Moderat - Moderat

MODERAT - MODERAT (BPitch Control)

Although this alliance isn’t new, the time between their initial collaboration and 2009 has seen a seismic shift in the fortunes of both Gernot Bronset, Sebastian Szary (Modeselektor) and Sascha Ring (Apparat). Coming together again after 5 years, both represent the nexus of German electronic music’s future, or at least slightly to the left of it. Whilst we may think of German electronic music being powered by the primacy of the 4/4 beat, for both these two, the influence of British beats and aesthetics has been most apparent (sic). Rave, ragga, dubstep and IDM all play their part in this first album between the collaborators, and for what it’s worth, this sees the best of both of them in action.

“Moderat” is an appropriate term as for me both artists had shown enough merit in previous works, but had yet to truly fulfil their promise, especially with Sascha Ring, who, apart from an explosive performance at Mutek in 2005, I felt had a bark stronger than his bite. Modeselektor’s approach, whilst full of kinetic energy, seemed to veer down cul-de-sacs of generic white ragga at times without any punch to it. However, small criticisms aside, this is an album of strong rhythms, upfront production and pop flavour throughout that firmly puts this trio in the driving seat of dance music. Although it starts weakly with the meandering and rather blasé “New Error”, things are quickly corrected by the tension of “Rusty Nails”, Ring’s mournful and distant refrain of “you’re walking on rusty nails..but the pain’s all mine” being accompanied by some sybaritic production. It’s ambiguous and awkward techno given strength by some decent verse. Although rent-a-vocalist Paul St.Hilaire makes an almost perfunctory appearance (he seems to appear everywhere nowadays), his contribution to “Slow Match” is telling, this being an almost sepuchral dark ragga tune that employs the best of Modeselektor’s bassline production.

The tracks “3 minutes of” and “Nasty Silence” segue together to announce the next part of the album, and themselves are coruscating slivers of atmospheric dubstep, keeping the momentum going before launching into the jaunty Germanpop of “Sick with It”, Szary’s vocals in this instance though, drenched in reverb seem to conform to contemporary production values and it rather passed me by. Things are corrected however by two more instrumental passages entitled “Porc 1” and “Porc 2”, Radioheadesque guitar creeping its way slowly over a rumbling rhythm and ending with a shoegazing finish. It’s full of colour and a dramatic contrast to the previous songs. The album comes to a fine climax with the melancholic vigour of “Les Grandes Marches” and “Out of Sight”, although I felt that these compositions didn’t have quite the same dramatic quality of the opening salvo of songs that started things.

It’s all too often that partnerships or collaborations can often expose the worst aspects of artists, but this is different, and although it’s by no means faultless, Ring’s lingering indie-pop aesthetic is complemented well by Szary and Bronset’s formidable rhythms and sense of fun. The songs have an individuality about them as such that it would be hard placed to attribute them to anyone else, and for one, I feel that they are stronger together than apart. Although it’s difficult to make assertions about albums of the year in May, I suspect that this will be populating a few lists come December.

Toby Frith