Modeselektor: the Berlin duo gets its own dedicated night at MUTEK

Deutschland techno is still often perceived as dark, cerebral fodder for a bunch of elitist Kreuzberg-area Berliners. Thankfully, Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary have been chipping away at the mould of square electro introverts for the past 15 years.

Their Modeselektor brew is both highly potent and accessible – the duo’s tracks meld techno, glitch and hip-hop elements with a smattering of funky samples in short, pop-inspired formats. They collaborate with friends as diverse as Thom Yorke and TTC. Their shows are a guaranteed good time, with state-of-the-art visuals by Berlin VJ Pfadfinderei and intricately crafted performances with musicians like Apparat (which gave way to a MUTEK 2009 highlight, under the moniker Moderat).

After consistently wowing local crowds at both MUTEK and Piknic, fest organizers have now given the bass-hungry Berliners carte blanche to curate their own “Modeselektion” concept night. Gernot and Sebastian answered a few of NIGHTLIFE’s questions via e-mail.

 

Given the precarious state the music industry finds itself in, why start Monkeytown Records? Was it purely motivated by the desire for artistic freedom, or was there more to it?
Of course, part of it was to have the most artistic freedom. However, a big part was to offer a home base for other artists. Artists we’ve known for a long time and have already worked with. And we want to support young, new artists as well.

Having signed your longstanding buddy Siriusmo to the label, you guys now find yourselves in the role of musical mentors… One could even say artistic mentors, as you also give lectures at art schools. Is that something you enjoy?
Well, you can actually compare our personal maturing with that of Modeselektor: our first album was called Hello Mom, an homage to our moms who never really knew what we were up to. So it was like, “Hey mom, I actually do something serious and I’ve got my life together, even though I don’t have a regular job!”

Our second album was called Happy Birthday, which was an homage to our wives and children, as we became parents at that time and our lives changed completely. We started to mature…

Now that we are daddies, why not take on that role for Monkeytown?!

You guys have openly discussed Siriusmo’s stage fright in interviews. How do you plan on helping him overcome that?
Moritz’ stage fright was indeed a problem. But we succeeded in taking that fright out of him by showing patience and love. We first took him along to our Modeselektion nights, but now he already plays his own gigs, which is great!

You’ve always considered yourselves more of a live act than studio musicians. What’s it like when you compose tracks in a studio, given that you can’t feed off the energy of a crowd?
There is nothing that can simulate the feedback of a crowd gone crazy. But we have a great studio that helps us with our production work. When we produce music, we always have the stage and our audience in the back of our heads…

 

Modeselektor presents Modeselektion, with Siriusmo, Jacques Greene, Falty DL and Anstam
June 2^nd | Metropolis
59, Ste. Catherine E.
as part of MUTEK
mutek.org