It’s been about 22 years since I grooved to my first AfrikaBambaataa record, and it makes me almost giddy that I can pick up a newrecord today and bounce to it in the same way. Ellen Allien may come tothe party by way of minimalist German techno and dub, but I can’t helpbut think she’d be welcome in the Zulu Nation any time.
Ellen Allien’s latest is a darkly playful slab of good, old-fashionedelectro, and that’s a good thing. Early electro was some of the firstmusic I fell in love with as a kid. I had no cultural reference pointfor it, and I knew nothing at the time of the bizarre trans-Atlanticintercourse between German techno pioneers and New York funk producers,but somehow the music just worked for me. Everything that was inventedor came to prominence in the early 1980’s is enjoying a comeback now,but I’m happy to say that Ellen Allien’s newest, Thrills is more homage than rehash. There’s no irony in the mechanical rhythms and icy electronic atmospheres on Thrills.The record isn’t a tongue-in-cheek throwback to bad hair and pants withmore than one zipper. Instead, it’s the latest in a long line ofproductions from underground dance producers who never let the electrovibe fade.
Somewhere along the way electro melted into faster, less funky techno,but Ellen Allien is doing her part to bring back the funk, albeit inthat stiff, Kraftwerkian way. The few tracks with vocals on Thrillscould have given the record more depth, but might have also steered itoff course. Luckily the vocals are repetitive and mostly monotone andjust work like a sample might instead of taking control of tracks thatare otherwise pumping along just fine without a voice. “Down” featureslots of breathy “ahhs” laid over the album’s most rollerskate-appropriate jam, while “Ghost Trian” spits out a beautiful,sputtering melody over some low end drones and a simple disco loop.“Cloudy City,” which is only one letter away from being a great StarWars reference, shows off Ellen Allien’s knack for catchy, rubbery basslines. All of this music is motorik and repetition is the key to makingthis sort of stuff work, but dance music can easily wear out itswelcome outside of a club setting. Thrills keeps this in mind by never letting any of the tracks go on much past the six minute mark. That’s what remixes are for!
samples:
Read More
