Regular readers will know my enthuasism for German glitch-techno duo Modeselektor. I have up until now neglected to mention their new album Happy Birthday! which came out last week officially. Where Hello Mom! revelled in the barrage of techno, hip-hop, ambient and electro, Happy Birthday! takes its cue in from the vestiges of early 90s techno. As a result, the tracks are longer, feature less glitch and more booming bass.
Take opener “Godspeed”, a simple but potent buildup of bass-heavy, low-frequency sounds which sounds utterly thrilling. Or “Hyper Hyper”, the Scooter-aping pisstake featuring Otto von Schirach in which we found out what Scooter would have sounded if they were versed in musicology and had an ear for a good synth. Answer: Surprisingly good (but maybe get rid of the bleached blonde singer anyway, he is/was an annoying cunt.).
Other songs follow the form of “Godspeed” with instantly gratifying squelch bass sounds such as “Sucker Pin”, “The Dark Side of the Sun”, “Black Block” and “The Wedding Tocatta Theme”.
That’s not to say the album is over an hour of relentlessly banging tunes (although that would be a fair assessment), the ambience-led instrumentals: “BMI”, “EM Ocean”, “The First Rebirth” and “Edgar” embellish the album enough to make Thom Yorke’s contribution “The White Flash” a disappointing footnote.
I reserve my final though on the album for the third collaboration between TTC and Modelesektor – “2000007” which matches previous collabs “Dancing Box” and “Une Bande avec Sympa” for high dance-ability ratings and is an album highlight. It may be darker than Hello Mom! but Happy Birthday brings with it enough celebration to leave you dancing in your kitchen at 3am.
Modeselektor with live visuals from Pfadfinderei play in the Tivoli on November 1st.
MP3
[audio:https://nialler9.com/mp3/Modeselektor_-_Godspeed.mp3]Modeselektor – 2000007 featuring TTC
[audio:https://nialler9.com/mp3/Modeselektor_-_2000007_featuring_TTC.mp3] [audio:https://nialler9.com/mp3/Modeselektor_-_Hyper_Hyper_featuring_Otto_von_Schirach.mp3][Buy Happy Birthday! (bpitchcontrol) from Amazon ]
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005 . He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Cara Magazine, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, founder of Lumo Club, club promoter, event curator and producer of gigs, listening parties & events in Dublin.
agreed, it’s a flippin great album! “2000007″ is brilliant. did you hear that live set posted on magooo.com? http://www.magooo.org/?p=116 — also fantastic.
hey btw it’s “Bande de Mecs Sympa” I think…
agreed, it’s a flippin great album! “2000007″ is brilliant. did you hear that live set posted on magooo.com? http://www.magooo.org/?p=116 — also fantastic.
hey btw it’s “Bande de Mecs Sympa” I think…
mais oui bien sur mon bonhomme, TTC, C’est tes pots, on est une bande de mecs sympa!!! wowza what a fuckin tune! but…..
[quote post=”702″]what Scooter would have sounded if they were versed in musicology and had an ear for a good synth[/quote]
Oh Nialler, you are an ignorant shit. How could you cut H.P Baxxter and co down like that?? Nialler9 wouldn’t be in existence if it weren’t for scooter; they laid the entire groundwork for music in general!
http://www.youtube.com/v/g_VZPeDGnyc
I mean, Look at this for sheer brilliance.
mais oui bien sur mon bonhomme, TTC, C’est tes pots, on est une bande de mecs sympa!!! wowza what a fuckin tune! but…..
[quote post=”702″]what Scooter would have sounded if they were versed in musicology and had an ear for a good synth[/quote]
Oh Nialler, you are an ignorant shit. How could you cut H.P Baxxter and co down like that?? Nialler9 wouldn’t be in existence if it weren’t for scooter; they laid the entire groundwork for music in general!
http://www.youtube.com/v/g_VZPeDGnyc
I mean, Look at this for sheer brilliance.
*lol* Deadly.
Cannot WAIT for The Tivoli. w00t!
*lol* Deadly.
Cannot WAIT for The Tivoli. w00t!
The “Let your love grow” track is solid too, perfect for the early afternoon / morning after.
The “Let your love grow” track is solid too, perfect for the early afternoon / morning after.
[“BMI”, “EM Ocean”, “The First Rebirth” and “Edgar” embellish the album enough to make Thom Yorke’s contribution “The White Flash” a disappointing footnote.]
“disappointing footnote”? That track is freakin awesome!
“disappointing footnote” – in comparisson to the rest of the record, that’s what it is. Which only lends to stress how great the other tracks are, because White Flash is good.
“disappointing footnote” – in comparisson to the rest of the record, that’s what it is. Which only lends to stress how great the other tracks are, because White Flash is good.
this is an awesome modeselektor remix!
http://soundcloud.com/evetea/me-mashed-w-modeselektor-in-edgar
this is an awesome modeselektor remix!
http://soundcloud.com/evetea/me-mashed-w-modeselektor-in-edgar