The Floor Is Lava in Bloomington, MN

The Floor Is Lava
is
Michael Mayer
's first solo album on
Kompakt
since 2012's cinematic-inspired
Mantasy
; since then, he's issued a volume of the
DJ-Kicks
mix series and the collaboration-focused
&
on
!K7
, as well as a handful of low-key singles and EPs.
is eclectic and sometimes unabashedly playful, particularly taking inspiration from the early days of house music, when sampling was a fresh concept and the creative process was more of a free-for-all. "The Problem" nearly sounds like deep house with its low-slung groove and manipulated horn samples caked in vinyl crackle. Spoken samples, including a message about searching for positive solutions, collide with thick, booming drum breaks. "Vagus" adds a touch of suspense by blending melodica and flashes of spaghetti Western guitar riffs with thumping house beats, while "Feuerstuhl" has more of a dreamy glimmer to it. "Kiss and Tell" has midtempo breakbeats, cowbells, and gleeful chords reminiscent of the era when house music first began to infiltrate pop. The album's biggest club heater is "Sycophant," which injects an
Orbital
-reminiscent bell melody into a propulsive rhythm elevated by a continually rising frequency. "The Solution," seemingly unrelated to "The Problem," is an ecstatic progressive house tune with a starry-eyed vocal. The unexpectedly poignant "Süsser Schlaf" ends the album, with excerpts from a
Goethe
poem inserted into a crisp drum cadence and a delicately plucked acoustic melody. One of
Mayer
's most adventurous efforts,
is filled with surprises and left turns. ~ Paul Simpson