Modeselektor

Bronsert and Szary members met in 1992 in Berlin, when Szary was performing live acid house music at illegal underground parties under the moniker Fundamental Knowledge.^[1] The group says, "After the Wall came down, everywhere in Germany and especially East Germany there was a lot of chaos, anarchy."^[2] They soon began creating music as Modeselektor, a name taken from a function on the Roland Space Echo effects unit.^[3]

In 1999, Modeselektor signed their first remix contract and began working with Pfadfinderei, a Berlin-based VJ and design collective.^[4] In 2000, Modeselektor met Ellen Allien, making BPitch Control their home label.^[2] Modeselektor has also been involved in collaborative efforts; Moderat - a musical collaboration between Modeselektor and Apparat, Pfadselektor - a music/visual collaboration between Modeselektor and Pfadfinderei, and with Rhythm & Sound's Paul St. Hillaire. They have produced sound installations at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and lectured at the Merz Akademie in Stuttgart. Modeselektor is a favourite group of the Radiohead singer, Thom Yorke.^[5]

The follow-up to Hello Mom! was Happy Birthday!, which was released in 2007 with Yorke, Paul St. Hilaire, TTC, Puppetmastaz and Maxïmo Park as guest vocalists.^[2] Other collaborators included Otto von Schirach, Siriusmo, and Apparat. In an interview that same year, the group said regarding their sound: "Happy metal, hard rap, country-ambient, Russian crunk. We don't like it if people tag us as being a certain style or school or scene or whatever. We don't really care about all that."^[6]

In March 2009, Moderat released an album with the German artist Apparat under the name Moderat. They have collaborated previously on an EP named Auf Kosten der Gesundheit which was released as a limited 12" on BPitch Control in 2002.

Modeselektor also appeared as the main characters in Amy Grill's 2009 electronic music documentary, Speaking in Code.^[7] Modeselektor are said to be good friends with Siriusmo, and regularly remix and promote his material. In September 2011 Modeselektor released their third LP, Monkeytown, featuring contributions from artists including Yorke.^[8]

In August 2013, Modeselektor released their second album as Moderat, II.^[9] In 2013, Modeselektor's label Monkeytown Records and Telekom Electronic Beats produced the documentary "We Are Modeselektor".^[10] In March 2016, Modeselektor released their third album as Moderat, III. In April 2021, Modeselektor released their fourth LP, Extended. In February 2022, a book on Modeselektor's album Happy Birthday! was published by Sean Nye for the 33 1/3 Europe series.^[11][12] In May 2022, Modeselektor released their fourth album as Moderat, More D4ta.

Monkeytown Records is a Berlin-based electronic music record label, owned by Modeselektor. The label has released music by Moderat, Modeselektor, WK7, Mouse on Mars, Otto von Schirach, Siriusmo, and Funkstörung, among others.