Rod Modell

Dub techno legend Rod Modell is best known for his <a href="spotify:artist:45g23Apmqo2x4obM7LjmpW">Deepchord</a> project, and for his work in the duo <a href="spotify:artist:1FJlepTxHmPA5QVEwoFplL">Echospace</a> with Stephen Hitchell (<a href="spotify:artist:0Vg7WNQBVprdJleEWYmSJA">Soultek</a>), with whom he runs the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Echospace+Detroit%22">Echospace Detroit</a> label. But he has also produced several ambient-leaning solo releases, as well as the dancefloor-focused 2019 album Captagon.

Born in Detroit, Modell came of age during the first wave of Detroit techno, and was friendly with originators of the sound like <a href="spotify:artist:0v6N0xV7AfHHKVcgUOjC51">Derrick May</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:208EQzx7RmoE2Ng9gF2edh">Juan Atkins</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:0jS6VTFGujWxinY5TSQwOG">Kevin Saunderson</a>. first surfaced in the mid-'90s as half of the duo <a href="spotify:artist:30PO8mUp3m050IbH8neN5s">Waveform Transmission</a> with Chris Troy. In 1998, he teamed up with <a href="spotify:artist:4DGM6nP7LgjHSEwvHKeyLu">Michael Mantra</a> for the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Hypnos%22">Hypnos</a> release Sonic Continuum; his debut solo album, The Autonomous Music Project, was issued the following year on Italian label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Lunar%22">Lunar</a>. In the early 2000s he co-founded the dub techno project <a href="spotify:artist:45g23Apmqo2x4obM7LjmpW">Deepchord</a> with Mike Schommer, releasing a series of highly sought-after 12"s. Throughout that decade he released more ambient solo albums, culminating in 2007's Incense and Black Light on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Plop%22">Plop</a>. That year also saw the launch of the <a href="spotify:artist:1FJlepTxHmPA5QVEwoFplL">Echospace</a> project with Chicago's Stephen Hitchell. Their two albums on British label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Modern+Love%22">Modern Love</a>, The Coldest Season and Liumin, were widely acclaimed. They also launched the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Echospace+Detroit%22">Echospace Detroit</a> label to release music under their many aliases and side-projects.

In the 2010s, Modell took the <a href="spotify:artist:45g23Apmqo2x4obM7LjmpW">Deepchord</a> project solo, releasing a number of highly regarded albums for Scottish techno institution <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Soma%22">Soma</a>. His first solo album in almost a decade, Mediterranea, appeared in 2016 on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Echospace+Detroit%22">Echospace Detroit</a>; three years later, he released his debut for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Tresor%22">Tresor</a>, Captagon. Very different from all of his other albums, it was a high-energy, dancefloor-focused work that sounded like his <a href="spotify:artist:45g23Apmqo2x4obM7LjmpW">Deepchord</a> material cranked up to twice the speed. ~ John D. Buchanan & Jason Ankeny, Rovi