Sometimes music is about number sequences. When Modeselektor [Gernot Bronsert + Sebastian Szary] and Apparat [Sascha Ring] decide to become one, it is a trio band called Moderat who is brought into their tuneful world.
Moderat laid their foundation in 2003 with the EP Auf Kosten der Gesundheit and then needed six years to put together the album Moderat. When a band is successful, usually after a first album you would expect a second. Mathematics is all based on logic and it was not the time for surprises for Moderat. This one came out in August 2013 on Monkeytown Records and is soberly called II.
In 2016, the release of their album III follows. In 2017, Moderat announced that they’d be taking an extended break following a final concert in their hometown of Berlin in front of 17.000 people.
And in 2022 they return with a new album and a new live show. MORE D4TA, the group’s fourth album, arrives more than six years after its predecessor, yet its contents are quintessentially Moderat. Created largely during a time when touring (and most traveling) was off the table, MORE D4TA is an album that wrestles with feelings of isolation and information overload — issues that have become particularly pronounced recently. The album is rooted in collaboration, but long before any of its tracks were laid down, Moderat spent months hanging out and getting musically reacquainted, indulging in extended bouts of experimentation and slowly fleshing out ideas as they dove into modular composition, field recordings and other sonic oddities. They’re not a conceptual outfit, and never have been: After spending the better part of two decades making music together, they’ve carved out a sound and aesthetic that are all their own, and MORE D4TA showcases a group that’s creatively recharged and fully dedicated to its craft.
