Thanks to everyone who entered! The winning entry came from Maser Beams! Please stay tuned for more contests and ticket giveaways. We already have some things lined up.

[CLICK HERE to jump directly to contest details]

It can be difficult to imagine the early days of Electronic Dance Music, considering how much it’s changed over the last 25 years. There was a time when it was simply deemed “techno,” “electronic music”, or given the detestable moniker, “Rave music”.  When electronics first encroached on our society’s music scene, as early as the mid-sixties, music producers were fiddling with analog synths, like Moogs, or vacuum tubed weirdo machines that could only simulate tones, yet had a life all their own.  With demand for electronic sounds dwindling and disco eventually fading; the high-level producers that were left alive were tinkering with the sounds that everyone had forgotten about, in the wake of wailing guitars and charismatic singer/songwriters. The contagious lead and other staple synths developed quickly and weighed in heavy during the seventies and, more so, after the early eighties. It lived through bands like Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, New Order, Depeche Mode, and Devo; the bands that I consider to be the underground wonderers that revived the genre and inspired its subgenres into the grand (and often-time gratuitous) multiverse that we know today.

By 1990, Europe (Germany especially) was awash with a Techno-centric nightlife that stayed, somehow, in the limelight of several countries.  The party-goer was expected to respect the advancement of the scene and everyone involved worked fast, long, and diligently for the enjoyment of few.  There were emotions being toyed with in the DJ booth.  Genres like House and Trance began to dominate dance floors and venues could get bigger the more people participated.  Audiences would go to dance parties just to hear what rarities the DJ could dig up, or perhaps, improvise on the spot.

Slightly east of Berlin, in the small town of Woltersdrof, two school children, Sebastian Szary and Gernot Bronsert (now, better known as electronic duo, Modeselektor), bonded over Sczary’s graffiti-laden schoolwork binder.  They became an inseparable pair, almost immediately, and to this day, consider their relationship an ergonomic marriage of sorts.  As the wall finally fell, so too did the idealistic constraints of Berlin’s young people.  By 1991, Sebastian Szary was taking odd construction gigs and spending his earnings on antique sampling gear and turntables.  Music became an obsessive hobby.  After years of focused tinkering and practice in his father’s shed, he set out to find an accessible venue for like-minded misfits to enjoy his experimental house and funk-inspired beats.  On Sebastian’s side of town in Rüdersdorf, Szary and a very young and eager Bronsert discovered and renovated an industrial limestone workspace that had been abandoned for years.  And, from 1993 – 1995, they inaugurated themselves as hosts of numerous weekend dance parties, where audio and visual artists networked their talents and efforts, as fellow bass heads could stir up the dust of the long forgotten hovel.  As the years went on, Bronsert finally scrounged enough money together to move to Berlin and into his first flat.  His circle of friends grew exponentially and it wasn’t long before he discovered the vacancy above him, which Szary quickly filled.  Their home became a duplex crammed full of up-and-coming musicians spitballing and networking, which soon led to Modeselektor’s meeting of the one and only Sascha Ring, or, as you may know him, Apparat.

Apparat, whom also hails from Berlin, is rather reclusive- a humble and private artist who never seems to overstay his welcome.  He has toured the world several times over and is quite candid and honest about what motivates him to strive for new experiences, in hopes that it will advance his craft.  This is beyond refreshing within the current climate of musicians who are primarily concerned with image and the superfluous, rather than representing the only human element about the music.  In 2009, after heavy touring, along with watching friends Szary and Bronsert make blazing success, Apparat suggested collaboration. Together they formed Moderat and released their self-titled album which received accolades and high acclaim from cool guys the world over.  Moderat is cinematic, inspiring, and clever; the kind of art project that requires three minds to retain it’s potency.  The styles of eat outfit are represented so equally that it truly comes off as a labor of love.  Their sophomore album MODERAT II is on its way, (August 2, 2013) and will be followed by an international tour with a stop at Seattle‘s Neptune Theater on August 28th.  Monsterfresh.com has got your tickets, but as per usual, there’s a bit of a catch…

(((BUY TICKETS HERE)))