The latest releases reviewed.

VARIOUS Total 8 Kompakt ***

In electronic music circles, the annual Total compilation is eagerly awaited as it dictates the favoured style of influential Cologne label/ distributor Kompakt. On the evidence of this, its eighth instalment, the operation has outgrown its pop fixation. Total succinctly explores the middle ground between house and live music, most notably on the oceanic guitar riffs of Burger & Voigt's Man Lebt Nur Einmal and the combination of raw Chicago rhythms and lush woodwind on Partial Arts' Trauermusik. While Kompakt's A&Ring is as erratic as ever - somehow, Herve AK and Echo Club's minimal by numbers and Aril Brikha's trance lite got the nod - Steadycam and The Rice Twins' widescreen interpretations of deep house compensate for Mayer's occasional tendency to sacrifice quality for quantity. www.kompakt-net.de

RICHARD BROPHY

Download tracks: Burger & Voigt, Man Lebt Nur Einmal; Partial Arts, Trauermusik; Steadycam, In the Moog for Love