Siriusmo: Mosaik (Monkeytown)

And so here we are, many years after Siriusmo first splashed with his debut EP. He’s been quietly crafting some of the most solid music to be carelessly lumped together with the electro-house scene in Europe. After ten years, over 10 EPs and one mini-album, Moritz Friedrich unveils this monster of a full-length, clocking in just under an hour with 17 tracks. It delivers on all of the promise of his previous outings, bursting with ideas. “Good Idea” for instance, just after the halfway point, is a weirdly smooth disco track complete with string falls and whistles, but it doesn’t feel out of place immediately following the hyper-manipulated German pop of “Einmal in der Woche Schreien.” But despite all his skill as a producer and soundmaker, Friedrich really excels with melody and hooks. That he’s willing to experiment with genre, sounds and styles is a great bonus, but his strength is in his unabashed embrace of melody and unusual chord sequences. He puts the arpeggiator to good use on many of these tracks, most notably “Idiologie” which is just too short for its own good — it’s such a killer track that it could be double the length. But the name of the album is Mosaik after all, we’re treated to pieces and parts of a bright and vibrant whole.

Watch/listen: Signal

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