II
More than just the mere sum of its moving parts, Moderat\'s second album exists as its own peculiar entity: artful pop angles melded with manic dance music in a way that works in both clubs and living rooms. So while tear-streaked tracks like \"Bad Kingdom\" and \"Damage Done\" are shielded from \"emotronica\" trappings by howling hooks and samples that split, scamper, and slide, the rest of the album reads like a series of compromises among three very opinionated producers: Apparat\'s Sascha Ring and Modeselektor\'s Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary. Good thing everyone brought such full-blooded beats to the drawing board; \"Milk\" taps into a 10-minute trance like The Field, \"Versions\" imagines a slower, more soulful version of drum \'n\' bass, and \"Ilona\" follows a path lit by pitch-shifted vocals and the kind of kinetic programming that made Thom Yorke want to work on Modeselektor\'s last album and (most likely) listen to this one.
Berlin's Apparat (aka Sascha Ring) and Modeselektor (the duo of Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary) return for a second album. The major differences between II and their self-titled debut is that their sonic sensibilities have grown more refined and compelling, and that the world of electronic music has just about caught up to them.
The second album from the Berlin techno supergroup-of-sorts is a huge leap forward from what was itself a fine debut.
After their 2009 self-titled debut, the minimal techno supergroup Moderat took four years off, once again splitting into Modeselektor (Gernot Bronsert, Sebastian Szary) and Apparat (Sascha Ring) for studio work.
There were seven years between Moderat’s first EP and album, with the Modeselektor duo and Apparat’s Sascha Ring putting the gap down to “artistic differences”. It’s taken another four years for them to record a follow-up and as with its predecessor, it’s the creative dissonance that acts as the adhesive holding the record together and which ultimately makes it such a thrill.
The album art that adorns Moderat's II features a Daniel Clowes-esque illustration of a conservatively dressed man in the midst of pulling off, or putting on, a wild-haired mask.
Moderat, aka Apparat's Sascha Ring and Modeselektor's Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary, apparently spent six months in an underground studio in their native Berlin recording this follow up to 2009's eponymous first collaboration.
Clash slaps a fat 9/10 on the "masterpiece" that is 'Moderat II', the second collaborative LP by Modeselektor and Apparat.