Hello My Shadow Self 8 - AlterEgo AGM

Buy/stream: https://kompakt.fm/releases/the_floor_is_lava_2xlp_dl

Michael Mayer albums don’t come round too often, which is one of many reasons why his fourth collection, The Floor Is Lava, is a genuine event. It’s been eight years since his last one, the collaborative & released on !K7; its predecessors, Mantasy (2012) and Touch (2004), took their sweet time, too. It’s no real surprise, given the many hats Mayer wears – globetrotting DJ, revered remixer, inveterate collaborator, and boss of both Kompakt and Imara – that his solo productions are relatively sparing. But this also speaks to their quality: Mayer’s name on a record sleeve is a sign of quality, of music that’s both looking to the future and calling back to the past, that balances the imperatives of the dancefloor and the loungeroom, that’s as exploratory as it is functional.

On The Floor Is Lava, Mayer seems to be taking the temperature of both the music that surrounds him (past and present), and the ideas of the industry he works within. There’s that iconic album title, for a start. “The album’s mindset,” he says, reflecting on those four words together. For Mayer, it’s partly a critique of the way the industry boxes in both producer and listener, focuses them on genre, on market, on the next new thing: “Being a free minded spirit that transcends genres has become an uphill battle.” A battle worth fighting, though, and with The Floor Is Lava, the result is an album that’s varied, quixotic, idiosyncratic, charming, and deeply, addictively listenable.

Throughout, Mayer finds thrills in exploration and juxtaposition, allowing unexpected things to blossom and giving them their life, their platform, throwing the listener exciting curveballs: “It’s a DJ album by a DJ that’s easily bored.” Either easily bored, or endlessly curious, The Floor Is Lava is rich with ideas. It opens with “The Problem”, which looks back to look forward, embracing the rickety way early house productions threw samples together with gleeful abandon. Mayer mentions Pal Joey, and the scene around Rockers Hi-Fi and their Different Drummer imprint, as reference points, and you can hear that freewheeling spirit throughout.

That’s The Floor Is Lava: then and now, brainwaves and nerve structures, problems and solutions, genres on fire; the real, the unreal, and the surreal. An album for the easily bored and the endlessly curious. Mayer has the last word, telling us all you need to know about the album’s spirit: “Burning for the cause, being zealous, being addicted to the heat of the night, the exuberant powers of music.”

The Floor Is Lava

The Solution

Michael Mayer - The Solution

Brainwave 2.0

Michael Mayer - Brainwave 2.0

Track List
1.	Proserpina (Penalune Restrip) - L'estasi Dell'oro	
2.	Temporal Paradox - Ogaitnas Amlap & Seart Connect
3.	Occult - Regent	
4.	Patterns (Original Mix)  - Greg Notill, Tony Romanello
5.	Ela - DJ Dextro	
6.	Temporary Vandalism - Dustin Zahn	
7.	Fuera De Lugar - E2NMN	
8.	Vamp (Original Mix)  - Fresko	
9.	Sn4 (Rework) - Terminus(ZA) & Daryn Steytler	
10.	Watch Your Step (SYEP020) - Nemoral	
11.	Eon - DJ Dextro	
12.	Sidereal Reflections (Original Mix)  - Hertz Collision
13.	Future - Skøza	
14.	Empreinte - Bidoben	
15.	Back In the Jungle - Maloog
16.	Destino - R66	
17.	Solar	 - UFO95
18.	The Ancient Gods Are at War - Angioma
19.	Rundown - Ben Reymann
20.	Inner Voice - Axel Karakasis
21.	Nova (Original Mix)  - Confidential Recipe
22.	Reoite - Chontane	
23.	Monday Off - Olmo
24.	Graphene - Noog
25.	Penumbra Waltz - Nemoral
26.	Quantum Field Theory (Original Mix)  - Amine Kohb
27.	Incipiam  - Centeno
28.	03 Tek - Zane Micallef
29.	Rich String - DOLD
30.	Omulu - X707
31.	Eternidad - E2NMN
32.	Dystopian Stab - Cassulle	
33.	Crock (Original Mix)  - Vidrik
34.	Biosfera - Altinbas
35.	Tihatar - Amotik	

Hello My Shadow Self 10 - AlterEgo AGM

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.

Booking 
alteregoagm@gmail.com
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