Nah und Fern (Near and Far) bundles Wolfgang Voigt's four ambient techno albums as Gas originally issued on Mille Plateaux: Gas (1996), Zauberberg (1998), Königsforst (1999), and Pop (2000). Released on Voigt's Cologne-based Kompakt label, this is a four-disc set sold at the price of a double, featuring barely perceptible remastered sound (the point) and four artwork prints. This is as momentous as it gets in the small and otherwise discreet world of ambient techno. Kompakt also issued a double-vinyl companion with side-long edits on three sides with an exclusive track on the fourth, and the Raster-Noton label commemorated the occasion by publishing a 128-page book with a CD of previously unreleased Gas material. The most ambitious and productive Voigt ambient alias (over the likes of All, Mint, and Tal), Gas took on slightly different shades throughout the years, though we are definitely not dealing with a Primal Scream-like volte-face from release to release. From Gas through Königsforst, there is a gradual decline in harshness, but the finale, Pop, is the starkest overall. None of the tracks, ranging from five to 15 minutes in length across the series, were given titles, and the primary distinguishing factor between them is whether or not a submerged beat, typically in the form of a four-four, is present. The shifts are slight, detectable only through total immersion. It's not like there is a signature moment among the 20 tracks, or the Gas equivalent of a "1/1" or "An Ending (Ascent)," as with Brian Eno's ambient releases. The closest to standouts or instantly identifiable moments include the third track of Pop (its nearly subliminal, downcast melody reminiscent of Blade Runner, especially if Vangelis had focused instead on a sewer-level view of Los Angeles' damp streets), the following track of the same album (for its simultaneously lulling and disquieting chime-like effect), the fifth track of Zauberberg (for its oscillating stomp), and the first track of Königsforst (the most physical production, full of friction, the best candidate for terrifying a paranoia-prone sleeper in the middle of the night). Fit for zero-gravity clubbing, forest sleepwalking, or lucid dreaming, these discs make for the most affecting ambient techno released during the late '90s and early 2000s. Each album is bound to suck you into its own dream world, where lapsed shoegazers and chillout room veterans go to die, within a matter of seconds. The set is appropriately a Kompakt release, not just because the person behind the label and the music is one and the same; practically everyone who has contributed to the label's annual Pop Ambient series is a Voigt descendant.