Buy/stream: https://kompakt.fm/releases/brainwave_technology_12

Michael Mayer’s latest EP, Brainwave Technology, comes at you purposeful, stealthy and sly. It’s a glorious left turn for the redoubtable producer, one that sees his typically lean and lithe productions buffed to a metallic, futurist sheen. There’s a gleam in the eyes of tracks like “Brainwave Technology” and “Alpha” that speaks of serious fun, of the intersection of the pleasure zone and the frontal lobe.

“Brainwave Technology” itself is informed by Mayer’s deep dive into the thorny terrain of artificial intelligence, transhumanism and posthumanism. Inspired by reading German philosopher Richard David Precht, Mayer found himself heading down the “proverbial rabbit hole,” as he describes it, “watching hours of YouTube material by self-proclaimed prophets of these ‘inevitable’ changes to come.” Never one to be taken in by the egotist’s dance, Mayer’s cynicism about the whole endeavour is tempered, a little, by the deeper questions that these figures gesture towards: “Is it really an evolutionary step that man and machine become one? Or is it rather a marketing plot by Silicon Valley billionaires?”

On “Brainwave Technology”, Mayer plays the charlatans at their own game, turning their logic against them by exposing the fruitiness of their ‘visions’. “I chose irony as my sword with which I chopped off some quotes from some of those batshit crazy prophets and self-promoters,” he explains of the drooling psychobabble he drops in the track’s lacuna. There’s a sense of humour here – how could you not laugh at these hungover egotists? – but there’s levity too, a sense that Mayer’s using sound to expose the contradictions and double-speak at the heart of these half-formed ideas. It’s a Burroughsian tactic, to slice into the heart of the voice to see what hidden truths surface.

It was Burroughs, too, who once said that “when you cut into the past, the future leaks out”; Brainwave Technology cuts into the logic of the futurologist to leak out the messiness of modern reality. On “Alpha” and “Gamma”, Mayer seems to conjure up the stark, ominous music that’d soundtrack a science fiction reinterpretation – or preinterpretation – of our modern malaise, all funereal wreaths of electronic noise and clatterboxing beats. As the EP resolves with “Device For The Young At Heart”, Mayer’s questions are piling up: “Do we want to become immortal and live on as a download? Do we really give up on Earth and put all our effort into colonising Mars?” There are no answers, of course, but plenty of imaginings-to-be. Brainwave Technology soundtracks both dystopian and utopian possibilities of what could come next.

Michael Mayer - Brainwave Technology (Kompakt 444)

neu3

Michael Mayer - Device For The Young At Heart

Michael Mayer - Alpha

Michael Mayer - Gamma

Michael Mayer - Brainwave Technology

FREE DOWNLOAD HERE:
■ Bandcamp: https://submitrecords.bandcamp.com/album/origin
■ Sonicsquirrel: http://sonicsquirrel.net/detail/release/Origin/20740
■ Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/sub03dl-origin/

The origin came with the big bang, then nothing for a long time and now this. A new release on Submit Records from the founder himself and again for free. If you use our music in your sets, please link to our bandcamp profile.

FREE DOWNLOAD

Satellite

Relevant Emphasis

tbaBerba PT's break with reality with Submit Records

Berba, a hard techno youth from Guimarães, Portugal, delivers a powerful EP with “Mechanical Bodies” on Submit Records. The tracks, including “Cooking Cookies” and “Mechanical Bodies,” fuse raw energy with innovative techno elements. This EP, available for free, marks Berba's bold step into the world of electronic music. A sonic journey into the darkness that takes the listener on an intense journey through the world of techno.

Mechanical Bodies

Free Download

Cooking  Cookies

Sascha Müller, a German artist, DJ and producer, has crossed stylistic boundaries in his career, venturing into genres from AcidHouse and EBM to Cosmic, Synth and Krautrock. With an extensive discography spanning over three decades, he has released music under his name and various pseudonyms and participated in numerous projects. His impressive discography includes releases on renowned labels such as Universal Music, ZYX Music, Electronic Music Foundation, Teknotika Records (USA), Intrauterin Recordings, Mille Plateaux and Force Inc.

A significant figure in the acid, acid house, hard techno and techno genres, Sascha Müller was recognized on discogs.com and was nominated for the QUARTZ Electronic Music Awards in 2006. As a DJ, he has appeared at events such as Thunderdome and the Love Parade and has hosted the monthly show '90s Rave Radio' on EmsVechteWelle since 2010. In addition to dance music, Sascha Müller is active in music production for screen, film and stage/theatre, with his work having been presented at renowned events such as the Cannes International Film Festival and the International Film Festival Berlin. He has shared his knowledge at institutions such as the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology and the Floppy Totaal Festival in Amsterdam.

Escape EP

Reformhaus

Escape

Label, booking agency & online record shop

Demo submission: 
We receive a lot of demos every day. Please understand that we are unable to listen to everything. Send your private soundcloud link to: label@kompakt.fm.