Fundamental Knowledge 1994 - 20/3 Substance & Sarah Farina Remix

Most artists cringe when they think about their earliest productions, but as Modeselektor’s Sebastian Szary digs deeper and deeper into his archives, the clearer it becomes that even as a teenager, the man was talented beyond his years. As with his previous Fundamental Knowledge releases, “1994-3” and “1994-20” were written back when Szary was living with his parents in Berlin and making music in his bedroom, but they still sound fresh, even after sitting on a hard drive for the better part of two decades. “1994-20” is a twitchy cut that brings to mind the percolating rhythms of classic Chicago house, a sensation that’s only amplified by the track’s fiercely dueling acid lines. Szary himself admits that they “don’t want to talk to each other,” and that tension feeds into the song’s gritty bounce. Those acid lines are also what caught the attention of fellow Berlin bass champion Sarah Farina, who’s reworked the squelchy undulations of the original “1994-20” into a rousing breakbeat banger. On the flip, “1994-3” is a more experimental offering, a sort of proto-IDM track that layers warped jungle fragments atop a loping bass loop. In the hands of Substance (a.k.a. Hard Wax lifer DJ Pete, a foundation of Berlin’s electronic music scene and one of Modeselektor’s original mentors), however, the song has been transformed into a bounding house tune, its sturdy kick offset by a sashaying bassline and a barely tamed array of unruly percussive outbursts.