The always-solid Minimal Wave label treats us to another treasure. On the platter this time around are French robots Moderne, a group active from 1979 until 1981, who released a handful of singles and two LPs before biting the dust. Sounding like a French Kraftwerk circa “Computer World," the group produces lean, economic, and incredibly catchy music, with more warmth than the usual Teutonic textures of this sound; as such, the results are beautiful.

Yet another Minimal Wave treasure, on the platter this time around are French robots Moderne, a group active from 1979 until 1981, who released a handful of singles and two LPs before biting the dust. OM customers may know Moderne via the inclusion of their track "Switch on Bach" on the somewhat infamous So Young But So Cold compilation of French cold/new/synth wave from a few years back. If your appetite was whetted, here we find both of the band's two long players (1980's Moderne and 1981's L'Espionne Aimait La Musique) reissued in full. So how's the music? In a word, fantastic. The most obvious comparison would be a French Kraftwerk circa Computer World or The Man Machine (the albums were in fact mixed at the same Dusseldorf studio Kraftwerk used to record The Man Machine back in '78), but I get reminded quite a bit of groups like Marc Moulin's Telex or many of the artists for which he wrote and produced songs, like Lio and Miharu Koshi. The music is lean, economic, and incredibly catchy, with more warmth than the usual Teutonic textures of this sound, and as such the results are beautiful. There are dancefloor killers ("Sans Signalement," "Sé duction," "Eldorado"), some lonely bedroom laments ("Histoire Ordinaire"), and spades of cinematic flare, particularly on the second album. These records had been absurdly rare for quite some time, so I went completely bonkers at finally being able to hear both of them when they were first reissued last year after only knowing the singles for so long, ensuring Moderne a spot on my Best of 2009 list.

-Mikey IQ Jones (April 5, 2010)