John Tejada - Connecting The Dots 7 (2022)

It begins with a cautious clicking and clacking, on top of which lies a slight delay that provides a little movement in the acoustic space like a candle flickering away, before the irresistible trademark sound of no less than two true maestros emerges from an initially confusing mesh of tiny rhythm fragments. With the Soulphiction remix of Thomas Fehlmann's "Wasser im Fluss", a track that was already appreciated in its original form on CTD 003, John Tejada starts his musical journey through KOMPAKT history with a reminiscence to the great and unforgotten Michel Baumann aka Jackmate aka Soulphiction, who passed away in May 2021 after a serious illness and nevertheless completely unexpected for many of us. And also with the second track of his "Connecting The Dots" mix Tejada stays consciously or unconsciously, very close to the people and their relationships with each other. DJ Koze was a close friend of Baumann's, whom he greatly admired and revered for his punkish nature and infinite sense of profound, warm, yet always raw and unwieldy music. Koze's whimsical track "My Grandmotha" from his legendary KOMPAKT debut album "Kosi Comes Around" from 2005, Tejada uses in Jan Jelinek's "Farben's Hidden Diskoharfen Mix" and with that, after not even 5 minutes, has spun a web of musical and social narrative that irresistibly draws us further into the depths.

It continues with three minimalist tracks by Jonas Bering, Benjamin Wild and Dave DK, and continues with more big names and representatives of the early and earliest label history, Rex The Dog, The Bionaut, Joachim Spieth, Kaito, Dettinger, Closer Musik, Justus Köhncke and The Field. To the time of the late nineties and early noughties, a phase between experimental, filigree minimal house and the boundless euphoria and energy of the typical KOMPAKT sound of that era, Tejada erects another wonderful monument with this mix. You feel drenched in sweat and happiness again, as if you had just been kicked out of WMF, Tanzhalle St. Pauli or Studio 672, the sun is shining outside, you smoke another cigarette with your friends and then stumble home in disbelief through the city that has long since awakened to normal life.