The re-appearance of Modeselektor (as part of Moderat) in Boston was very impressive. The trio played mostly songs off the new album, and less of their own solo material, but the presentation was shockingly cool. In front of huge three video screens, Szary, Gernot and Sascha stood equally apart, as the masterful visuals of BPitch partner Pfadfinderei glowed behind them, and almost 3-D visual presentation of the music. The crowd, perhaps caught off guard by the lack of recognizable tunes, was all the same swooning at the show.
Speaking in Code was screened just before the show in the Paradise front room, thanks to some interest from LiveNation who facilitated the viewing. It started late, as Modeselektor’s flight was delayed, but nearly everyone got to view the whole thing. A third public screening of the movie.
Perhaps the most rewarding thing to have happened, aside from the chance to have Modeselektor themselves see the movie, was the emergence of a few very thoughtful reviews.
Open Letters is a literary review blog which published a “microreview” of the film on June 1.
“Fittingly, Grill places her interview subjects off-center, counterpointed by stray graffiti or AV cables. There is an off-and-on color rhythm as schemes alternate between the pale light of northern mornings and the powdery dark of clubs.”
Santana Photo blog saw the movie at the Paradise, and published this review on May 27:
“Speaking in Code is a documentary shot over the past 3 years about a couple from Boston who beautifully capture the high and lows of being incredibly passionate about techno music.”
While June 10 saw another thoughtful review from cinetrix at the film blog, pullquote:
“Code evangelizes for electronic dance music, specifically techno, examining its spread from its origins in African-American clubs in the midwest to the huge festival circuit in Europe and trying to figure out why it fails to thrive on that scale in its home country.”
It’s great to see people put so much thought into the film, which seems to get more interesting as people input their perspective. After you’ve spent so long living with a project, you really have no idea how people will react.
“Jason and I are on a roll here with the DVD extras,” says director Amy Grill from the New Jersey shore, as she and editor Jason Blanchard finish with the added content for the forthcoming DVD (outtakes, separate mini-stories, live footage, etc.).
This weekend I’ve got to work on the media kit which will go to the European festivals in the fall and winter of 2009.
Musically, Moderat is getting a lot of attention, including a big-room remix from Booka Shade:
Moderat - Rusty Nails (Booka Shade Remix)
And our friend Apparat was called to tackle a remix for the unassuming king of dance music, Moby:
Moby - Pale Horses (Apparat Remix)
In Boston, Basstown was recently mentioned in an Australian article about Passion Pit while local talents like Coralcola are getting attention from Turkish Hungarian blogs:
Crystal Castles - She Fell Out (Coralcola Remix)
I’m partial to this Frightened Rabbit remix from Basstown’s own DJ Die Young (who opened for Moderat):
Frightened Rabbit - The Twist (DJ Die Young Dub Edit)
And, in celebration of the 200th post here at sQuar3.com, Luomo still sounds great with “Tessio.” A new set of remixes puts a nice Ibizian shine on the whole track:
Moderat - Rusty Nails (Booka Shade Remix): Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Moby - Pale Horses (Apparat Remix): Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Frightened Rabbit - The Twist (DJ Die Young Dub Edit): Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Crystal Castles - She Fell Out (Coralcola Remix): Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Luomo- Tessio (Butch Dub): Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
