Berlin-based duo Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary make up Modeselektor, an electronic band who produce a mix of hip hop, electronic, IDM and glitch. They are well regarded for their use of cutting-edge MIDI controllers and were one of the earliest adopters of JazzMutant technology…

Modeselektor’s profile is, initially anyway, typical of many acts born from the acid house era. Like Aphex Twin, 808 State and The Prodigy they continue to break ground with their amazing electronic-based tunes and, like those, they even adopted a studio/technology-based name, in this case from a function on a Roland Space Echo! And like those bands we can clearly see that they are at one with their technology, but more on that later, and besides, Modeselektor have several defining qualities that set them apart from even the biggest names in electronica…

Firstly the band have become renowned for their use of visuals, having teamed up with Pfadfinderei, the renowned Berlin VJ, early on in their careers. Consequently they have been involved in several art-house installations including one at the Pompidou Centre in Paris. Their unique brand of music has also brought them high profile fans including Radiohead’s Thom Yorke who was a guest vocalist on their second album Happy Birthday (which also featured Maximo Park).

Modeselektor are well known in artistic quarters but are level-headed enough not to take themselves too seriously. When they talk it is often with tongue very firmly in cheek although, as we’ll see, they do take their technology and their Lemur very seriously…

Firstly, though, we find the duo happy to talk about their live sets, for which the Lemur has been a great addition. Modeselektor have been playing live for more than seven years but only really got involved in the club scene by accident… “Yes, that is correct. We predominantly play in a club context, although we are from the art freak corner! Around seven years ago, our label head (Ellan Allien) convinced us to play a rave in Switzerland after the main act cancelled. We mastered the show and since then have been playing “boom boom” with charm. It’s fun. It so happened that we played the Sonar festival in Barcelona in the same year in front of 7,000 people, which ultimately cured our stage fright…”

Since then Modeselektor’s live reputation has seen them invited to play at some of the world’s biggest festivals. “It is hard to say which festivals or clubs have been the most impressive,” they say, “but just to name a few: Mutec in Montreal, Sonar in Barcelona, Motomix in San Paulo, and various clubs in Glasgow, Tokyo, San Francisco, and naturally Berlin.”

It?s obvious that Modeselektor have a love of technology, from their name through to the resulting music. However, this love initially led to a lot of impracticalities on the road…