Siriusmo:
Comic (Monkeytown)

Berlin
producer Moritz Friedrich has always seemed like an unsung hero
relative to his contemporaries, having been quietly releasing quality
records that split the difference between club-friendly production
and jaunty, sweetly melodic compositions that feel as though they
take as much a cue from Jean-Jacques Perrey as from any current dancefloor act.
Indeed, the album title cut opens things off with a benign melodic
arrangement that feels resolved and effortless. That deceiving
musicality has always been the thing that draws me back to Siriusmo’s
catalogue, and it seems like that is where he’s best honed his skills
as a writer since his primarily 12” days of the 00s. He still
touches on the chunky grooves that powered his earlier jams like
“Simple” or “Allthegirls” here, but it’s often tethered to a
much more tightly crafted songwriting skill.

For instance,
“Doppelklick,” a collaboration with pal Mr. Oizo, has all of the
swagger of Siriusmo’s “Wow” (a cut made more popular by label
bosses Modeselektor via one of their revered Modeselektion mixes) but
still shows off his unique chord progressions and that same buoyant,
melodic stride. Siriusmo makes lateral moves with this sensibility,
whether on the more downtempo, tongue-in-cheek “Important Movie
Scene” or the big sawtooth leads of “Dagoberta” (probably the
closest one in spirit to his hot 2012 single “High Together”).
Likewise, his collaboration with Jan Driver, “Patina” shows off
his melodic abilities with flair, weaving in and out of major and
minor chords in its refrain and sporting a spacy bridge. In this way,
there’s something rather traditional about Siriusmo’s compositions,
which would sound straightforward on a piano as an oompah dance, but
his marriage of those writing abilities with well-crafted, technical
electronic production is what unlocks his full potential as a talent.

Even cheekier lounge acts like “Geilomant” or “Psychofant”
make sense given the built-in humor of the album by name, contrasting
a more biting track like “Bleat” or the crazier production frenzy
of “Wixn.” Compared to many other acts, Siriusmo’s work lends
itself particularly well to the full-length album format. It gives
him plenty of room to spread out, to explore his melodies as much as
his diversions, covering off on all of the things he does so well in
bulk. Recommended for fans of tightly crafted melodic dance music and
light-hearted anthems.

Buy it: Monkeytown