Ellen Allien - "Thrills"

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That post was great Susan!

Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Friday, 8 July 2005 00:03 (eighteen years ago) link

thx man!

Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Friday, 8 July 2005 00:14 (eighteen years ago) link

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 (eighteen years ago) link

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 (eighteen years ago) link

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 (eighteen years ago) link

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 (eighteen years ago) link

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 (eighteen years ago) link

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 (eighteen years ago) link

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 (eighteen years ago) link

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 (eighteen years ago) link

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 (eighteen years ago) link

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 (eighteen years ago) link

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 (eighteen years ago) link

Jsoulja - i haven't heard the Magma remixes-if you don't mind ysi-ing some. thx. will comment on the other stuff later.

Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Monday, 11 July 2005 20:16 (eighteen years ago) link

i have'em, susan...

philip sherburne (philip sherburne), Monday, 11 July 2005 21:21 (eighteen years ago) link

oh great, thx!

Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Monday, 11 July 2005 21:29 (eighteen years ago) link

three weeks pass...
er....i got a ellen allien sonar 2005 mix from that beatfreakx site and it sounds nothing like the sonar 2005 set on her site, its got art of noiseand studff and its a lot more noisy and banging?!?! did she play twice? whast the answer?

ambrose (ambrose), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 19:09 (eighteen years ago) link

she played twice.

one was a quick 20 minute blast at Nitsa (check the Sonar thread) the other (on her site) was a portion of her main floor show, and unusually subdued and minimal-tech-dubby (up to that point, it may have got more interesting later on?).

I've heard better/more exciting sets from her to be honest.

fandango (fandango), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 20:19 (eighteen years ago) link

oh yeah the nitsa one was wicked! i was there but missed her sonar one cos i was in r hawtin. i love the idea of 20 min sets, it was perfect. she came in, fucked the place up, and finished. just like that

ambrose (ambrose), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 20:49 (eighteen years ago) link

three weeks pass...
How the fuckity fuck did I miss this??

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/urban/oneworld/professor_ellen.shtml

Guess I'll have to search that one out on 5l5k sometime :(

fandango (fandango), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 13:37 (eighteen years ago) link

The Kiki remix of "Your Body is My Body" is great, adding some more tasty synth melodies.

Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 04:18 (eighteen years ago) link

three weeks pass...
Nice to see that Mixmag can't even be bothered to get her name right on their covermount! Ellen Alien indeed. twats.

fandango (fandango), Friday, 23 September 2005 22:08 (eighteen years ago) link

not to mention the supposed 'sound of Berlin' compilation I saw that repeated the mistake!

Jeez. There are bigger things to get annoyed by in life I know but ffs.

fandango (fandango), Friday, 23 September 2005 22:10 (eighteen years ago) link

is her name pronounced 'alien'? no two people i know pronounce it the same way. alien, ally-en, a-leen...

The Lex (The Lex), Friday, 23 September 2005 22:16 (eighteen years ago) link

okay this latest set from earplug (zine? url?) seems fine indeed.

creamfields, andaulcia.


I think she's a fantastic, radical DJ!

fandango (fandango), Monday, 3 October 2005 21:40 (eighteen years ago) link

is it in the sept 15th issue? for some reason i don't see it. thx.

Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Monday, 3 October 2005 21:52 (eighteen years ago) link

http://www.earplug.cc/mailer/issue53/index.html :)

fandango (fandango), Monday, 3 October 2005 21:55 (eighteen years ago) link

thx!

Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Monday, 3 October 2005 21:55 (eighteen years ago) link

this set is all like r&S and textured like silk... she can do sunny and house good.

fandango (fandango), Monday, 3 October 2005 22:03 (eighteen years ago) link

haha.. maybe it's a bit trancey, I am stoned.

fandango (fandango), Monday, 3 October 2005 22:04 (eighteen years ago) link

I keep meaning to buy this album

leigh (leigh), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 09:34 (eighteen years ago) link

And you should. My album of the year so far

Baaderonixx and the hedonistic gluttons (baaderonixx), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 09:43 (eighteen years ago) link

three weeks pass...
So how are the remixes on the Your Body is My Body 12"? I've not heard them.

matt2 (matt2), Monday, 31 October 2005 21:13 (eighteen years ago) link

The Kiki 'body trip' remix is amazing, synthy sunny happiness but I'm gonna get it on the new Camping 2 (cd) compilation. Skipped this 12". I don't know about the Troy Pierce mix, minimal, at a guess!

'Down' remixes by dinky, fuckaloop & drama society out sometime. Looking forward to the Dinky particularly.

login name (fandango), Tuesday, 1 November 2005 05:57 (eighteen years ago) link

it's (kiki rmx) at the start of this set btw, just after the first orbital track - http://www.ump3.de/sites/ellen_allien_djset_creamfields_august2005.php

login name (fandango), Tuesday, 1 November 2005 05:58 (eighteen years ago) link

I don't suppose anyone's got that BBC One World session to YSI have they?

Nice write up here for this mix - A set that Ellen Allien recorded as a Sónar promo, originally hosted by Samurai FM, is now streaming from the "Online Radio" section of Allien's own website. Like everything Allien does, it's wet and dry, brainy and ravey, shocking and blasé all at once. I didn't know half the tracks-- like the crickets-in-rocking-chairs opener, or the plaintive yet blissed out Basic Channelly number that follows it-- but a helpful ILMer posted the tracklist here, so we can all trainspot together as Allien veers from planar click tracks into ridiculous kazoo fantasias, and from massive overdriven hangar bangers into the epic, John-Williams-goes-raving conclusion of Paul Kalkbrenner's newest "Ta-tü-tata", a record which-- like Sascha Funke's "Boy", also a recent Bpitch release-- everyone should own.

Funny how it never really clicked with me completely before now (found that whilst already listening and googling, like most pieces of "news" on Pitchfork I completely miss them at the time 'cos the layout is so crapshite) I love how it's so airy yet claustrophobic. I just wish I could squeeze it all down into 45 mins, it's a bit slow to unfold (and the mixing on the last three tracks is erm.. not the best, esp. for her).

Worst song, played on ugliest guitar (fandango), Sunday, 13 November 2005 04:19 (eighteen years ago) link

(a link is always helpful) http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/urban/oneworld/professor_ellen.shtml

Worst song, played on ugliest guitar (fandango), Sunday, 13 November 2005 04:20 (eighteen years ago) link

John-Williams-goes-raving

!!

gear (gear), Sunday, 13 November 2005 05:09 (eighteen years ago) link

I have no idea who that bit's referring to actually.

Worst song, played on ugliest guitar (fandango), Sunday, 13 November 2005 05:11 (eighteen years ago) link

or rather, who John Williams is (yes I should probably try IMDB.com, I should also go to bed now too).

Worst song, played on ugliest guitar (fandango), Sunday, 13 November 2005 05:12 (eighteen years ago) link

I saw her live. She was so booooring.

Good Dog (Good Dog), Sunday, 13 November 2005 19:25 (eighteen years ago) link

three weeks pass...
New album Ellen Allien and Apparat out in april 2006!

=)

fandango (fandango), Thursday, 8 December 2005 02:26 (eighteen years ago) link

collaboration... not separately.

fandango (fandango), Thursday, 8 December 2005 02:27 (eighteen years ago) link

Sounds interesting. I just listened to Thrills tonight for the first time in a few months and found myself enjoying it more than I thought I would. I still think the first track is a bit dull, but the rest are pretty good. It sounds better at night and at a relatively loud volume. I listened to it while driving, and it hit the spot nicely. Maybe it will creep back onto my year's best list.

o. nate (onate), Thursday, 8 December 2005 03:31 (eighteen years ago) link

Yeah, I'm not sure what to expect really. Hopefully not anything too similar to stuff already released by either of them. Wonder if that proposed Ghostly International single will ever come out?

I'm still excited about the interview where she mentioned ideas for her Fourth album! (i.e. not this one).

Either way a semi-quiet stopgap 2006 could be good... I feel like I might burn out on Bpitch before I burn out on Ms. Allien though (and perhaps current dance stuff generally, maybe it's winter blues or I've just been following stuff, in my way, to the exclusion of too much other music... either way I've been a little less enthused of late).

fandango (fandango), Thursday, 8 December 2005 04:06 (eighteen years ago) link

I would expect it to be a follow up of Berlinette, since the production on that album was largely done by Apparat.

Jena (JenaP), Thursday, 8 December 2005 04:10 (eighteen years ago) link

If Stadtkind didn't exist I'd have a little more faith in that notion...

She calls it their "first proper collaboration" anyhow, can't see any reason why she'd be obtuse about it. Holger Zilske has been credited with co-production on all three albums so far, I think he deserves more of the credit myself, for the sake of accuracy.

fandango (fandango), Thursday, 8 December 2005 04:18 (eighteen years ago) link

This was kinda discussed upthread already anyway.

fandango (fandango), Thursday, 8 December 2005 04:19 (eighteen years ago) link

New album :)! I have spent some more time lately listening to Thrills. Feel that its as good or better than I thought it was, but remains somewhat of a difficult experience. Still listening to some of Berlinette too -mostly Augenblick. AugB and parts of Thrills fulfulling the guitar/strings/metallic sound i'm missing from rock -- and almost feels like a better replacement. I still think the first track of Thrills is insane.

Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Thursday, 8 December 2005 04:57 (eighteen years ago) link

i think the first track of thrills might be my favourite - there's something so physical and propulsive in it

The Lex (The Lex), Thursday, 8 December 2005 09:17 (eighteen years ago) link


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