Although a few tracks on his previous release, The Last Dog and Pony Show, had featured tape loops and samples, Mould shocked his fans with such a dramatic embrace of electronica.

Bob Mould issued his fourth studio album The Last Dog and Pony Show in 1998, marking his final release for the record label Rykodisc.

[1] During tours in promotion for it, Mould billed it as a demise to the "punk-rocky guitar guy standing at stage left, jumping around and yelling", having spent the previous two decades playing alternative rock and hardcore punk with his prior bands Hüsker Dü and Sugar,.

For some months following this position, he discovered electronic acts such as John Digweed, Paul Van Dyk,[1] Richard Morel, Swayzak[5] and Nick Warren, in addition to Version 2.0 (1998) by Garbage.

[2] He sampled seven-inch singles of other artists work, but abandoned this method after a couple months when it dawned on him that he was attempting it like a DJ would, and would have to pay to release material like that.

Mould remarked that it was easier crafting this material than making his debut studio album Workbook (1989), where he had to "sit down and relearn the guitar", whereas for the new songs, he "pick[ed] up a different set of tools, trying to supplement my songwriting and storytelling style".

'"[4] City Pages reviewer Peter S. Scholtes said it "mirrors the strengths and weaknesses" of Good News for Modern Man (1999) by former Hüsker Dü bandmate Grant Hart.

[12] God Is in the TV writer Humphrey Fordham suggested that the drum and bass and trip hop track "Megamanic" from The Last Dog and Pony Show laid the groundwork for Modulate, comparing the album to other releases that saw legacy acts "going out on a limb", such as Don Juan's Reckless Daughter (1977) by Joni Mitchell and Trans (1983) by Neil Young.

[5] AllMusic reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine commented that the tracks were presented differently from Mould's other works: "they're insular, one-man creations (even more so than Workbook), as that man tries to expand his art by grappling with new technologies and trends and a whole bunch of electronic instruments and computers".

[2] The Austin Chronicle writer Dan Oko remarked that it delivered an electronic sound with "synthetic vocals that owe more to Daft Punk and Madonna than his SST heyday".

[8] Glauber noted that the tracks that feature the "electronic effects seem curiously concentrated" on the album's first half; after this, Mould's previous guitar sound returns with "Slay / Sway" and "The Receipt",[2] recalling the material by Sugar.

[2] For the Philip Glass-tinged "Sunset Safety Glass",[13] Glauber said it "trades on repetition to drive home its musical point, while oddly juxtaposed lyrical images seek to disturb" the listener.

[2] Rolling Stone reviewer Pat Blashill wrote that "Semper Fi" has a baroque structure consisting of "wheezing, calliope-style synth effects and squiggles, with Mould's drawling, side-of-the-mouth vocals and guitars roaring away underneath everything".

[18] According to Glauber, "Quasar" sees Mould use "synthesizers, samplers, and digital toys in another interesting layered clatter that’s tuneful and catchy, but suffers from its halfway treatment".

[2] "Trade" recalled the works of New Order and Pet Shop Boys,[2] while its lyrics, as Jonathan Cohen of Nude as the News writes, sees Mould "wrestles with the most basic of requests: he won’t give 'the answer' until he can pre-determine what the implied tradeoff is".

[10] The album's closing track, "Author's Lament", mixes digital percussion and an electric piano, initially beginning as a sparse arrangement that eventually builds into noisy feedback.

He planned to embarked on the Carnival of Light and Sound tour, which was held in small theatres across the US, which would see him split the set between the new album and his back catalogue.

[15] Steve Kandell of Spin said it "reflected his newfound fascination with dance music, striking a balance between post-punk gravitas and electronic bacchanalia" which would surprise older fans of his work.

Oko said "longtime fans will be disappointed to find few signs of the distorted guitar sounds and strangled, angst-ridden lyrics" that were staples of Husker Du and Sugar.

[26] Glauber thought that it delivered "simple chordal structures, direct lyrical content and manages to mirror the density of Mould’s sonic layering in media other than guitar".