Modus Vivendi

Modus Vivendi seeks to forge a name for itself via an overtly but ineffably warm blend of supple, alternately gentle and colossal beats underscoring elements of exotic, soulful color, plaintive bossa guitar, cinematically full and rich sitar, tango bandoneon, trace amounts of Latin rhythm, wordless female vocals that are far substantive to be written of as simply ethereal, ethnographic African chants, and on and on. The resulting and blatantly lovely brew is somewhat akin to the pliable oscillations of, say, Metro Area or Nortec Collective, used as a beat canvas onto which the cosmopolitan global jazz ethic of a Kruder & Dorfmeister or Thievery Corporation has been transposed. What really sets Modus apart, however, is it’s music collective approach. While such crews as Jazzanova, Bugz in the Attic, Reprazent, Massive Attack’s Wild Bunch and Yellow Productions’ Bossa Tres Jazz have standardized the idea of a multinational, entirely collaborative approach for making music in Europe and elsewhere in the world, it’s virtually unheard of in America. Representing the USA, Mexico, Germany, the UK and other countries, and by having already worked with such artists/ producers such as Rick Nowels, David Holmes, Photek, N’Dea Davenport and Dido to name a few, Modus has the skill and versatility to become a substantial US-based collective voice on the international electronic/ downtempo scene. The 12-song Modus Vivendi CD Sampler is now available for listening with a full-length release in the works. The core Modus Vivendi Roster includes: Jesse Rogg (Munich, Germany), Annie Walton-Teter a.k.a. Alphagirl (Nashville, TN), Quirin Schwanck a.k.a. Q (Munich, Germany), Julian Brody (Mexico D.F., Mexico), Andrez Sanchez a.k.a. Sanchez Dub (Mexico D.F., Mexico), James van Leuven a.k.a. Plan B (Seattle, WA), Jehuniko (Los Angeles, CA), Brian Baltin (Los Angeles, CA) Modus Vivendi Music was founded 2003 by Jesse Rogg (producer/ engineer) and Annie Walton-Teter (producer/ vocalist).