Sometimes music is about number sequences. When Modeselektor [Gernot Bronsert + Sebastian Szary] and Apparat [Sascha Ring] decide to become one, it is a trio band called Moderat who is brought into their tuneful world. Good things always come in threes and the result of this brilliant addition is unambiguous: hardly anybody has brought electronic music from Berlin to the farthest flung corners of the world with more passion and enthusiasm than these two heavyweights.
In 2002, Sascha, Gernot and Sebastian met for the first time. At that time, Apparat and Modeselektor were well established in the Berlin music scene. Sascha had already released his debut album and Gernot and Sebastian a series of 12’’s. Collaborating together wasn’t even debatable, the question was: When will they join forces?
Moderat laid their foundation in 2003 with the EP Auf Kosten der Gesundheit and then needed six years to put together the album Moderat. Perhaps the secret of this collaboration lies in the fact that they never even tried to get close to one another. Modeselektor’s thundering bass rumbles in the cellar, Apparat’s sensitive and subtle melodies float high in the eaves. The fact that what one assumes to be incompatible actually communicates, is what makes Moderat so unique. Thus, when a band is successful, usually after a first album you would expect a second. Mathematics is all based on logic and it was not the time for surprises for Moderat. This one came out in August 2013 on Monkeytown Records and is soberly called II.
Time passes and the group remained on the same path. Concerts follow album releases, new singles precede new albums and the fans have become accustomed to this frenetic pace of events and closely follow what Sascha, Szary and Gernot offer from their subdivided work. Moderat are three family members that managed to create together what they don't do individually. Modeselektor is holding the frame and brings the colors, Apparat is painting the story that the group wants to tell. In 2016, the release of their album III follows. In 2017, Moderat announced that they’d be taking an extended break following a final concert in their hometown of Berlin in front of 17.000 people.
And in 2022 they return with a new album and a new live show. MORE D4TA, the group’s fourth album, arrives more than six years after its predecessor, yet its contents are quintessentially Moderat. Created largely during a time when touring (and most traveling) was off the table, MORE D4TA is an album that wrestles with feelings of isolation and information overload — issues that have become particularly pronounced recently. The album is rooted in collaboration, but long before any of its tracks were laid down, Moderat spent months hanging out and getting musically reacquainted, indulging in extended bouts of experimentation and slowly fleshing out ideas as they dove into modular composition, field recordings and other sonic oddities. They’re not a conceptual outfit, and never have been: After spending the better part of two decades making music together, they’ve carved out a sound and aesthetic that are all their own, and MORE D4TA showcases a group that’s creatively recharged and fully dedicated to its craft.
