Moderat (Deluxe Version)

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Following on from a much earlier collaborative single, the first full-length effort pulling together Modeselektor and Apparat — despite a name that suggests a Depeche-loving rodent — has plenty to offer without entirely being a full-on slam dunk. Then again, this wasn't entirely surprising given the high quality both acts had been showing in the past, simply because it might almost have been too much to expect for a next-level release; instead at points it feels more like a logical continuation of their immediately preceding efforts than a new hyperfusion. Still, at a time when the vast majority of critical attention got focused on Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas' admittedly excellent second album, it was refreshing to hear something happily dedicated to dance and electronic influences on separate if sometimes parallel lines, ranging from stern EBM sonics to filter disco and schaffel and more besides — and this all within the first song "A New Error" alone. (Though it should be admitted that the late-'70s Pink Floyd synth lines on "Sick with It" could have easily appeared on the Norwegian duo's album as well.) At the album's absolute strongest everything assembles together just so, with the surging, crisply anthemic "Seamonkey" being the first totally deathless track — the echoing whine/siren making a killer hook — while "Porc #2" rides a clean, serene flow into a shuddering squelch-heavy conclusion. Apparat unsurprisingly takes some vocal bows, and hearing his familiar, processed croon first on "Rusty Nails" shapes the starker edges of the album into something else again. Guest performances also include Paul St. Hilaire, with a murky series of toasts on "Slow Match" adding seductive threat, and Frank "Eased" Dellé on "Sick with It." [Bpitch Control issued a companion DVD in 2009.]