Ellen Allien - "Thrills"

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I also think it was no big secret that Ellen and Sascha (aka Apparat) were dating at the time. I have no idea if they are still together though...

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Wednesday, 22 June 2005 12:54 (twenty years ago)

I kind of regret going to Virus Syndicate over Ellen Allien at Sónar now, even though they were astonishingly good. Possibly I should have run back and forth between rooms.

― The Lex (The Lex), Wednesday, 22 June 2005 13:15 (twenty years ago)

I agree with Ronan. I'm not really feeling Thrills. First Allien thing that has left me a bit cold. (I love The Remix Collection, Berlinette and all the DJ mixes.) I was hoping for more stuff like "Bang Bang".

There are a couple of nice things in the second half. e.g. "Ghost Train" and "She Is With Me".

Will try and find a way of d/ling that Sonar set.

― Jeff W (zebedee), Wednesday, 22 June 2005 14:46 (twenty years ago)

Not sure I should really be posting this if it's supposed to be streaming but - http://www.ellenallien.de/cms_media/mp3_stream/mix_2005.mp3 is how to download that Sonar set.

― fandango (fandango), Wednesday, 22 June 2005 15:01 (twenty years ago)

Guess that'll get me accused of promotions work once more... le sigh.

― fandango (fandango), Wednesday, 22 June 2005 15:04 (twenty years ago)

Thanks! (actually I meant I'll try and find a way to listen to the stream, but I am not a computer techie so tend to get my terminology wrong)

― Jeff W (zebedee), Wednesday, 22 June 2005 15:06 (twenty years ago)

(just read) Michael Gill's review of Thrills in Stylus is wonderful. not sure whether approp./or need to post a link here. really made me want to listen again as i burned out quickly on this album but possibly b/c its heavy duty and it just don't get any lighter with play. i'm betting hearing the ideas expressed so well in language might remedy that a bit for me.

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Thursday, 23 June 2005 23:31 (twenty years ago)

Hua Hsu's review in Slate is short, but at least (unlike the Pitchfork review) you feel like he's at least hearing the same record:

http://slate.msn.com/id/2121387/

― o. nate (onate), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 14:10 (twenty years ago)

Hsu's right that this is definitely a night album - it sounds very good at night. Of Allien's prior work, this reminds me the most of her excellent mix album Flieg Mit - she achieves a similar aesthetic here, except this time making the music herself rather than mixing other people's tracks.

― o. nate (onate), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 14:13 (twenty years ago)

thrills has grown on me considerably but overall i still think it's a huge disappointment

― mark p (Mark P), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 14:19 (twenty years ago)

This is one of those albums which, despite having read tons of reviews of, I have no clue as to what it sounds like.

― Baaderonixx le Belge (Fabfunk), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 14:27 (twenty years ago)

I don't consider it a disappointment at all. I wouldn't be surprised if I end up listening to Thrills more than Berlinette, which has some great tracks but is also a bit uneven. There's nothing on Thrills as cringe-inducing as "Trashscapes". But I can understand that people who were hoping she would turn into Lali Puna might be let down that she doesn't sing much on this one.

xpost

― o. nate (onate), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 14:27 (twenty years ago)

It's the most teutonically "listening" album I've heard in a while.. meaning I can't muster the desire to want to pick this up on vinyl and want to DJ it, despite it being pulsing all the way through. However, I do want this on CD to listen to.

I DID pick up the "Magma" remix 12".. with remixes by Allien, the MFA, and Modeselektor. The MFA remix is predictable but certainly the best of them all.. although the Allien remix makes for better dance fodder than the album version. I'm getting tired of Modeselektor at this point.. they almost seem to force themselves to have to do SOMETHING jagged with any beat and fuck with it, even if it's a bad idea.

― donut e-g (donut), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 14:41 (twenty years ago)

While it's fair to suggest that listeners hoping for a more expansive, complex album from EA might be disappointed by "Thrills", I'd say this is the album that was right for her to make at this time: a lean, muscular, bass-heavy techno record. Given her serious views on techno, indutrialization, Berlin, etc., accompanying this release, I'd have lifted a brow if she dropped a follow-up as warm and poppy and accessible as "Berlinette", which while pretty good, still brought the "Berliniamsburg" wince out of me.

Given that silly Road Warrior URB spread following "Berlinette", and the cringe-inducing "electroclash-hipster" cover for "My Parade", I actually really like the sophistication of "Thrills", the single-minded seriousness she brought to it. Not pop. Not glitch. TECHNO record. Bam.

― jsoulja (jsoulja), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 19:14 (twenty years ago)

Plus, for whatever it's worth, the first Grace Jones record I heard was "Slave To The Rhythm", which I purchsed when I was fifteen based on the cover alone. While I liked the record, I was disappointed by how soft and convential it was in relation to the cover. I was expecting something really tough and strange and other worldy.

When I first heard "The Brain Is Lost", my initial thought was "THAT is what 'Slave To The Rhythm' should have sounded like!", based on the cover.....

― jsoulja (jsoulja), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 19:24 (twenty years ago)

fans of thrills should check out anthony rother's stuff if you haven't already.

― tricky (disco stu), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 19:50 (twenty years ago)

One listen and I have to say this sounds awfully dry...

― Baaderonixx le Belge (Fabfunk), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 20:37 (twenty years ago)

Another pretty decent review for what it's worth - http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/2257

― fandango (fandango), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 23:34 (twenty years ago)

I still don't like it very much.

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 23:41 (twenty years ago)

I'm not trying to persuade anyone... I wouldn't mind erasing some of my gushing upthread at this point perhaps.

I hadn't really heard many artists who'd created warm and inviting sounding 'electro'. In a non-pop sense. I think I associated the term with the very opposite, which threw me way off on first listen. I've heard some since though, and it makes a bit more sense now,

But the 'sounds' here have definitely had time to sink in way past the level of familiarity by now and I still dig them a whole heap. "Refurbished" does seem an apt term to apply to her new/old explorations here, it isn't in any way a 'retro' record for me. Nostalgic at moments, but that's a different kind of dip into the past.

― fandango (fandango), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 23:54 (twenty years ago)

i don't think i've gushed enough about this. it has its limitations and is dry in a way. anyway, i'm not gushing b/c don't have time right now...will come back later.

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Thursday, 7 July 2005 00:03 (twenty years ago)

so is this idm or dance

― ubrecht, Thursday, 7 July 2005 00:05 (twenty years ago)

i'd say its definitely more idm leaning, but that distinction is weird, isn't it? do you mean, can you dance to it?

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Thursday, 7 July 2005 00:14 (twenty years ago)

Michael F Gill to thread!

― fandango (fandango), Thursday, 7 July 2005 00:21 (twenty years ago)

There's not much skronk/blarrrrz/pffffppptttth abrasive noises on this one. Is how I'd have to put it.

Much more broadly 'dance' than her previous work.

― fandango (fandango), Thursday, 7 July 2005 00:23 (twenty years ago)

the spirit of it is total idm i think. not that that helps. Michael F. Gill to thread yes!

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Thursday, 7 July 2005 00:24 (twenty years ago)

I've made a total 180 on this one and really like it now. It's still very unfamiliar and I imagine I'm gonna love it by the time I really know it. The sparsely used vocals are always really execellent.

― Baaderonixx le Belge (Fabfunk), Thursday, 7 July 2005 06:48 (twenty years ago)

I love this even more than when I first heard it. The opening bars of 'Come' are such a rush.

― The Lex (The Lex), Thursday, 7 July 2005 06:58 (twenty years ago)

i can't see any way this could be classified as IDM.

― philip sherburne (philip sherburne), Thursday, 7 July 2005 21:20 (twenty years ago)

not at least in the 2000-2005 definition of IDM as "kerwhackity-whackity" hip-hop/gabber DSP overdriven fusion. in my obviously all-knowing mind, nothing with a predominant 4/4 signature is really IDM these days (leaving open the question of what may have passed for IDM back in the artificial intelligence days, when it was more of an attitude than a distinct set of sonic/rhythmic characteristics).

― philip sherburne (philip sherburne), Thursday, 7 July 2005 21:23 (twenty years ago)

I still can't get into it. It just doesn't seem to kick off for me, too bassy maybe? humourless? devoid of pop?

I don't know, it just doesn't do it for me, there's no magic there, it's cold but not cold like stuff I like.

I have tried so many times!

― Ronan (Ronan), Thursday, 7 July 2005 21:24 (twenty years ago)

Anybody want to YSI that remixed 12" of hers?

― jergins (jergins), Thursday, 7 July 2005 21:32 (twenty years ago)

i dunno phil, i think the textures and timbres do have something in common with idm. moreso than the majority of 4/4 electronic being made these days, anyway.

― mark p (Mark P), Thursday, 7 July 2005 21:33 (twenty years ago)

I kind of agree with mark, plus I feel there is a definite emphasis on craziness/dischord which feels more idm/techno than the predominantly house aesthetic of alot of other German producers at the moment. The anti-pop thing, this is a very unglam serious record.

― Ronan (Ronan), Thursday, 7 July 2005 21:51 (twenty years ago)

I think Philip is OTM, this isn't really IDM. Adding to his comments, Thrills has an almost stadium size feel to it (in overall sound and in the way the melodies jump out) which is a kind of extroversion most IDM producers shun.

Ronan is right about this being a serious and cold record, and I do agree that can be a turn off for most people. I am, however, fascinated by the mechanical/urban images the tracks create (my Stylus goes in-depth about that.)

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Thursday, 7 July 2005 22:39 (twenty years ago)

i will regret putting this out here but...
maybe knowing very little about what its sounded like prior to Ellen etc., i'm mostly going on my own ideas and feelings of how traditional dance music has failed. i thought that idm was meant to deal (atleast partially) with establ. deeper connection between the visceral and mental - which i think she does here - "fascinated by the mechanical/urban images the tracks" - totally, the fact that its danceable is just a natural by-product of her amazing talent to reveal the structure/pulse inherent in such things. i'm amazed by the tracks the mechanical/urban images create. and i know its just amazing descriptive powers and tapping into common denominator of human experience, but it feels so real. -phil this is like last nites conversation...and feel like its still going nowhere/in circles!

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Thursday, 7 July 2005 23:40 (twenty years ago)

ok i seriously retract my statement. i really don't want to talk about this! i've decided its best to let the music do this work-which i'll just assume it is.

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Thursday, 7 July 2005 23:49 (twenty years ago)

That post was great Susan!

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Friday, 8 July 2005 00:03 (twenty years ago)

thx man!

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Friday, 8 July 2005 00:14 (twenty years ago)

susan every time you post something insightful you temper it with a self-effacing disclaimer! ilm is a pretty gruesome place at the best of times but don't hold out on us ok? your posts have been rad so far.

― mark p (Mark P), Friday, 8 July 2005 00:39 (twenty years ago)

yeah i know. its acknowledgment that i tend to push things where i want them to go and not always pay attention to reality/facts. i sense its better during these times, to shut up and listen.

but from now on when i get the uncontrollable urge to chime in regardless - i'll just go with it and deal with the fallout. bombs away!

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Friday, 8 July 2005 00:59 (twenty years ago)

Susan completely OTM.
There are some moments on the album, especially at the end, where I'm alaways thinking "damn, she is saying so much more with this texture/melody than vocals could ever do".
In a way, it feels very introspective and intimate, always looking inwards or treating the other as a mirror ("your body is my body"), but on the other hand it always sounds steeped in a wider environment, the city, the club, the music.

― Baaderonixx le Belge (Fabfunk), Friday, 8 July 2005 06:48 (twenty years ago)

I think the album kind of gets off to a slow start. The first track is actually one of the less interesting ones to me. But it picks up as it goes along. I think it contains some of the best work she has yet done. I think it falls somewhere between IDM, dance, and electro-pop - in the unique space that Allien has been exploring for the past few years.

― o. nate (onate), Friday, 8 July 2005 14:15 (twenty years ago)

No, no, no! Susan is SO OTM w/r/t the post that starts out with her "regrets", in terms of EA finding/channeling the inner pulse of mechanics/urbanism, and I'll add industrialization, post-industrialization, modernism, and maybe even post-modernism to that as well. Ronan finds the album too cold, which I sort of agree with, but I think there is a serious beauty in that. You have to remember that this is an intentionally SERIOUS record, that she's addresing her place in techno, her own identity, how it relates to Berlin, how it relates to Detroit, etc., etc.

All these thematics and locales ARE cold, bleak, stark, etc.

― jsoulja (jsoulja), Friday, 8 July 2005 17:39 (twenty years ago)

the elegant mechanics of "Come", which i think is far and away the best track, had me wondering last nite if she wasn't somewhat of a virtuoso/modern day master. Last nite i listened on better headphones and was clean blown by the tight/perfect timing and in general the layeredness she achieves without relying on harmonics and in general keeping within the same basic family of sounds and timing --- seemed key to the machine/organic connection she's made. Jsoulja, I agree the coldness is atleast in part due to the subject matter, yet i wonder if maybe she's missed a component as shouldn't this totally engage us?-as much as I'm totally in awe of these tracks, its sorta hard for me to listen to them without over engaging my brain and getting a headache. I feel like ideally I should be able to feel them more. "Washing Machine is Speaking" is a fun track too. I wasn't feeling it at all before.

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Sunday, 10 July 2005 22:37 (twenty years ago)

FYI::
Tue 09/27/05 New York, NY The Canal Room
Wed 09/28/05 Detroit, MI Oslo
Thu 09/29/05 Chicago, IL Sound Bar
Fri 09/30/05 San Francisco, CA 1015 Folsom
Sat 10/01/05 Hollywood, CA The Avalon (Formerly The Palace)
Sun 10/02/05 Vancouver, BC Richard's On Richards

― william (william), Monday, 11 July 2005 17:09 (twenty years ago)

Hmm- I guess there IS something missing, but I've yet to identify it. Given the complexity of the issues addressed with this record, it's a bit surprising (albeit refreshing, too) that her sound approach would be so straight-forward and simple. I took a stab up-thread to explain why I think that is, and why I like it, but I'm none-the-less eager to hear some of these tracks remixed. I'm just relieved she pulled the pop elements so obvious to Berlinette- on this record, that would have been missing the plot, and possibly heading down a more commercial road, never to return.

― jsoulja (jsoulja), Monday, 11 July 2005 19:53 (twenty years ago)

Oh here's a question(s): what tracks on this record would benefit from remixing? And who'd you like to see do it?

I heard the Magma remixes (eh), but Washing Machine comes to mind first, maybe a Rother or Weatherall remix....

― jsoulja (jsoulja), Monday, 11 July 2005 19:57 (twenty years ago)

she's doing bigger clubs this time around.

i find this album to be very easy to engage with, it is almost like a blank slate. i also find it to be less cold than either of her previous albums. that's probably the arp talking. the tracks sound like they are 120bpm, but they all hover around 128. i wish the tracks were slower actually, but then it might not sound so techno. i think it has a very late night humid vibe to it.

― tricky (disco stu), Monday, 11 July 2005 20:02 (twenty years ago)

i would like to hear "cloudy city" remixed by anthony rother, wighnomy bros, jay haze, and alex smoke. :)

― tricky (disco stu), Monday, 11 July 2005 20:08 (twenty years ago)

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