Modeselektor

Modeselektor
Modeselektor in Berlin
Background information
Origin	Berlin, Germany
Genres	Electronic, IDM, Experimental Techno, Breakbeat
Years active	1996–present
Labels	BPitch Control, Monkeytown Records
Website	Official website
Members
Gernot Bronsert Sebastian Szary

Modeselektor is an electronic music band formed in Berlin, featuring Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary. The group draws heavily from IDM, glitch, Electro house and hip hop. In an interview the group said regarding their sound: "Happy metal, hard rap, country-ambient, Russian crunk. We don’t like it if people tag us as being a certain style or school or scene or whatever. We don’t really care about all that." ^[1]

History

The group members met in 1992 in Berlin with group member Szary performing live acid house music at illegal underground parties. The group says, "After the Wall came down, everywhere in Germany and especially East Germany there was a lot of chaos, anarchy." ^[2] Both soon joined forces and began creating music under the moniker Fundamental Knowledge. In 1996 the group renamed to Modeselektor, a name taken from a function on the Roland Space Echo analog delay effects unit.

In 1999 Modeselektor signed its first remix contract and began working with Pfadfinderei, a Berlin based VJ and design collective. In 2000 Modeselektor met Ellen Allien, making BPitch Control their home label. Modeselektor has also been involved in collaborative efforts; Moderat - a musical collaboration between Modeselektor and Apparat, Pfadselektor - a music/visual collaboration between Modeselektor and Pfadfinderei, and with Rhythm & Sound's Paul St. Hillaire. They have produced sound installations at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and lectured at the Merz Akademie in Stuttgart.

Modeselektor is a favourite group of Thom Yorke (frontman of Radiohead),^[3] who has recommended their albums in interviews and included the song Silikon (from their 2005 LP Hello Mom! and featuring vocalist Sasha Perera) in a publicly available iTunes playlist. Moderat (the collaboration between Modeselektor and Apparat) have also supported Radiohead on the band's concerts in Poznan, Poland and Prague, Czech Republic, in August 2009.

The follow-up to Hello Mom! was Happy Birthday! which saw Paul St. Hilaire, TTC, Puppetmastaz, Thom Yorke and Maxïmo Park as guest vocalists. Other collaborators included Otto von Schirach, Siriusmo, and Apparat.

In March 2009 they released an album with Apparat under the name Moderat. They have collaborated previously on an EP named Auf Kosten Der Gesundheit which was released as a limited 12" on BPitch Control in 2002.

Modeselektor also appeared as main characters in Amy Grill's 2009 electronic music documentary, Speaking In Code.^[4]

Modeselektor is said to be big friends of Siriusmo, and regularly remixes or promotes his material.

In September 2011 Modeselektor released their third LP, Monkeytown.^[5]

Discography

Albums

• Hello Mom! (BPitch Control, 2005)
• Happy Birthday! (BPitch Control, 2007)
• Moderat (BPitch Control, 2009) with Apparat (as Moderat)
• Modeselektion Vol. 01 (2010)
• Monkeytown (2011)

DJ mixes

• Boogybytes Vol. 3 - Mixed by Modeselektor (BPitch Control, 2007)
• Body Language Vol. 8 (Get Physical, 2009)

Singles

• Death Medley (BPitch Control, 2002)
• In Loving Memory (BPitch Control, 2002)
• Ganes De Frau Vol. 1 (BPitch Control, 2003)
• Auf Kosten Der Gesundheit (BPitch Control, 2003) with Apparat (as Moderat)
• Turn Deaf! (BPitch Control, 2004)
• Hello Mom! The Remixes (BPitch Control, 2006)
• Weed Wid Da Macka (Shockout, 2006)
• The Dark Side Of The Sun (BPitch Control, 2007) with Puppetmastaz
• Happy Birthday! Remixes #1 (BPitch Control, 2008), includes The White Flash (Trentemøller Remix) as the B-side.
• Happy Birthday! Remixes #2 (BPitch Control, 2008), includes The Black Block (Marcel Dettman, Rustie, Bytone Remix).
• Happy Birthday! Remixes #3 (BPitch Control, 2009), includes various remixes of 2000007 feat. TTC & Suckerpin.

Remixes

• Miss Kittin - "Professional Distortion (Modeselektor's Big Muff Mix)"
• Thom Yorke - Skip Divided (Modeselektor Remix)
• Björk - Dull Flame Of Desire (Modeselektor's Rmx For Girls)
• Björk - Dull Flame Of Desire (Modeselektor's Rmx For Boys)
• Radiohead - Good Evening Mrs Magpie Rmx
• Boys Noize - Jeffer (Modeselektor Remix)
• Bonaparte - Computer in Love (Modeselektor Remix)
• Roots Manuva - Witness (Modeselektor's Troublemaker Remix)

Production

• TTC - Une bande de mecs sympas (3615 TTC, 2007)
• Fettes Brot - Bettina, zieh dir bitte etwas an! (Strom und Drang, 2008)
• Bonaparte - Orangutang (My Horse Likes You, 2010)

Multimedia

• Labland (Dalbin, 2005) with Pfadfinderei, DVD
• Mdslktr (BPitch Control, 2005), DVD + CD Box Set

References

1. ^ http://www.northernights.co.uk/listings.php?id=662
2. ^ http://www.theredalert.com/features/modeselektor.php
3. ^ Nasrallah,Dimitri (2007). "Modeselektor Celebrate". Exclaim! Magazine. http://www.exclaim.ca/articles/multiarticlesub.aspx?csid1=114&csid2=4&fid1=27340. Retrieved 2007-09-20. 
4. ^ McAllister,Lulu (2009). "Q & A: Speaking In Code". XLR8R Magazine. http://www.xlr8r.com/features/2009/06/q-speaking-code/. Retrieved 2009-06-19. 
5. ^ http://www.discogs.com/Modeselektor-Monkeytown/release/3130350

External links

• www.modeselektor.com
• Modeselektor discography at Discogs
• Pfadfinderei Vj Collaborators
• The Fake Interview (French)
• In the Mix Review/Interview
• Modeselektor Portrait on Tracks/arte (French-German TV)
• Modeselektor article September 2007
• Feature interview
• stuartbuchanan.com interview
• Electronic Beats interview

Preceded by n/a

Beatport Music Awards: Best Dubstep & Grime Artist 2008

Succeeded by n/a