Send "Modeselektor " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 A big part of Modeselektor's appeal, and what's set them apart from their Berlin techno and international bass music peers over the years, has been their sense of humor and play. Their records have come stamped with a frazzled cartoon monkey logo or bearing a fugly Photoshop of the duo as Madonna and child. Videos for tracks like "Black Block" and "Art & Cash" run on a kind of frantic goofiness (plus: more monkeys). They collaborate with jokey rap crews TTC and Puppetmastaz (actual rapping puppets), and they spike their DJ mixes with Busta Rhymes' ebullience and Henry Rollins' ranting ("I don't know which came first, shitty rave music or the drugs").That playfulness extends beyond the gags, into their eclectic, enthusiastic taste as selectors and producers, but it's tempered by a serious-minded approach to sound design and even the occasional moment of emotional weight. It's been an animated balancing act on their two full-length studio albums and DJ mixes, but it's one they don't quite maintain on Modeselektion Vol 01. The compilation, curated for Modeselektor's own Monkeytown Records, is meant to be a calling card for the duo's recently expanding role as event organizers, and it comes across as coolly businesslike-- despite the rainbow monkey face. The duo told Resident Advisor that "the main concern in all of this was the idea of defying genres and the usual beef between different camps, i.e., to create without borders and be completely freestyle." But Modeselektion is probably the most narrowly focused thing they've released this side of the melancholic Apparat collaboration Moderat, sticking to the territory between German techno and UK bass with little in the way of diversion. But at 18 tracks and nearly 80 minutes, it's also a decent survey of those scenes, presenting unreleased tracks from important and rising artists, and displaying Modeselektor's consistently keen ear for quality, low-end-friendly sounds. 2562's "The Wind Up" is pleasantly off-kilter, its heavily filtered chords and echoing woodblock floating over a beat that lunges and lurches around its half-step pivot. Cosmin TRG's "Space Station Love Affair" is an appropriately weightless interlocking of clean, clacking beats, a slippery filter sweep, and ping-ponging sonar blips. Ikonika and Optimum's "Hum" hides a sneaking, hollowed-out bassline amid percussive melodies and string synths. Ramadanman's "Pitter" puts gently sqealing synth glissandos over stuttering hi-hats and loping hand-drums....full text |
| Onethirtybpm |
| The various artists that comprise the first in what one can presume will become a series of compilations by German electronic group Modeselektor are, in half, a welcome bunch of 2010 techno regulars. Bisected, the compilation is somewhat less interesting. Most importantly, sonically, there are a good bunch of missteps that leave this “mix,” if one might use that term, a little flat. It isn’t mixed, first. This is the initial flaw one might find forgivable, but given Apparat’s recent, stellar entry in to the DJ-Kicks series, and given the crossover artists whom were on showcase there that now appear here, well, it’s kind of a loss.This brings misgivings: the good fourteen minute midsection of the album, a block held by Cosmin TRG, Shed, and Apparat–no doubt a serious trio in this year’s techno, is a delight on paper. But upon listen, it’s too abstract. Too iTunes. There’s nary a like key or tempo between them. There’s no reason, really, to proceed. Cosmin TRG’s “Space Station Love Affair” is a Space Dimension Controller-esque filter romp that wiggles in fits to funk but never entirely funks. Not until the trance-y end sequence wherein we hear enough momentum to to move from those last bare percussion bars and onto the more built, heavier epic piece. Which of course isn’t there. But what is, Shed’s “With Bag and Baggage,” is sufficient enough an answer. It’s good to hear Shed on a somewhat commercial mix. He’s a clever and consistent artist, a techno leader that should top some of 2010’s best-of lists. The track is a dubbed-out broken beat piece that almost echoes the energy of which Cosmin TRG spoke. Yet it’s a greater track, with more breadth and a Burial-esque snare that rings in some dim club hall. The last of this section, Apparat and his spidery dubstep entry “King of Clubs,” is a definite keeper. Here we find warmth in his crackle and, speaking of Burial, his overall attention to texture. The melodious parts of “King of Clubs” neither concisely start or end; they emerge like long wires tapped, and the whole thing sounds quite alien. The run that’s made of these selections is interesting–too varied, but good. Elsewhere, on Ikonika + Optimum’s “Hum,” for instance, Modeselektor showcase glassy synth work and pitch bent drum beats. 2562 dubs us blissfully out in “The Wind Up.” Modeselektor themselves play ad agency and supply “VW Jetta,” a bass-worthy electro-tech piece that’s raucous and out of place....full text |
| Consequenceofsound |
| The German electronic duo Modeselektor have been quiet since their collaboration with Apparat, but are now breaking the silence with a series of hand-selected compilations. And don’t expect endless hours of IDM, as each album showcases artists from across the electronic spectrum and the European Continent. The series begins November 5th with the self-release Modeselektion Vol. 1 via Monkeytown Records. Always ones to evade defining their sound, the first album focuses on the “progression of Dubstep’s offsprings and related or unrelated, but similar sounding Techno producers in London, Berlin or elsewhere.” So, they have chosen whatever they really felt like for the first release. But the selections do demonstrate the breadth of the dub’s influence, as you can discern when you delve into the complete tracklist below. Even though they are amidst a European tour as part of Moderat, Modeselektor will hit the U.S. for a short September “tour”. Continue onto the tour dates, and if you happen to live near NY, you can pick up tickets on Ticketmaster; everyone else must be slightly more crafty....full text |
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