Various Total 8

• Words: Joe Colly
• Label: Kompakt
• XLR8R Rating: 6/10

Capping a successful year that saw crossover success for Gui Boratto and The Field, Kompakt issues its annual compendium Total, the eighth in the series. Like before, we're given a best-of-year disc and one of unreleased songs, and choice cuts reside on both. High-profile collaborative tracks from Burger/Voigt (the reunited Burger/Ink) and SuperMayer both offer nuanced, contemplative techno, but aren't the album's finest moments. The crashing percussive notes of Partial Arts' "Trauermusik," and the Rice Twins' monument to shoegaze entitled "Can I Say" provide the true highlights, displaying the extensive reach of a label often unfairly dubbed a one-trick pony. Perhaps not the best Total, but there's still a lot to love here.