Moderat
– THE ALBERT HALL, MANCHESTER –
One thing is guaranteed when you go and see Moderat: they will bring it. Regardless of the setting, be it a festival, a club or a gig like tonight, they will not fuck about; they will put on a show and bring a sweaty, German techno basement to whatever environment they find themselves in. For the uninitiated, Moderat is made up of Apparat (his mum calls him Sascha Ring) and German techno titans Modeselektor (Genot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary). They get together every once in a while and release and album that for me always surpasses the ones they make in their separate day jobs, with all three of their album releases holding a dear place in my heart. Tonight’s show, whilst in support of their most recent release III is a career spanning set encompassing all that is good about the band.
Things begin in a relatively gentle fashion. Ring front and centre on a dimly lit stage, Modeselektor either side of him at desks with a mind boggling array of technical gear, as Ring’s sweet voice rings out the opening to ‘Ghostmother’ from their new album. It’s a showcase for Apparat’s voice, as it soars into the magnificent surroundings of the always glorious Albert Hall, accompanied by Modeselektor’s break beat techno rhythms. After ‘Running’, also from their new album, and a beautiful rendition of their remix of Jon Hopkin’s ‘Abandon Window’, it all starts to kick off when they play ‘Eating Hooks’, which descends into a big pummelling techno finish complete with a mesmerising red laser show, where the band are framed and trapped by floor to ceiling lasers, like a slightly budget version of that famous scene from the film “Entrapment’ with Catherine Zeta Jones (now there’s a left field throwback reference for you). The whole place bounces, and from here on in they start to fully let fly.
‘Rusty Nails’ from their debut album is as sensational as the first time I heard it, a perfect sad-pop banger that the crowd grasp hold of and don’t let go until it’s finished. Again, the light show accompanying it is sensational as it is all night, and the big screen backdrop which pulses with images (including one brilliant hand drawn sequence of a bull fight) is awesome too – there’s so much to see and hear it’s almost overwhelming. The end of the main set takes an almost Balearic turn, with ‘Les Grandes Marches’ feeling like it could soundtrack the sunset at Cafe Del Mar. After a short rest, the band reappear and promptly smash out the best one-two of the night, with the stone cold bangers ‘Milk’ and ‘Bad Kingdom’ from their second (and best?) album II (not the most creative when it comes to naming albums) back to back creating what can only be described as pandemonium amongst the assembled masses. They finish on a thundering ‘Intruder’, all tribal drums like Kanye’s ‘Love Lockdown’ and Apparat’s wail floating above the bobbing heads, before heading to the front of the stage to soak in the standing ovation from the thrilled crowd. Make no mistake about it; Moderat bring it, and bring it hard.
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