MICHAEL MAYER – brainwave technology (12" Vinyl)
Michael Mayers latest 4-Track-EP comes at you purposeful, stealthy and sly. Its a glorious left turn for the redoubtable producer, one that sees his typically lean and lithe productions buffed to a metallic, futurist sheen. Theres 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 Mayers deep dive into the thorny terrain of artificial intelligence, transhumanism and posthumanism. 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 thatd 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", Mayers 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. *Kompakt