Moderat-Moderat LP 1(2"LP)

This is the debut album of Moderat: The collaboration between Mode Selektor and Apparat. Modeselektor's music is built on a combination of glitch, electro, and hip-hop thump and it's all about thrust and action-- the art of dropping heavy bass and making people go apeshit in a club. Apparat, meanwhile, tends to look inward. He utilizes more conventional pop structures that are wrapped in shoegaze synths and layers of atmosphere for something closer akin to what M83 is doing these days. Of course, it's this aesthetic dissimilarity that makes the record an exciting prospect. And the good news is that (for the most part) they pulled it off. Long stretches of Moderat find the three producers locked into a healthy creative symbiosis that accentuates the best parts of their individual styles. The record's best tracks, like first single "A New Error", illustrate the balance. It bounces along with the muscular energy we expect out of Modeselektor without ignoring the warm astral qualities of an Apparat song. Others, such as standout "Seamonkey", pull off the same feat with even more complexity. The song opens with a minute-plus of nasty, walloping bass and just when you start to wonder if that's all there is, it unfurls into something much more intricate.