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With an extensive backcatalogue of singles, EPs and collaborative releases under their belts, German duo Modeselektor have already proven their ability to straddle both the club and IDM/leftfield electronic spheres, as divergent ventures like their co-productions with French hiphop act TTC and audiovisual artists Pfafinderei attest to. This third instalment in Bpitch Control’s ongoing Boogy Bytes mix compilation series follows on the heels of previous volumes from Kiki and Sascha Funke and in many senses acts as something of an appetiser for Modeselektor’s second artist album Happy Birthday!, expected this September. As for the Ableton Live-assisted mix itself, it’s certainly indicative of the duo’s wide-ranging tastes, with the 65 minute long set taking in a headspinning 27 tracks, with a hefty dose of crunked up electro and dubstep dominating the tracklisting equally as much as the sorts of techno-oriented selections you’d normally associate with Bpitch Control.
After a hilarious intro section from Panacea that poses the classic ‘drugs: rave’ chicken-and-egg scenario alongside some suitably f*cked up Mac-mangling, proceedings pretty much slide down into smooth, crunked-out beats pretty much from the get-go, with the super-fat sub-bass swells and shimmering Detroit synths of Siriusmo’s Wow sliding effortlessly into the magpie-like ramshackle sampling and stripped-back MPC breaks of Flying Lotus’ sepia-toned 1983, before Spank Rock’s Rick Rubin pushes the electro-Baltimore BPMs back up for a bassbin-pounding that leads directly into Modeselektor’s own storming reworking of Paul Kalkbrenner’s GIA2000. From there, the trajectory is set for an extended wander through stripped-back techno atmospheres, James Holden’s IDM-tinged Idiot pushing things off into the chunky tech-house beats and android buzzes of Audiojack’s reworking of Bobby Peru’s Erotic Discourse, before an interpolation of Errorsmith’s Free For All and Robag Wruhme’s Papp-Tonikk washes things out into more contemplative, ambient territory.
Before things get too subliminal however, Skream’s bassbin-punishing creeper Midnight Request Line signals the entrance of a dubstep segue that manages to effortlessly slide in the Bobbo Shanti-voiced techno minimalism of Carl Craig’s reworking of Rhythm & Sound’s Poor People Must Work alongside Burial’s Southern Comfort and a fantastic Plastician reworking of Luke Vibert & Jean Jacques Perry’s Moog Acid. As for the final stretch, Modeselektor’s typically extrovert collaboration alongside longtime buddies TTC Une Bande De Mec Sympha manages to push things head-on into the buzzing synth collision of Mr. Oizo’s Half A Scissor, before the deep analogue synths and massed tribal rhythms of &Phon.o’s* Ridin’ Dirty slide down into the disembodied sounding motorik paranoia of Radiohead’s Idioteque – a surprisingly dystopic ending to this particular party.
A typically eclectic selection from Modeselektor that might just be my favourite volume in Bpitch’s Boogy Bytes series so far: for my money, it just slightly edges out their upcoming Happy Birthday! as well.
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