Michael Mayer - Immer 2

Michael Mayer
Immer 2
Kompakt

Alright, this was released a few months ago, but whatever. To begin, many don't like Mayer's style. Granted, it's one that I don't prefer; I prefer long mixes, making the tracks play simultaneously for awhile. Mayer makes very short cuts, prefering to play each track fully. Obviously, Kompakt's philosophy of tracks as songs rather than tools carries over to Mayer's mixes as well.

Immer 2 begins with "Ploosh", an intro that, like with the first Immer mix, makes you forget that you're listening to dance music. "The Dog" picks this up a bit, and the next three tracks all bring us into dance music territory. Things really start picking up with one of the best releases of last year, Justus Köhncke's "Advance", a great song with sweeping synths and a sort of disco-ish sound (something that Mayer, in an interview, said he sort-of welcomes the come back of). Lindstrøm's "Another Station (Todd Terje Remix)" is where the mix really reaches its most dancable.

Clearly, this is the climax of the mix in terms of dancibility, but it is past this point where the mix really begins to shine. The Rice Twins' "For Dan", released on K2 last year, was a great release that didn't get the attention that it really deserved. It's followed by SCSI-9's "Morskaya" from their album "The Line of Nine" which was a great release following the typical Kompakt sound. "Lying in a Bed of Mist" brings the mix down a bit more, and segues beautifully into DK7's "Where's the Fun (Sten Remix)". You might not exactly be dancing anymore, but this is where dance music shines and where Mayer's philosophy comes through. The mix ends with Supermayer's remix of Geiger's "Good Evening" which, for all of its 11 minutes, never once falters. It's not as "get up and dance" as their remix of Gui Boratto's "Like You" last year, but it's just as good.

Having to live up to both the first Immer and his mix for Fabric, Mayer has created something here that, on its own, stands up to any mix CD out there. Unfortunately, it is hard to look away from his older CDs, but it's unfair to expect him to be able to match the greatness of those two. For what it is, Immer 2 is a fantastic mix CD, and is easily one of the best CDs released last year.