Seeing that it was pressed in a 180-gram double-LP (plus download code) edition of 1000 copies, and released for Record Store Day 2016,
So Far So Super appears to have only collectors in mind. However, this is a basic overview of
Aksel Schaufler's 2001-2010 output for Kompakt, a label that has, to its credit, kept all of its releases within easy grasp on multiple formats. Nothing is truly rare. The tracks here originated on
Superpitcher EPs and albums and Kompakt's annual
Pop Ambient and
Total compilations, as well as on the label's multiple-artist
Speicher series of hard-edged dancefloor techno.
So Far So Super covers each facet of
Schaufler's work, which was frequently difficult to predict from release to release. The producer's approach roamed from ambient to synth pop to techno, though a glamorous form of melancholy was always somewhere in the mix, whether it was nearly concealed or as easy to sense as a gust caused by a dramatic whip from
Schaufler's scarf. As an introduction, the selections are hard to fault. All of the big cuts are present, including the glam-pop schaffel mix of
Quarks' "I Walk," the creature-feature theme "Heroin," the pouting cover of
Brian Eno's "Baby's on Fire," and the dashing/downcast techno-pop gem "Happiness." Down-but-not-out anthem "Tomorrow" is placed perfectly as the finale.