Siriusmo – Mosaik (2011) [Monkeytown] // Grade: B+

Ever see the episode of The Simpsons where Lisa drinks the water from the Duff Gardens ride and she starts hallucinating? That’s what Mosaik, the debut LP from Siriusmo feels like. There’s no other way to describe this collection of deliberate experiments from Moritz Friedrich, aka Siriusmo other than its accurate title. Over the 17 relentless, fun and unpredictable tracks, Siriusmo takes you on a C3PO carnival ride of hip hop, electro, dubstep, techno, disco and more.

The opening track “High Together” sets the tone for how you’re supposed to react to Mosaik. The track begins with a keyboard virtuoso noodling on some keys with an enthusiastic crowd cheering. Once The Keyboardist doesn’t deliver exactly what the crowd expects, they begin booing. Then as soon as the jeering dies, it explodes into a powerful 80’s Italo banger, the type of track you blast while engaging your flux capacitor driving over 88mph on the Autobahn. This is exactly Siriusmo’s ethos for Mosaik: my way or the highway. It’s more than apparent Siriusmo is fueled solely by his own brilliant inspiration, creativity, and incredible synth and record collection. The album has hints of Kraftwerk, Aphex Twin, Hudson Mohawke, Funkstörung, Mr. Oizo, Giorgio Moroder, Boys Noize, and even some Stevie Wonder!

Though chaotic at times, there are some incredible stand out tracks. “Good Idea” is a gorgeous, feel-good Larry Levan homage complete with snapping claps, whistles and bouncing apreggios. Meanwhile its evil counterpart, “Bad Idea,” is a pummeling, head banging blend of grime, dubstep, IDM and the big room crunching synths of his Berlin peers, Modeselektor. How can these two tracks even be in the same category, let alone album? Take one listen to Mosaik and you’ll see. “Lass Den Vogel Frei!” is so electro French you can smell the 2nd hand cigarette smoke, and “Einmal In Der Woche Schreien” sounds like Richard D. James and Orphan Annie got together to make a beautiful, lush trance showtune from hell. Again, all of these descriptions sound completely contradictory, but they dance in harmony in the Mosaik universe.

My only issue is I’m unsure of how I’m supposed to emotionally respond to this album. Though there are some clever dance grooves that could get any dance floor moving, it’s too unpredictable and disjointed to be a “dance” album. On the other hand, it’s too anxious and disorienting to be a zone-out-and-vibe-out headphone album. As I was listening to this on the subway, I didn’t feel angry, sad or particularly happy, just lost in a plastic synthetic futureworld. It’s an engaging and exciting feeling, but listening to Mosaik in its entirety should only be reserved for times when you want to feel like a Replican returning to your sleep chamber rather than an album you’d pregame to on a Friday night.

I’ve only sat with this for a shortwhile, but it’s clear Mosaik will be a great album to revisit throughout the year, and new subtleties will continue to reveal themselves. For a 25th Century voyage of rich modulation and musicality, dive right into this debut LP.

- Rx