Customer Reviews

MODERAT

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The tracks you will hear are fantastic, electronically produced gold. However, you must venture and see Moderat Live. Why? Because there is a video component that is missing from the auditory experience and they are one of few bands that pay as much attention to the video aspect as they do the music. If you do go to a show, go up to the mezzanine (venue permitting) There you will find my cowboy hat. Feel free to dance the entire show like Lulu and Marlo did. Moderat wont mind, they will raise and toast you. They will say things like, thank you. They will do at least two Encores. That is if you can really dance. finger snap. tv off.

A friend sent me some tracks from this album and I had to get it myself (and people say piracy damages sales?).
Distinct but still accessible, this CD is great for background music that does not put you to sleep. Tracks are ambient but also have a beat, and they do not bleed together as each has a distinct personality.
The music videos for the tunes are also great, very stylistic and beautiful.

OK, so I never review music. I read a lot of reviews, listen to a lot of samples and buy. But as I was browsing around amazon again today, I ran into this album and it had to be done. This is just a great album! I've listened to this more than anything else I've purchased in the last year or so - and I buy a lot of music. The list of artists (albums I've purchased this last year or so) would include Radiohead, Elbow, Thievery Corp, Beastie Boys, Massive Attack, and a million others - but I keep coming back to this. It seems to fit my mood - whether I feel like dancing alone in my kitchen, mellowing out, angry, sad, etc. Very well done - I hope this helps someone else make the decision I made - buy this!

I've been a big fan of Apparat for a while. I haven't gotten much into Modeselektor's music tho. Hence, Moderat to me sounds like a diseased, possessed Apparat. Most of the songs here reflect a lot of Apparat's approach to creating layers and texture with songs, but seem to be invaded by a strange style, darker, less ethereal and sometimes even scary. Apparat's warm dreamy-ness is replaced by a looming, faceless monster that never seems to materialize, but spends the whole album manifesting itself in strange hip hop vocals and sinister organs in the background. And this is all absolutely positive. For the Apparat fan, Moderat is full of familiar things but somehow tainted. It creates a very solid emotion, very distinctive and very edgy. Few artists experiment with this kind of identity fusion and succeed.

The album's emotional curve is a bit damaged by a couple of songs that don't bring much to the table, but it's not a deal killer at all. There are several songs that will absolutely blow your mind away. This isn't an easy listen tho. The album will manipulate you to feel certain things that require attention to be assimilated.

The DVD contains videos for about 10 songs. These were created by the german studio Padfinderei. There is no narrative, but there is a definite visual style and an emotional agenda. It's an exploration of materials, and very subtly the videos manage to convey very real emotions. A very elegant work that might be too abstract for the casual watcher, but a pleasure to someone more involved.

Finally, the packaging is very nice. You can tell this is someone's baby and they've put their best into making it truly valuable. Go ahead and buy it, and tell your friends about it. Moderat is doing today what others will be imitating tomorrow.