As of 2026, Modeselektor claim ten studio albums to their name. Those records join many more collaborative LPs and EPs with a range of partners, most notably Apparat, with whom they form the Moderat project, responsible for some of the best music of either party’s careers. Their debut outing, 2005’s Hello Mom!, just turned 20. One cannot say with certainty at which point a musician can justifiably indulge the retrospective move of a greatest hits collection, but given their output and longevity thus far, Modeselektor should feel confident in releasing an album that invites listeners to consider their contributions to electronic music.
However, Modeselektor, the German duo of Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary, decided to give themselves more to do than merely setting a tracklist with their newest release, Classics Vol. 1. That title suggests the beginning of a multi-part anthology, combing through the Modeselektor back catalogue, a conventional approach. However, the album’s subtitle points in the (re)-inventive direction taken by Bronsert and Szary: “We tried hard and failed again.. enjoy!” “Tried” signals that Classics, Vol. 1 consists of more than an arrangement of previously recorded material.
The eight-song set that makes up Classics Vol. 1 includes titles familiar to those familiar with Modeselektor, such as “Kill Bill Vol. 4” from Hello Mom! and “Edgar” from Happy Birthday! (2007). Most others rework or vaguely hint at older tunes. “Blockchain” evokes Happy Birthday’s “The Black Block”, and Hello Mom! ‘s “Tetrispack” splits into “Tekk Pack”. These renamings reflect the alterations to the music itself, all of which stem from those first two Modeselektor LPs. Forget playing the hits: Classics Vol. 1 alters them.
The evolution of “The Black Block” to “Blockchain” illustrates the transformation Bronsert and Szary perform on these tracks. The former typifies much of Modeselektor’s early work: minimal arrangements that center on pulsating beats and buzzy electronics, the kind of tunes that function as dancefloor kindling or music for privately scoring one’s walk through a busy city center. “Blockchain” sounds haunted by that earlier composition; it opens much more gently, with a snare hit that rings through layers of electronics that echo as if emanating from far away.
When the music picks up with the same propulsion at the heart of “The Black Block”, the music around the squelchy riff is much more textured, building to a brooding menace that would make a fine background for a future John Wick entry. The old notes are still there, but they’re given a newly invigorating aural space to expand.
At times, these Hello Mom! and Happy Birthday! numbers end up evolving to radically different shapes than their original iterations. The head-bopping “Tetrispack” begins with an ominous, cavernous quality that evokes the Haxan Cloak, only to then bloom into a meditative piece that’s much more contemplative than hip-shaking. The Moderat collaboration appears to have been particularly formative for Bronsert and Szary in the previous decade. However, melancholy moments appear throughout their discography; the heights they hit in Moderat (especially on the superlative 2016 LP III) have drawn out an atmospheric quality that serves this set of songs quite well. This duo does the seemingly impossible: making new wine from old wineskins.
Yet the experimental approach behind Classics, Vol. 1 comes with a risk. Greatest hits compilations may be a relic in the streaming age, in which listeners can easily curate their own best-of mixes, but historically they have provided new listeners with an on-ramp to a whole discography. Those unacquainted with Modeselektor shouldn’t begin their journey with Classics, Vol. 1, given its moves away from the aesthetic that solidified the duo as a known quantity in electronic music. The initiated, meanwhile, might prefer a new album that makes some of the same moves that drive these (un)familiar songs, but in the form of a wholly new collection of tracks.
Contrary to the broad audience that “classics” releases tend to serve best, Classics, Vol. 1 speaks to a niche crowd. Admittedly, the European electronic scene tends to be where such niches thrive.)Those who hold Modselektor close will find much intrigue in this atypical anthology, one characteristic of this duo’s impish ethos. Promotional copy for this album calls it a “CV” for the group, but it’s closer to a love letter to those who have followed these gents since the beginning.