DJ-Kicks - Michael Mayer [!K7]

Following last year’s full-length LP, ‘&’, which saw him collaborate extensively with an impressive cohort of contemporaries and friends, including Joe Goddard, Prins Thomas, and Agoria, Michael Mayer is now set to contribute to the legendary DJ Kicks series. Featuring sixteen tracks, the mix proves Mayer just as generous in his spirit, compiling a musical journey spanning his ever-growing record collection and, most notably, his defining instinct to share the beauty of music with others.

“Kicks has turned out to be a rather international affair, especially if you compare it to Immer 1 or Fabric 13, which consisted of almost 100% German productions,” Mayer highlights. “At that time, amazing things were happening in my direct neighbourhood and throughout Germany. Since then, that spark has travelled far. The sound I’ve been promoting is often mislabeled ‘minimal’. Minimal used to be a thing in the days leading up to Kompakt, in the mid-90s. After that, I became much more interested in an eclectic way of playing music.”

Alongside this consistent, open-minded attitude to music, ‘emotional’ remains perhaps the term most associated with Mayer’s inclinations as a DJ, and as the man himself once observed: “there is room on the dancefloor for emotions other than euphoria.” Certainly, DJ Kicks delivers on this expectation, balancing nostalgic passages with frequent bursts of high energy aimed directly at the dancefloor.