Who are they?
Modeselektor are German best friends Sebastian Szary and Gernot Bronsert. Mutually influenced by hip-hop, acid house and the early rave sounds that reached their ears following the fall of the Berlin Wall, Szary and Bronsert founded Modeselektor in 1996. Ellen Allien’s BPitch Control issued their early EPs and two playful albums of pop-tinged grimey tech grooves, 2005’s Hello Mom! and 2007’s Happy Birthday!. Fans and collaborators include Thom Yorke, TTC and Paul St. Hilaire, as well as Apparat, with whom the duo also record as Moderat.

How do these long-time BFFs sound more inspired with each project?
“In a sense, it’s the difference between us that makes us a good team,” Szary says on the phone from their shared studio. “Put very simply, Gernot is more the hip-hop guy and I’m more the guitar guy.

“It’s like one is a potato and one is a carrot,” he elaborates. “When cooking a very good meal, you take the spices and herbs and different kinds of vegetables and put it all together to make something more complex. I have very great respect for the potato and the carrot and would miss either in a meal.”

Take two parts pop, stir in big bass, vocals, challenging textures and serve
“At the beginning of Modeselektor, we started making music in an experimental way, and then we moved towards making techno tracks,” Szary explains. “In 2002, we did a remix for a big pop group in Germany called Mia and we really had to think about how to remix a pop song. We analyzed the track and said, ‘OK, it’s genius how the song works in just three-and-a-half minutes.’ We said good-bye to producing long tracks and started making shorter songs, working in a very pop way.

“We also like very long tracks and very tracky [stripped-down] tracks, but it’s fun to work the KLF way,” says Szary, referencing the late-’80s pop-rave pioneers who, following their own UK chart-topping hit, wrote a cheeky book titled The Manual (How to Have a Number One the Easy Way). “There are instructions to write a top 10 song,” Szary chuckles; “That’s not necessarily our aim, but it’s very interesting to work in a way that’s like, ‘It’s a little bit pop, but it’s so strange.’”

Does this account for Modeselektor’s broad appeal?
Kinda. Like The Residents, who Szary also references, Modeselektor are equal parts zany and inspired. They’ve lectured at art schools, produced sound installations at the Centre Pompidou modern art museum in Paris and appeared in films, including Amy Grill's new electronic music documentary, Speaking In Code, which screens Wednesday, 9pm at the Royal Cinema.

Modeselektor has also been tapped to remix the likes of Björk and Boys Noize, as well as Thom Yorke, who’s booked the boys to open for Radiohead numerous times. Modeselektor’s own music sounds like all of the above, and then some. “Some people have said that a Modeselektor album is like a compilation,” allows Szary. “To us, it’s much like a movie. But we do like compilations.”

Modeselektor tell tales
Modeselektor are skilled storytellers who repeatedly invite audiences to “expect the unexpected.” Their new Body Language 8 mix for Get Physical gives us just that. It’s an expertly mixed journey through 29 songs with big personality and even bigger bass, featuring artists ranging from hip-pop star Busta Rhymes to cerebral Detroit techno producer Robert Hood and emerging dubstep talents Joker and Rustie.

“We want to show people what is possible,” says Szary. “That’s what we do in our live sets. You need ups and downs and changes in moods and tempos. Some people start and end their compilations at the same [tempo]; as the English say, that’s not our cup of tea.”