- In their documentary We Are Modeselektor, the Berlin duo explain that they essentially set up Monkeytown to release music by Moritz Friedrich, AKA Siriusmo. Generous facilitators of other people's talent, Modeselektor talk up their mate as an unsung genius. This might bemuse those who have followed his career thus far. Siriusmo's scattergun output, even on the albums Mosaik and Diskoding, has been pretty bewildering: rampantly eclectic, and, despite its flashes of brilliance, often coming off a bit undercooked. A graffiti artist and illustrator as well as a musician, Siriusmo has, in his reluctance to play live and the self-deprecating way that he talks about his tracks, helped fuel the idea that his music is mostly a hobby.
Until now, perhaps. If that suggestion of amateurism was always a bit of a myth, then Enthusiast—which has apparently been painstakingly revised, several times—should put it to rest once and for all. Serious and focused but also enormously fun, it represents the late flowering of a distinctive, accomplished talent. While Siriusmo's love of electro and old, farty keyboards is still front and centre, Enthusiast is less hard-edged than his previous outings on, for instance, Boysnoize Records. At the same time, while it nods to voguish influences (the broken heavyweight funk of "Tränen Aus Bier" could be a new track on Numbers), it more often sounds like Friedrich has looked back in order to move forward. Enthusiast is full of the breezy, whacked-out charm of Money Mark, Kid Koala and the late '90s instrumental beatz scene, plus a splash of the brainiac playfulness of Rephlex and vintage IDM. This all peaks in the glorious title track, an epic, improbable wrestling match between Squarepusher rhythms and Lemon Jelly melodies.
With barely a drop in its bouncing, garrulous energy, Enthusiast dazzles as it flips between mutant hip-hop ("Cornerboy," "Itchy"), lysergic easy listening ("Leftovers"), the block-party funk of "Congratulator" and the cartoonish cavalcade of choppy beats and slurping keyboards that is "Rantanplant." For anyone missing Discovery-era Daft Punk, "Stinky Wig" will scratch that itch in style. Not that Siriusmo deserves to be overshadowed by such comparisons. Modeselektor were right: Siriusmo is Monkeytown's own King Kong.
Tracklist01. Doctor Beak
02. Congratulator
03. Tränen aus Bier
04. Enthusiast
05. Cornerboy
06. Plastic Hips
07. Itchy
08. Stinky Wig
09. Liu
10. Rantanplant
11. Wattnlosmitmir
12. Petit Cochon
13. Leftovers