Many techno/house fans have their issues with Michael Mayer, with the Kompakt cult of personality, with the whole notion of dance music that appeals to people who don't crawl out of the after-after party at two in the afternoon on a Sunday. Or if they want to get technical, they don't like his selections, which generally favor melody or texture or mood over funk. And they don't like his mixing style, which generally favors playing tracks out to their full length and little in the way of hard chops or other mix trickery. They don't like the gothic mood swings of his mixes, his taste for sharp and smelly cheese, or his fondness for trance. And, of course, someone, somewhere was doing something similar, better, earlier-- and never got the fame or the cred that Mayer enjoys.
To which I say: fuck that. Mayer's mixes may offend deep house purists, confuse analog Detroit techno fans, or irritate "minimal" heads who enjoy Richie Hawtin's affinity for making super long, super boring tracks out of a million smaller super boring tracks, but he is certainly, unashamedly "pop"-- at least within the parameters of his genre. He's kind of like the Cure: Sure, he loves to bum you out, but then he'll throw in a "Love Cats" now and then. On the other hand, there is no way a sequel to-- not to put too fine a point on it-- one of the best DJ mixes of all time wasn't going to be something of a disappointment. Four years and uncountable dancefloor trends and trendlettes separate this Immer from the first. And anyone looking for a continuation of Mayer's earlier mixes-- with their combination of utter corn (guest spots from Nena! Tweeting birdies!) and brooding dancefloor discontent-- will be slightly confused by the less ostentatious and dramatic Immer 2.
Immer 2 finally made sense on a drizzly, horrible fucking morning that I spent at my desk with my hungover head in my hands. Since my skull already felt like it was filled with salt water, the crackles and popping bubbles and Sea Quest pings and blips of the opening Someone Else track slowly eased me in, whereas a Jeff Mills blitz might have just sent me running for the Advil. Mayer is nothing if not a master of pacing, and there's no reason why a home-listening DJ mix can't take its sweet time.
After the 4/4 push begins in earnest, the next four tracks feel like traditional house sloughing off all that briny water and seaweed, the skipping jazzy hi-hats and bumping basslines of tracks like Ian Simmonds' "The Dog" and Frank West's "2nd Booty" moving up from the muck and into the light of the mix's brassy disco middle. This is the biggest difference between the two Immer mixes. Whereas the first third of Immer 2 creeps and crackles with the same crepuscular 3 a.m. vibe as the first installment, it's difficult to imagine a track that samples (according to the fine folks at ILM) a Boz Scaggs disco tune-- as cheeky and lovable Justus Köhncke's "Advance" does here-- fitting alongside the portentous hunk of Mahler's 5th Symphony that Mayer dropped on Immer.
The Todd Terje remix of Lindstrøm's "Another Platform" finds Mayer smack dab in au courant space disco territory. It's as trendy (and speedy) a move as he's ever pulled-- for a moment you might think you were listening to a Get Physical DJ. Needless to say, it's also the mix's most incongruous moment. The final third is more Mayer-esque. It climaxes with the SuperMayer remix of Geiger's "Good Evening", an epic trance workout, the kind of anthem you thought was out of fashion in an era of 13 minutes of tics and tocks and clicks and rustles. It's one of the most shiver-inducing singles of the year, featuring the kind of synth blasts in its first few minutes that feel as good a particularly hot and high-pressure shower nozzle. It only goes up from there.
But the changes this time out have less to do with tempo or Mayer's apparently newfound need to boogie. The first Immer, and especially Mayer's Fabric 13 mix, had personality. Immer 2 is far less eclectic-- there's nothing here like the stuttering cut ups of Jackson's M83 mix, the portentous reversed strings of Richard Davis' "Bring Me Closer", the deranged shuffle of Akufen, or the vampire cotillion vibe of Phantom/Ghost's "Perfect Lovers". If fans want to hear this with fresh ears, I'd advise lopping off the Immer from the title, and enjoying one of the better, spacious, and inviting disco-tech mixes of the year without prejudice.
