Feature: All for one, and one for Moderat

First the album

In the digital age we live in, Moderat’s album had the unusual conception of being recorded via an analog process in Berlin’s lengendary Hansa studios. Assisted by the studio’s vintage tube technology and an old EMI console from 1972 restored especially for the project, American software designer Joshua Kit Clayton was then recruited to program a reverb algorithm specifically for the process.

With the barriers lifted and the decibel levels pitched right up, ‘Moderat’ is an intense and emotionally invasive audio experience. The album opens with the rhythmically rousing sounds of ‘A New Error’ and as it moves onto the sultry and evocatively tinged vocals of Apparat on ‘Rusty Nails’ the intensity of the sound is overwhelming.

Paul St Hilaire’s vocal about globalisation on ‘Slow Match’ is aptly timed and the reverbing bells that loop around the canvas of ‘Seamonkey’ work their way under your skin like a call to arms led by your own cells. ‘Moderat’ is a trip.

What was the album development process like? How does this album differentiate from your work as Modeselektor and Apparat?

The difference was not so much a technical one in how we produced the album but a social one - it was very exciting to be in the studio with three people at the same time.

Three different characters, three different tastes and opinions. It was a social experiment really.

Was the collaboration process difficult? I read there were a lot of ego battles in the studio, how did you compromise on arguments?

I think our common ground was not that we came from a similar sound but that we started to do music around the same time and love(d) doing it passionately.

I think what really connects Modeselektor and Apparat is that we all come from a techno background and after the wall came down for all three of us electronic music became our life.

By the end of the 90’s techno got boring for us and we tried to do something different. There was little innovation in electronic music and we’ve tried to change that.

Of course we had to compromise but this is what you have to do in order to create something new and unique. It was exciting and hard at the same time to just wait and see when one of us wanted to follow their own ideas.

There seems to be a lot of emotion and energy in the album. Was this what you sought to communicate onwards when you were producing?

We actually only discussed the sound of a track, not a specific meaning or intention behind it.

The music just poured out of us and reflects a certain part of our life, even if just a short time.

It’s a mirror of a certain period of time in our lives and its direct transformation into music.

So you never discussed the meaning behind the music, but was there anything that inspired you when creating it?

We are inspired by a lot of things. Not so much by other music but by moods, things from every day life, special moments.

We spent a lot of time together trying to understand what kind of music we all wanted to create.

In terms of the collaboration process what have the three of you learned about collaborating in the future with other artists?

Well, all of us have already collaborated with different artists but it’s definitely different when three producers all sit together in the studio.

I was surprised to hear Apparat’s vocals were not more in use, is there any reason why you focused on the production rather then the vocals? 

We originally wanted only an instrumental album but then Szary and me convinced Sascha to sing. We liked the result so much we wanted even more vocal tracks later on.

Suitably forward-thinking: Moderat’s logo

Who writes the lyrics for Moderat? And what inspires the words

The lyrics always came from the vocalists. So Apparat, Paul St. Hilaire and Busdriver would have to answer that but for example, on ‘Slow Match’ the song with Paul St. Hilaire, the lyrics are about globalisation.

I think Apparat’s lyrics are always about women.

You said recently you make such ‘sad’ music. How so?

I don’t recall such a statement. Moderat is not sad music but emotional!

For the album you used analogue equipment and very old technology. What’s your philosophy on music technology?

Well, we really used all and nothing. We experimented with a lot of things, not necessarily new technology but new ideas on how to use things and/or studio gear and instruments.

That quest to innovate in the studio is something Modeselektor in particular have been doing for many years. Should we have more electronic groups like you out there?

Of course! I think there aren’t enough people who try out new things and take a chance but this has started to change in the last couple of years.

There are a lot of new and great records out there, by great artists. I think it’s important that there are new innovations, constantly, but usually when a new thing gets created, it gets new hype, is pushed by the media and is picked up by the corporations and the sell-out starts. This brings in a lot of copycats and this kind of kills the initial spirit.

Yet Modeselektor’s innovation is being recognised. You won a Beatport Music Award last year for best Dubstep & Grime artist, and this year you came second in the Electronica category. Is this the right classification for your sound?

Modeselektor can’t be put into categories, so not to have been put into just one category seems the right thing. In the end the Beatport users decided on the categories and its winners.

All three of you are from Berlin. The city is something of a creative hub but it hasn’t really established itself as the capital of Germany yet from a financial sense. Why do you think the culture in the city is so ‘anti’ and do you think the day will ever come when the artists might have to move somewhere else?

Berlin is like this because it stays too much in the past and because it just takes so much time to get over the past.

This city has been separated for so many years, and it will take time for it to grow together. Artistically, Berlin is on its way to becoming one of the world’s capitals. I don’t really see the “anti” side of things.

We as Germans have to live with such a dark past and crimes during the Third Reich, which means we can’t even face the fact of our nationality and identity. We even revolt our identity in a way. And why would artists have to move? There are creative people everywhere, so one doesn’t have to move.

With the album blowing up, what’s the plans for Moderat in 2009?

We’re on tour for four months! For more information please check myspace.com/moderat.

How do you think the live Moderat shows will come together? How do you normally feel about before you go on stage?

For Modeselektor I can say, that the brain shuts itself off automatically five minutes before the show. After that the rave starts. I have no idea what I see.

You have a buzz and you just want more and more of it. I don’t know yet how it will feel with Moderat, but probably it will be more like before a concert show.

Summarise in one sentence what Modeselektor and Apparat are and then summarise what Moderat are?

Modeselektor and Apparat are two live acts and three producers from Berlin who are very good friends with differing musical tastes. Moderat is the attempt to combine all of this.

Finally, finish or begin these sentences in each member of Moderat’s own special words.

My life is like… a moving train!
The best feeling in the world is to be… well rested!
If I could posess one thing it would be… the new Moderat CD!
If I could give one thing it would be… mum’s apple cake!
If I could feel an emotion every day that emotion would be…love!
Rain…makes me sad!
Sun…makes me happy!
True art is...saying the truth!
The kids right now need...fun!