Published
Mon, Jan 22, 2007, 15:20
- Kompakt boss Michael Mayer talks to RA about the return of schaffel, his love for disco and what exactly went wrong in Ibiza last summer.
This makes me sound like a total jetsetting groupie, but I’ve said hello to Michael Mayer in England, Japan and Spain over the last twelve months. So when the Kompakt boss arrives backstage at Nitsa in Barcelona, it seems natural to me to greet him like I actually know him. “Hi, Michael.” He doesn’t remember me from a bar of soap. Such is lot of an international DJ I guess - another weekend, another continent, another interview. But, bless him, he smoothes over the awkwardness – even breaking out his rider for us to share. With Kompakt having extended its tentacles away from home base in Cologne out into the world in recent years, Mayer is more used to this situation than me.
In an age in which Tiesto bigs up Kompakt, it’s hard to believe the imprint used to be pretty minority stuff. Back in the nineties the label was the exclusive preserve of minimal freaks trading obscure 12”s, but ten years and hundreds of releases later, it’s the most imperial of German dance labels: the distribute over two hundred other labels, they run successful record stores in Cologne and online, and, most importantly, they have a sound of their own: lush, pop-inflected techno that’s been a gateway into dance music for many. Mayer’s tastes might him got him chucked out of the room by angry promoters when he first started DJing, but he’s stuck to his guns, and nowadays he’s a draw at the largest techno festivals around the world. So does Mayer swallow his pride and bang it out bigroom style when he plays to 10,000 people at events like Wire or Mayday? “Once in a while I enjoy playing the big parties. But…you might know I’m not the rave king.?