Moderat Moderates

B-Pitch Control is one of those labels where just about everything that they release is gold. Receiving a record from them is like receiving a stimulus check; a reason to celebrate. Their latest release is the self titled debut of super group Moderat and is the result of a surprise collaboration between fellow Germans Apparat and Modeselektor. Unsurprisingly, the record is rather awesome.

Unlike many B-Pitch Control records, Moderat is far more than a minimal techno record. In fact, it almost seems like this collaboration has allowed the members of both bands a certain degree of freedom that they don't necessarily have with their original groups. As a result, Moderat is a free flowing exploration of ideas and beats that's truly unique in its use of recording technology and song creation. Using a 1972 analog board and processing the banks of technology at their finger tips through that board Moderat have come up with something that's organically mechanical in an almost Alien / H.R. Geiger sort of way.

Moderat is cold and calculating at times but warm, alive and breathing at others. It's an experiment in sound that utilizes real instrumentation, electronic processes, guest vocals, and a whole host of ideas to sound like acid house if it were re-animated and given a brain. With songs that are dubbed out, phased out, progged out, and techno'd out, there's absolutely no shortage of creativity on Moderat and with guest appearances from Busdriver, Paul St. Hilaire, and Delle the album is given a voice that is inflected with ragga, hip hop, and industrial influences. The combination of all this and the fact that Moderat know how to write amazing tunes steer the record in unpredictable but enjoyable directions.

Moderat have done a really good job here at making a record that's more than just a side-project throwaway. They've written a record that has a mind of it's own and is filled with left-field ideas that come to fruition in fine fashion. As a result Moderat is an exciting experiment that is a success and proves that two heads (or groups) are better than one.