. While the Leipzig imprint has served as a platform for its founders Map.ache and Sevensol & Bender, the roster remains porous, running from unknowns like Kitkaliitto to established figures like Daniel Stefanik.
Above all, you get the sense that Kann's label identity is less about branding than friendship and community. The "family" part of the seven-track Family Horror double pack, then, is self-explanatory. We've got Kann regulars Sevensol & Bender, Map.ache and Johannes Beck; the extended family comprises Workshop's Even Tuell, Aniara's Dorisburg (AKA Alexander Berg of Genius of Time) and Efdemin, the biggest name here. Then there's someone named Falke, who Discogs doesn't seem to know about, but who turns in one of the record's standout tracks, "Taunus." A trim, Dial-inspired house number, it features a soft, lyrical synth lead over a backdrop of pings and floaty chords; indistinct voices and vocoders complete the dreamy, bittersweet vibe.
While there are as many subtly distinct styles on the record as there are producers, pretty much everything here fits that dusky, moody vibe; Dial's aesthetic serves as the general template. Dial's own Efdemin brings one of the record's most intense cuts with "Plenum," taut as a watch spring. The metallic fizz and muddied midrange recall Villalobos, vaguely, but Efdemin gives his ripple a cleaner, more purposeful arc. Even Tuell's "Dramaqueen" is probably the toughest thing here, with its bell tones, flayed cymbals and detuned bass buzzing like a hive of bees.
Dorisburg's "Emotion" doesn't have the jazzy punch of his work with Genius of Time, but it falls in line with his solo EP for Aniara last year with foggy chords rolling over a clean, steppy house groove, all topped off with melancholic male vocal loops. Map.ache and Sevensol & Bender both set similar moods, with muffled drum machines poking through reverberant chords. The latter's contribution might be the more immediate of the Kann founders' cuts, but all the tracks here have something to offer. The final track, Johannes Beck's "Rendezvous," is the least likely to get much club play, with barely a whisper of kick/click percussion underlying its pensive strings and pianos. But where it's low on energy, it's as long on character as its more uptempo brethren.
Tracklist A1 Dorisburg - Emotion
A2 Falke - Taunus
B1 Sevensol & Bender – Molly
C1 Efdemin - Plenum
C2 Even Tuell - Dramaqueen
D1 Map.ache - Enola
D2 Johannes Beck – Rendezvous