In a world that is comically oversaturated with music, Michael Myerz nearly drowns himself out. With a whopping 27 albums under his belt and a 28th well on the way, the Atlanta rapper is almost too prolific to keep up with. Fortunately, Myerz understands the importance of mixing things up, of offering listeners new vibes, new cadences, new personas to keep his sound fresh and engaging. On his upcoming LP, Lecker, he takes this process even further, rapping and singing in an entirely new language.

You can hear some of this evolution taking shape on the album’s lead single, “Marmelade Oder Honig.” The track, which translates to “jam or honey” in German, is one of Myerz’s poppiest and most intriguing cuts, drawing as much from fizzy ’90s alternative as it does from modern-day hip-hop. Aside from the title, he doesn’t dive fully into German as he does elsewhere on the record, but the song’s spirited hook is enough to make the message clear: make way for yet another version of Michael Myerz.

That signal is only amplified by the accompanying video, which we’re excited to premiere today. Directed by Kevin Fermini, the clip maintains the grainy, lo-fi aesthetic and weirdo humor that has become Myerz’s stock in trade, and injects it with a warm blast of sunny psychedelia.

Watch/listen above.

With Lecker set for a September release, Immersive decided to reach out to Myerz to check up on his progress, his newfound love for the German language, and to see how he is surviving the pandemic. Read our conversation below.

Your new album was originally titled Hammer, but you recently changed it to Lecker. Why the switch?

I wanted the album title to be one word from the beginning, and I wanted it to be a German word that I resonated with since for the last year or so I’ve been trying to learn the language. I was looking up words and came across the word hammer which is slang for “cool.” So I thought that worked since I’m a pretty cool guy [laughs], but seriously I just felt it worked. And then also the idea that I’m like a hammer hitting you over the head with my music, that I’m loud and in your face, and also that the hammer is a part of the inside of your ear or something—I don’t know my friend told me about it.

Over time I didn’t really care about the album title as much since the album kept changing. I kept making tracks and cutting them, working on some, half finishing them, then going back and completely scrapping them. A lot happened, especially after I recorded the first 4 tracks. The album turned into something different with all the time I had on my hands since I didn’t know when I was going to go back to the studio. Luckily, I think I’m finishing it all up by the end of June or early July.

With all that said, Hammer didn’t fit at all. The nail in the coffin was when I talked to my friend John Dilworth and told him the album title. He asked me why I was calling it that and when I got to the whole “hitting you over the head with a hammer” part, he stopped me and said, “I protest. You’re telling me there are 12 tracks and not a single word in any of those songs resonates with you more?” I thought about it and explained that I wasn’t really feeling the name anymore and this conversation basically wraps it up on “I got to get a new title.” Later that day I just thought about German words some more and eventually was like, “Lecker,” which means delicious and tasty. And this album has become just that. It’s not this somber, sorta sad-serious album it was originally going to be. Now it’s something full of energy, pop, power, and fun with still my angst, aggression, and anger mixed in. Lecker just makes more sense.

What made you want to learn German?

What made me want to learn German was, for starters, my girlfriend Sarah. She was going to Europe and I knew she was going to be visiting Berlin, so I wanted to impress her. So I picked up German, downloaded Duolingo, and started [studying]. Then, when she came back, she and I would study together and we wound up bonding and falling in love… and they say French is a love language! Also, I felt it was cool to be the Jewish rapper who also raps in German. I just like exploring different things and I’ve always wanted to rap in a different language! I am really excited to continue to learn and incorporate it into my music.

With this being your 28th album, how do you feel this one differs from your previous releases?

This album differs from a lot of my albums in just that I tried a lot of new things like singing more, rapping in German at times—the whole first part of the song “Anvil” off the album is in German. I spent more time on this album just writing and editing than I have done with anything I’ve ever made. This album went from being 8 tracks to then cutting 4 and then writing another 8 and then a bunch of other songs just not making it. I don’t know, it’s been a blur at this point because I’ve never had an album change so much in 8 months, which for me is a long time for me to work on an album. But I think going forward I might have to spend this much time on each thing I do because one, there is no rush, and two, I’ll still be putting out 1-2 albums a year even with taking a “long time” which to me is 8 months [laughs]. I already have plans for the next Halloween album that is going to be a pop, horror-themed album.

“Marmelade Oder Honig” certainly feels like a new direction for you—poppier, more singing than rapping, as you mentioned. How did that particular track come together for you?

So the track came together pretty easily. My producer Ben (Damocles) sent me the beat and I immediately was hooked. I woke up one day on my day off and sat there on my couch writing to it and to be honest everything came together pretty fast. I love when I don’t have to overthink anything, the beat is so groovy and fun—how could I not write something positive and fun to it? I think people are going to dig this album because it has a lot of vibes similar to this track.

So jam or honey, what’s your preference?

I like jam! In fact, I just picked up probably the best pickles I’ve had in a while from Kelly Hester who runs Kelly’s Death Pickles and he threw in strawberry jam that I put on my burger to make it taste what I think Jelly Fish Jelly from Spongebob would taste like and then throw on some of his pickles and BAM! DELICIOUS!!!! SEHR LECKER!!!! I do like honey though, but jam/marmelade for sure.

Your videos generally seem to have a touch of the surreal to them and this one is no exception. Conceptually, what were you and director Kevin Femini trying to achieve with the visuals?

Kevin Fermini crushed it on this music video and honestly, all of the ideas are from him. The only thing I picked out was my outfit and maybe a couple of goofy things like me turning front to back giving the okay symbol, or waving at the camera all cheeseball-like. The rest is all him! He rules and everyone should go to him for music videos. He has taken my music videos to the next level. For the video, he just wanted to make it really trippy and fun and try some new things out like the flying bit I do!

Before the pandemic hit, you had a lot of projects and collaborations planned for 2020. Are any of those moving forward?

Yeah, I had another VHS screening at the Plaza Theatre where we were going to have another VHS market in the lobby and have my buddy Josh from Lunchmeat co-host a screening of Chopping Mall but that isn’t going to happen since that was scheduled for May 28th. I also had a show in the works to have a Plaza Theatre event where John Dilworth who made Courage the Cowardly Dog was going to come down from New York and we had this whole night planned where we would screen some Courage episodes, some other shorts, Q&A, cosplay contest, like so many awesome ideas but that isn’t going to happen now. I also had an album release show in the works but who knows when I’ll get to play a show again… when will any of us get to play a show again? Hopefully soon! I’m sure when this shit blows over all of these things will still happen but in the meantime, like the rest of us, I’ll just sit and wait patiently.

What’s next for you?

I still plan on dropping Lecker in September and I’m going to the studio mid-June to finish it so I’m extremely thankful for Jesse Mangum at the Glow Recording Studio for letting me record over there during all this madness. More music videos in the works and I’m in the works on another Halloween EP and another VHS release! No pandemic is going to stop me from making art!

More Info
Bandcamp: michaelmyerz.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @MichaelMyerz
Instagram: @mrmyerz
SoundCloud: @mich4el-myerz
Twitter: @MrMyerz