Michael Mayer -Touch

Michael Mayer
12.11.71 (Black Forest, Germany)

Michael Mayer was born near the Black Forest, and grew up amongst nature and clean air. His was a normal childhood. At school he hated maths, loved music, and was neither studious nor lazy. His parents encouraged him to play piano, but even then, DJing was his thing. From the age of fourteen he threw parties for his classmates, playing the Pet Shop Boys, disco, funk tracks, and chart hits.

At eighteen he got a job in a commercial club, but the customers didn’t like his tastes, so he quit. Spinning dance music at raves was more fun anyway, so he did that instead. The scene pulled him by the ears to Cologne – the city he’s settled in since 1992 – and he started Kompakt, a record label, shop, and distribution centre, with his friends. Together they have worked to change techno, and for the first time since it started in 1993, he feels OK about not being there full-time. He’s still based in its office, but is more passionate than ever about being a DJ, and travelling.

On Thursday night at the latest, he starts to compile his record box for Friday and Saturday. He never plays the same set twice, and is always improvising, so has to trust his selections completely. It’s cliché-German he reckons, this mechanical, monotonous procedure of checking a hundred new releases a week, though he peppers his domestic life with creative, Mediterranean cookery – ‘strictly veggie and minimal, but full of passion and lust.’ He doesn’t usually sleep on planes, but can reach a state of trance by reading, and arrive in good condition.

Three years ago, Michael said he was working on an LP, but it never arrived. He was unable to fully concentrate; three times he started, and three times he stopped. In the end, he made the entire thing in just three weeks, locked in isolation from the angry summer weather. Its rainfall samples were captured during those nights, as it constantly pounded down on his back yard. His stunning, sensual mix CDs – ‘Kompakt Koln Prasentiert Michael Mayer’, ‘Immer’, and ‘fabric 13’ – and string of powerful 12”s – ‘17 & 4’, ‘Pensum’, ‘Privat’ and ‘Speaker’– are its foundations.

He likens its making to throwing up; at first there is pressure, and then there is relief. It sounds honest, true, whole, and complete. On it, you hear the music of his past, and the spirit of his present. Alan Parsons, The Steve Miller Band, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, acid, New York deep house, movie scores, and thirteen years of techno are there. It’s the soundtrack of a Scorpio: sinister, sweet, tender, and sleek. For its title, he wanted to reflect his reality, his constant meeting of people, the forging of partnerships, and reliance on contact. He needed something simple, to capture these hazy, crazy DJ days forever. ‘Touch’ is Michael Mayer’s debut album.

hehe i wonder when this interview was conducted. because three days befoer it was published mayer borowed my lihgter while i was snoging with a random girl in front of the dj cabin.

Dude!

Yeah, release date would be nice, but I guess the ILM-Kompakt massive all fainted when they opened this thread ;)

"dude!" indeed. add steely dan to that list and the massive really might've fainted.

i'm betting on the last week of october or the first week of novemeber for the release.

but anyway... i can't wait for this!

> hi, i was wondering if you could tell me when the michael mayer album is going
> to be released? thanks!
>

Hi!

We already have it in stock, so i think that it will be available trough our
mailorder shop next week or the week after next week!

Okay this is possibly a jinxing thing to say, but I kind of find it hard to imagine Mayer stuffing up an album - his judgment with his mixes has always been so spot on. I know there's sometimes no correlation but it feels like there would be in this case.

I can't stop re-reading this part. what a great sentence. THIRTEEN YEARS OF TECHNO.

It just occurred to me that this may be referring to the new Speicher Mix.

:-(

I'm not sure I'd be devastated by having only one vocal track; I like Mayer's vocal and instrumental tracks to date fairly equally - and anyway "Hush Hush Baby" is the only thing he's done so far with a "proper" vocal rather than just vocodors/samples or what sound like samples.

-the official release date is november 8.
-as you may have seen from the interview that preceded writing his bio, michael mentioned '13 years of techno'. i presume he meant that that's how long he's been firmly into that strand of music.
-i wrote the fabric bio too, and he was slightly ashamed of alan parsons. i think he acknowledged that again by doing one of his little smileyface things on the e-mail correspondence.
-the initial bio i did was sent back as kompakt had 'read all that stuff before'. ill post the first draft of it underneath now, its shit really, but i cant remember if i did so on ze blog so may as well.
-im currently working on new bios for 'pitcher and reinhard. i may do tobias too if he wants a new one.
-touch is a good album, definitely. youll enjoy it. just like superpitchers its a foundation for what i hope will be two fruitful and prolific recording careers (albums wise). it has one vocal track, yes. and it needs three or four listens, with good gaps in between.

cheers,
nick

n. Michael Mayer
b. Black Forest, Germany
d. 4.11.71

Scorpio (Tough, Resourceful, Sensitive, Powerful, Intense, Magnetic, Determined)

Michael Mayer connects us to the original spirit of acid house. Wherever he DJs - from the smoke and strobes of a nightclub to a Barcelona beach - he recounts the chemical formula of the social Big Bang: two decks, plus one mixer and a soundsystem, equals escapism, hedonism and pure, raw excitement. He charges the atmosphere with rave energy, tender electronica and 4/4 power, striking dancers with the shock of the new. There’s always a narrative too: ambient at the start, heavy in the middle, sweet at the end (sexy throughout).

As a kid Michael learned the piano and as a teen he started to DJ, playing the Pet Shop Boys, Italian disco, funk tracks and chart hits. At eighteen he got a job in a commercial venue, but didn’t like it and quit six months later. A friend, Tobias Thomas, became his DJ partner. They mixed dance music at local parties until 1992, when they moved to Cologne seeking new hangouts, fun and better access to techno records. They found all of that in a shop called Delirium, where Reinhard Voigt worked. The three of them started a band called Forever Sweet. Three years later, Delirium - and the many record labels it had spawned - became Kompakt.

The Kompakt catalogue, now over one hundred releases strong, contains a number of Michael Mayer projects. There’s a string of EPs – ’17 & 4’, ‘Pensum’, ‘Privat’ and ‘Speaker’; two stunning mix CDs – ‘Kompakt Koln Prasentiert Michael Mayer’ and ‘Immer’; contributions to Kompakt’s driving, peak time sub label, Speicher; and plenty of remixes. He’s also worked full-time in the label’s A&R and Distribution departments and helped establish a vibrant business with an enviable, unwritten code of ethics (all of Kompakt is vegetarian, the atmosphere is creative and professional, its staff have space to breath, everyone cycles or walks to the office). He’s still based at Kompakt’s HQ, but says the workload is reducing.

Cooking is Michael’s meditation (‘strictly veggie, always minimal, full of passion and lust’) and he fixes dinner at home at least twice weekly. On Thursday he begins planning his record box for the weekend, checking around a hundred new releases, and on Friday he travels. He can’t sleep on planes but can reach a trance-like state through reading and still arrive fairly balanced. On the rare occasions he’s not abroad, he goes to Total Confusion – the weekly clubnight he hosts with Tobias and Aksel (Superpitcher) – to play a set or just drink and dance. Everyone eats together beforehand at their favourite Italian restaurant, though it’s more likely that they see one other for Sunday dinner these days.

Michael’s records revolve at 33 and - on the occasion of that symbolic birthday, and his debut artist album - so now does his life.

This sounds like very guarded approval - ie. as with Here Comes Love it's a good album but not the definite article. Was it your intention to imply that Nick or am I misreading you?

After over ten years deejaying the world over, Michael Mayer has solidified his firm position atop the Techno tree - through consistent quality, dedication and hardcore commitment to the party. Now in 2004, after defining minimal music, scores of solo twelves for KOMPAKT - among them the instant classic LOVE IS STRONGER THAN PRIDE - and legion remixes, finally there is the shining Michael Mayer LP. TOUCH. The bombastic intro foments expectations till you can´t stand it anymore, freeing the way for a holy bassdrum assault, in league with tight sequencer-basslines. And there it is, his world. The one that nobody can take away. That's precisely it. Mustering support, as if it were needed from both sides of the 'Privat' 12", merely to bookend the cd release, the vinyl keeps it fresh. We continue through the vocal-free zone - alone with the sound, message enough on its own. The necessary longing in all euphoria. In the centre of the record: the elegiac 'Slowfood', because you can´t exist on amphetamines and alcohol, well not full time anyway . This slow-funker just grooves, and then once again we're in the spin cycle programme at the club. The lights are turned on, do we give a shit? Think Ibiza, Benassi, only more massive, more universal . Mayerish maximaltechno!

Preorder: Michael Mayer - Touch
http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?merchID=15287

-i have heard weatherall, absolutely, starting to promo it now. i really like it.

-the more i listen to HCL the better it gets tim. i think its a very good album indeed. my approval of touch is a bit guarded i suppose, but id rather say 'grounded'. its nice to retain a frame of reference at all times, and both HCL or T (!?) will be bettered, by the guys that made them.

nick

The fact that "Amabile" is on there points to "yes".

i just finally wrote some stuff about the kompakt 100 festival on my blog here, with lots of photos, if you're interested!

Between that and Sherburne's latest post blogdom seems all about inducing jealousy these days...

I'm finding the album to be very anticlimactic. I've always loved Mayer more as a DJ than anything else, but still...

Fantastic artwork, though.

I've never heard him DJ live either, so maybe I'm not getting a proper sampling of his talents having just heard his mix CD's.

It's similar to great defense in baseball -- some guys are spectacular with the diving catches, which is always eye-catching. Then you've got the guys who position themselves well and have a great range -- they're less flashy because they don't HAVE to dive very much.

It's actually called Funky Handicap, which is a much better title...

Brilliant analogy

hahaha i should hope so considering my mixing "skills"

I would say it does count. I mean if you paid to see a "live" DJ act and he just showed up, put a disc on a went to the bar, then that might not count. But a computer assisted seamlessly done mixed CD that you purchase? That's already several times removed from the "live" experience. I actually prefer it.

Unless there are some computer programs which are hella more talented than I can imagine.

Gotcha, I see that now.

Lovefood makes me laugh.

This is good stuff, but it leaves me wanting more.

i've got it: 515k - misterhungry

I like the kind of squealing digital horse neigh in track three as well.

(Disclaimer, I have never heard the Alan Parsons Project)

In other news, "Lovefood" is brill. Do you like "Amabile" Ronan?

But also the flipside to it is that it's actually quite sad. it reminds me of the "years gone by and I'm older" part of Weak Become Heroes. Perhaps it's a piano thing. Nonetheless I love it. (and it's structurally almost identical to "Corporate Crimewave" by Hystereo)

And the album doesn't seem like a DJ set at all to me. Perhaps I'm alone in this, but Touch confirms in my mind that Mayer is better at making isolated tracks that sound remarkably different from one another (Heaven, 17 & 4, Pensum, Amanda, Hush Hush Baby, Falling Hands, Love Is Stronger Than Pride, Privat, etc).

Wasn't Funky Handicap (or some form of it) on one of those Cocoon comps? If so, that means Touch has five new tracks.

Although I always thought it would work best as a set opener.

I am currently deciding which Mayer track to put on a mix for my current crush, is "Lovefood" too sleazy?!? maybe I'll just open it with "Touch".

When I saw Mayer in Cologne with Geeta he did play a bit of electro type stuff, I was most surprised by the Abwehr Disco which as far as I remember came in the middle of his Justus Kohncke greatest hits phase. I think he was drunk though.

x-post all the Kompakt live sets are weird, there's a Superpitcher/Tobias Thomas one and it's all non Kompakt barely micro type stuff like International Pony and things, and then the Mayday sets I got (not got the Mayer one yet) vary between techno and some micro stuff.

oddly when we were in Cologne more than one person I talked to, randomly and messily around the Tannzbrunnen where it was on, was very dismissive of Mayer in favour of Reinhard Voigt and DJ Koze. There seemed to be a certain amount of haterism and accusations that he is too populist and stuff.

x-post if he's bigging up Reinhard Voigt instead then I can imagine exactly how he might consider Mayer to be too populist.

I think there's probably an issue of Mayer becoming a sort of superstar DJ in the same way someone like Felix Da Housecat did, and to a certain extent the sets become a bit more homogenised, or at least the fear that the audience won't want to hear weirder stuff increases. He is getting quite well known I think. It's understandable really.

OH NO! Now it's "Welcome Back Kotter (Thomas/Mayer Mix)"!

"I know though that Michael Wells saw him in London recently and he was saying it was alot less micro than he expected too. "

When I interviewed him he implied that he was largely sick of the style of music he played on Immer; and now he's told Geeta that he's sick of shuffletech!

Don't get me wrong Felix's sets are amazing, my only reservation is the last 2 times have been almost tune for tune the EXACT same. and they were about a year apart from each other. that's kind of bad whatever way you look at it!

I'm not out as much in the last year either, mainly cos there's not a huge amount on. My favourite "greatest hits of dancefloor electroclash" set is still probably Jacques Lu Cont's show here last year, he played alot of his own stuff, some Depeche Mode, and then encored with his Silver Screen remix, "Take Me With You" and "So Much Love To Give", which at the time, early 2003, was just ridiculous.

so obviously I can't wait to see him play our own shabby little clubnight in 2 weeks.

I haven't actually seen/heard Reinhard Voigt play but I assume he would be harder than Mayer, yeah?

Then the next track was screaming techno!

It's sad that Melbourne's club scene is so boring. Though it was heartening to see the DJs who run Saturday nights at Honkytonks (our best house night by a mile) have a track on that Freaks mix - Little Beasties' "Digitize Me". It's one of the better tracks too!

Ronan have you heard Mayer's "Pensum (A2)" - it's a bit like "Lovefood", very bleary but emotional.

I also remember, now that you mention Superpitcher, when I met Michael on the Saturday of our weekend at the Areal records party, he told me, speaking about Superpitcher, "he is still sulking because his liveset isn't finished!". hahaha!

Speaking of which I've always wanted to hear Wolfgang Voigt's cover of "Killer" (released as "Schwarz" under the Freiland moniker). I bet (or maybe hope) that "Killer" is going to be a big reference point for stuff over the next year.

*(understatement but not by much).

I suddenly remembered that this was the Volga Select track from the second Output compilation. I had completely forgotten how great it was.

It's an Ivan Smagghe side-project.

i gotta listen to this album more

xpost

in fact is that THE Pet Shop Boys Kompakt song?

the piano hook is straight from an Underworld track, but I can't remember which one - Mother Earth?

Also finally tracked down the Mayer mix of "Happiness". ARE YOU HAPPY? HAPPY PEOPLE!

"Alan Parsons, The Steve Miller Band, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, acid, New York deep house, movie scores"

After andrew's argento epiphany I am wondering what movies Mayer likes.

I have to say that the "guarded" recommendation upthread of breaking up listens to Touch by a few days was spot on. I haven't overdosed on this record at all, and every time I put it back on, it seems to grow stronger. I think I would have put "Slowfood" at the end of the album though, as it halts the tremendous momentum of the first 4 tracks.

shit. i've been dying to play this out and was going to have the chance to at the post-holiday re-emergence of my local weekly night here, but the venue recently sustained heavy floor damage downstairs (bar/stage area) due to flooding and is off limits and who knows how long it'll be before they care to fix it. and right now i can't think of another place around here that would be receptive to hosting this kind of night (should i try to move it elswhere) that we've done for over a year and a half now. fuck. Little Rock is great but can be unkind sometimes.

I also found Mayer's "Capiche" from the first Speicher 12" recently, and despite Andy's dismissal of it somewhere I really like it, ambient schaffel somewhat like Ferenc's "Bul" but better I think.

I think the Mayer is quite like Ada's Blondie, I mean I listen to them back to back alot, but Blondie just seems a record with a more singular vision and I prefer it for that.

I was thinking about the part in the bio upthread that says Mayer tried to complete the album 3 times. My theory: he tried once, failed, but ended up with "Amanda." Tried again, failed, ended up with "Hush Hush Baby." Tired a third time, failed again, and ended up with (yup) "Falling Hands."

Perhaps he should look into doing Moodyman-style quasi-compilations for his albums. As great as "Touch" is, a compilation of all his vinyl cuts would KILL. And I have no hesitation to believe that his future vinyl only cuts will be of the same quality.

Re: GPM

Get Physical is such a briliant label name, every time I think of it, I think of sweat, sex, and people on the dancefloor rubbing agasint each other. I discussed it a bit in my Stylus review. I find it funny Tim and Ronan compare it to images of a fitness workout.

uh, there's this one that sounds kinda embarassingly midtempo to me and that i haven't yet had occasion to try to accomodate myself to, to see if i'm really just being disdainful of, like, DOWNTEMPO.

I heard "Lovefood" on CSI: Miami today and I feel dirty and confused and scared :(

yeah i thought was highly RUM when i saw that episode a few months back

"Lovefood," or "Armando the Poolboy's Theme"

today is so grey and quiet and MANTASY is streaming on Resident Advisor and this feeling, right here, is perfect, and I think you should feel it too:

http://www.residentadvisor.net/feed-item.aspx?id=53958

nice bassline in the title track

Love the twin peaks xylophone in Rudi Was a Punk.

Yeah the title track is great, heavy Depeche '83/'84 worship. "Voigt-Kampff Test" is also a standout.

love the bernard herrmann steal in lamusetwa.

this is lovely

this album is lovely as is his RA mix this week

i can't really think of anything else to say about it but it's really very lovely

new album “the floor is lava” is very good and eclectic. he’s gotten way better at mid tempo tracks.

Looking forward to hearing this. Mayer did a good interview with Radio France a couple of weeks ago.

https://www.radiofrance.fr/fip/michael-mayer-kompakt-est-d-abord-une-famille-3354130

Feels very early '00s throwback in a lot of the choices (synths, fx, breakbeats), it's a good work listen though. Some of the tracks with cumbia-esque basslines and dubbiness remind me of listening to DJ Rupture's WFMU show back in the day, just a bit.

haha I did listen to it at work and went down great

feel like there was a time Mayer was anti-breakbeat but I think he’s turned a corner. Three albums from now he’ll be DJ Shadow.