Michael Mayer: The Crown Prince of Sad, Soft Techno

Kompakt’s Michael Mayer is an integral part of the contemporary techno scene. Ever since he teamed up with Wolfgang Voigt and Jürgen Paape to found the Cologne powerhouse in 1998, Kompakt has become a dance music behemoth. The operation includes a far-reaching distribution network, a ton of sub-labels and a record shop. More than anything, the name is synonymous with a kind of crystalline, softly sad, melancholy take on techno for those of us dancing with tears in our eyes.

Mayer himself has released a batch of excellent 12″s and a few albums on the label over the years, but he’s predominately known as a DJ. His fabric 13 mix helped popularise the microhouse sound of the early 00s and the Immer mixes are some of the finest ever assembled in any genre.

This weekend sees Mayer travelling to Liverpool to play The Asylum in Newsham Park festival. Housed in a former orphanage and boasting a line up that includes the likes of Marco Carola, Deetron and Radioslave, it’s set to be a top-notch experience in an off-the-beaten-track setting. We decided to call Michael at Kompakt HQ for a quick chat about playing there and all things Kompakt. He’d just left the table after another of the label’s legendary group lunches. “I’ve just eaten possibly the greatest carrots of my life,” he told me. “An unpretentious dish but the execution was remarkable.”

THUMP: Kompakt is now fully enshrined in the annals of techno. Are you still as excited about the label as you were all those years again?
Michael Mayer: Definitely. It isn’t getting boring. So much happens here every day and it feels like we’re going places. We’ve got somewhere with it but we aren’t resting on our laurels. It is still a very creative and heartfelt workplace. I’m as excited as I was on day one.

Did you ever think it’d become the defining label it is?
When we started we were pretty confident that we had something interesting to add to the map of house music but you can’t plan for something like this. It was a lucky coincidence I met my partners [Wolfgang Voigt and Jurgen Paape] when I did. That’s the greatest luck of my life. The rest is hard work and reasonable behaviour – in an economic sense, as well as a personal one. We’re still friends. We argue, yeah, but only about work related matters. There’s a very strong kind of social hygiene in play where we’re all aware of our responsibilities. A lot of people depend on us, depend on us functioning as one unit. If we didn’t the company would fall apart and that’d damage a lot of people.

This weekend sees you playing a former orphanage in Liverpool. Is that up with the strangest venues you’ve ever been booked at?
One of the weirdest was a nail parlour in Minneapolis. It was the back room. We entered the parlour and saw the women having their nails done and in the back there was a techno party going on. I played on Pont D’Avigon once, in Avignon. I was playing as SuperMayer at the time at the very end of this half-bridge. The audience was on the other side of the river.

Does that excite you, breaking out of the club space? Is there additional pressure?
I love proper clubs, that’s my home, but yeah, these weird venues do spice my life up a little bit. I read about this one on the internet and all the ghost hunting that goes on there, which has got my imagination going in terms of a set…

Can we expect a few hours of spectral, ghostly techno then?
Maybe. I don’t believe in ghosts, but I can imagine there is possibly something like them. You’ve got to properly believe in them to witness them. It’s a very dark place where some very dark things have happened over the years, so maybe a little happiness would be good to brighten the place up.

Why don’t you believe in them?
I’ve just never seen one. I wouldn’t mind seeing one. I’m agnostic and I don’t believe in the Holy Ghost, or other ghosts. But I wonder what kind of conversations you’d have with one…

Read our interview with Wolfgang Voigt here

You’ve been in this game for decades now, how do long term DJs keep the thrill of playing out alive?
I think the biggest enemy of the seasoned DJ is getting too comfortable. If I were to play the same set ten times in a row I’d get terribly bored. I’m not that type of DJ. I love preparing myself for the weekend, playing new things, rediscovering older ones, seeing what works in certain environments. If you’re bored as a DJ you should look for another job. You’re there to entertain people. If you can’t entertain yourself how can you entertain anyone else?

I always improvise. I play vinyl and USB and don’t turn up with a planned set. It keeps the surprises happening, the momentum going. That’s how I learned DJing. It wasn’t about preparing this ‘perfect’ set, it was about reacting to a room. If I’m tired then I might play harder records to get myself back into it. If I’m feeling super on it, I might play very deep stuff. That’s something you should always be open to. You’ve got to be flexible.

Check out a mix from Komapkt’s Dave DK here

People often talk about the Kompakt sound as this brittle, melancholy thing. Is that accurate?
There’s always been a melancholic edge to some Kompakt stuff, but that doesn’t apply to everything. I remember the first Superpitcher productions being extraordinary melancholic and that felt new. It was very unusual to play music like that in a club. It was always all about hands in the air, in your face techno. Those melancholic sounds came to represent Kompakt.

Does sadness on the dancefloor appeal to you?
Totally. Some of the most beautiful moments come when you’ve got your eyes closed on the dancefloor and a track sends a shiver down your spine. That’s why I’m doing this. That appeals to me more than a massive drop or a euphoric piano hook. I woudn’t see myself as a particularly sad guy but sadness is in all of us. It’s part of life. There’s room for it in the club.

Michael Mayer plays The Asylum in Newsham Park, Liverpool, this weekend. Head here for more information.

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