Given that Wolfgang Voigt (whose music I have the utmost respect for) wants Kompakt to be seen as an up-to-date company that moves with the times, I find it surprising that perhaps their most high-profile upcoming release - SuperMayer Save The World - is in fact one of the most staid. In a year that’s seen Gui Boratto mix minimal with deep (Chromophobia), Motiivi: Tuntematon try acidgaze (”Mankind Failed”) and Perc & Fractal do fuck-knows what with schaffel (”Up”), Superpitcher and Michael Mayer seem entrenched in their 2003/4 heyday.
I’m the first to vouch for my appreciation of ‘pitcher’s Here Comes Love and Mayer’s Fabric 13. I think they’re great. But if opening track “The Art Of Letting Go” were anything to go by, SuperMayer seem to have taken that lounge formula and decided to play it through the guise of a Lily Allen covers band. Later, the requiem-speed bossa nova “The Lonesome King” spins a clichéd yarn about…well, not much really. It’s a dirge.
The album’s not all as bad as that. I find myself warming to the hazy “Saturndays”, but only with the slight reservation that I’d rather be listening to Chromophobia’s “Hera”. “Please Sunshine” is an inoffensive Metro Area-style jam, but again, I expected more from this collaboration than Metro Area knock-offs.
It gets better towards the end, though, first with “Planet Of The Sick” (squiggly synth riff, proper bassline, and piano wriggle all over a very lively beat) and then with the monumental “Two Of Us”. This appears remixed on the Total 8 compilation, where Geiger blisses is out to match some of Kompakt’s best swoonworthy moments (see: Superpitcher’s “Don’t Save Us From The Flames” remix). The original is almost 10 minutes of everything I love about Kompakt at its best. The beat is heavy and reliable, there’s a great fat mid-range buzz and there’s a childlike xylophone line over the top. Past half-way through the midrange swells even further, finally bottoming out into an uneasy plink-plonk that echoes through the final minutes.
It’s that mixture of dark and light I find most exciting in Kompakt productions. If only Saves The World had more moments like “Two Of Us”. As it is, I’ll content myself with the prospect of new Burger/Voigt remixes and productions, like their lovely rework of Gudrun Gut’s “Move Me”, out on Monika now.
Damn, I was just about to write about “Two of Us.” Maybe we will be comparing notes shortly.
I previewed the album too and I am sorry to say I’m very dissappointed. Sure, “Two of Us” is a brilliant track, but the rest doesn’t do anything for me. Maybe my expectations were too high since Mayer and Superpitcher are two of my all time favorites. But being familiar with their works this album deserved to be a lot better. It’s actually the problem I have with the whole Kompakt label. It’s brilliant, and when they show it there’s absolutely nothing better, but unfortunately they don’t show it that often in my opinion. This album kinda confirms the feelings I have for the whole label. Two or three outstanding tracks and the rest are b-sides or failed experiments. But as long as they keep producing tracks like “Two of Us” I am not complaining.
This doesn’t apply for The Field by the way, everything he does, rocks