Michael Mayer – “Brainwave Technology” (Rezension) – ByteFM

Michael Mayer – “Brainwave Technology” (Kompakt)

8,6

There are new records that immediately lead to an internal, irreversible ban. The records where it is immediately clear: You have to listen carefully. So it was with the “Brainwave Technology” EP by Michael Mayer, co-founder and co-owner of the combined label. Believe it or not, it’s the 444th catalog of the Cologne brand, which since 1998 has decisively shaped the electronic music scene with champions such as Reinhard Voigt, Justus Konke, Tobias Thomas and Superbetter. So the liqueur catalog #444 is a matter of the president, and on Meyer’s album “Mantasy” from 2012 you had to tap your ears to hear exactly those nuances that set him apart from other artists: unusual noise, quotation, and unexpected twist.

This is the case again with the new “Brainwave Technology” and especially with the EP title track. This track is also particularly challenging for dog ears. A neural pathway that fits the neural present. Sway and groan, you think of spaceships and sci-fi and none of that is too far fetched, because Michael Mayer’s new EP focuses on artificial intelligence and transhumanism. Inspired by philosopher Richard David Brecht, Meyer went “the proverbial rabbit hole,” as he himself says. He spent hours watching videos on YouTube declaring themselves future prophets. This should lead to spooky music. But also very smart and futuristic voices that have never been heard before.

Dystopia or utopia?

The second track “Gamma” is very questionable and relaxing, with a little imagination the piece could also be from fellow Superpitcher. “Alpha” is made for the club and on the EP it’s the track that leaves the techno track as little as possible. A subtle tension here too (thoughts of the Mexican genius Rebolledo are allowed) and at the same time very typical of the “Cologne Techno” in which Kompakt played a major role.

The last part of the EP is the saddest and the title sounds pretty bumpy in the free German subtitles: A Device for the Young at Heart. Good device though! “Device For The Young At Heart” has brilliance and melancholy as a common thread, which Michael Mayer has mastered so well despite all the club fit. A piece for the ages – there were actually a few of them at the Kompakt (just think of the awesome “The Difference It Makes” from MFA).
Although there are only four pieces in this EP, there’s a lot more to it: humor, tension, utopia, dystopia, and “irony as a sword to expose visions,” as Mayer himself says.

Release: August 27, 2021
Label: compressed