Members of Mayday – Anthems (2002)

 

Turn of the century fallout from the acid house generation and Members of Mayday take you back to a time when dance music was still interesting and vibrant. ‘Anthems’ basically does what it says on the tin and presents fourteen anthemic tracks from the underground techno merchants. It’s old school layered techno, flecked with splashes of acid, house and hardcore.

Sadly, I can’t stomach it as a whole listening session in the car. I can enjoy about four songs and then it all starts becoming a little samey. Don’t get me wrong each track works brilliantly mixed up in a shuffled playlist, but as fourteen songs, one after another it just swamps my brain (and that doesn’t take into account the remix disk!). This criticism can be levelled at all but the very best techno albums (take a bow Infected Mushroom), so don’t let that put you off. This is still a quality offering.

Most of the selections would work well as singles with the retro-acid stomp of ‘The Judgement Day,’ the tricky disco-ish ‘Mayday Anthem’ and the surging powerhouse of '10 in 1' all bone fide stonkers. My personal favourite is the truly anthemic ‘Sonic Empire’ which combines submarine sonar type sounds with pulsing repetitive rhythms, and even if you don’t fancy the album give it a listen on Youtube.

An album that brings back happy memories but is just as relevant and enjoyable today. We salute the Members of Mayday. And yes they are German!