Touch (Import) (CD) ~ Michael Mayer (Artist) Cover Art

Touch (Import) (CD)

By: Michael Mayer (Artist)

More About this Product
List Price: $16.98
Tower Price: $13.69
You Save: $3.29 (20%)
Add to BagAdd to Bag Click to go directly to the checkout.
This item qualifies for FREE Shop N' Save Shipping for orders over $25. Check individual shipping price. *Some Restrictions Apply.
Availability: In Stock
Also Available in: [Vinyl LP]
Share This:
Add To KaboodleAdd To Kaboodle  Submit To Digg!Submit To Digg!  Share On FacebookShare On Facebook  Add to FavoritesAdd to Favorites  TwitterTwitter 

Product Description

Track Listing

DISC 1 for Touch (Import) (CD) Album By Michael Mayer (Artist)
1   Touch  
2   Privat  
3   Heiden  
4   Neue Luthersche Frakfur  
5   Slowfood  
6   Lovefood  
7   Funky Handicap  
8   Amabile  
 

Run a Quick Search on "Touch" by Michael Mayer to Browse Related Products:

Browse more products related to "Touch"

Browse more products related to "Michael Mayer"

Review

Uncut (p.130) - 4 stars out of 5 - "The absorbing result is eight sleek and sensuous tracks of widescreen dream-boogie and hypnotic ambient pop that sit on the respectable side of trance..."

Title Note

Illustrator: Bianca Strauch.

The price Kompakt paid for its strong graphic identity and revered reputation can be summed up by one well-meaning but misguided phrase that is often used when discussing a bassline, a track, or even an entire DJ set: "Kompakt style." Despite releases that cover several stripes of dance and non-dance music, the concept of a Kompakt style shuts out a large portion of the label's output (in addition to shortchanging other producers and labels). We're talking about one of the most diverse dance labels around, something like a Sub Pop to Chain Reaction's Sarah. Michael Mayer, one of Kompakt's operators, deals with this very problem. None of his own adored tracks prior to Touch -- "Heaven," "17 & 4," "Amanda," "Love Is Stronger Than Pride," "Falling Hands," the co-productions with Reinhard Voigt, and on and on -- resemble one another beyond having a dance beat, and yet Immer and Fabric 13 -- his pair of mix albums from 2002 and 2003 -- have become so well-regarded that his name has become attached to the smooth-gliding, noir-ish kind of microhouse presented on both discs. Touch seems like a reaction to all of this. The dramatic opening title track signifies this immediately, with elaborate passages of swirling strings, distantly placed piano notes, and howling winds. Is this the Mayer everyone knows, or is it an ex-journeyman prog rocker who began dabbling in Pure Moods-tailored new age after departing the 25th lineup of the Soft Machine? The most surprising aspect of the album is how the tracks are as disjointed from one another as any imagined assemblage of Mayer's old material. For someone who notoriously unravels a story during each of DJ sets, it's alarming to hear him turn in an album where the relationships between the tracks are arbitrary. Out of the five new productions, most have elongated go-nowhere stretches where the repetition is more redundant than hypnotizing. Take the 11-minute "Slowfood," a track that fits more in a heist movie than on a dancefloor; well over the first half is spent on set up, with little in the way of payoff following. "Neue Luthersche Fraktur," however, is ideally paced, whipping into a brilliantly layered gale-force charger. The three old tracks are easily the best on the album. "Privat" is stately acid techno with pattering bongos and guitar flicks; "Amabile" is an amiable, circular shuffle; "Funky Handicap"'s strings of blight come off like a Cliffs Notes version of Moodymann's Forevernevermore album, translated from Detroit to Cologne. In these tracks, Mayer's most creative production ideas and DJ instincts lock right into place. They're enough to prevent Touch from being an album that's merely passable. ~ Andy Kellman

Customer Reviews for "Touch (Import) (CD)" by Michael Mayer (Artist)

There are no customer reviews yet. Be the first to write a review!

Submit your Review

Explore More Great Tower Sales & Specials

Tower Records music Sales, Promotions & Special Features

Today's Most Popular Music Genres

Tower.com Music Boutique Stores

  • Greatest Hits Boutique
    Expand your musical horizons with our monthly selections for "Greatest Hits" and "Best Of" CD Collections.
  • Tower Records Vinyl Store
    Enjoy some of our favorite new pressings, indie rock releases, and milk crate essentials priced at up to 30% off so you can keep spinning right round (Like a record!)
  • The Beatles Collector's Boutique
    On 09-09-09, experience music history when the original studio albums by The Beatles are re-released, digitally remastered for the first time! Browse our favorite Beatles music, video and book titles!
  • Woodstock Anniversary Boutique
    Celebrating 40 years of Woodstock - Three days of music that changed the world forever!
  • The History Of Indie Rock Boutique
    Browse Our Album Art History of Indie Rock Influencers, from the 1960s to today!

Interact with Tower.com