On 2003's Berlinette, Ellen Allien reveled in the stops and starts, in pinching her already-precision percussion stabs into tetchy bunches of sharp black commas and apostrophes. It made for music that was futuristic, excitingly tense, and, well, totally German. Allien's back after an EP and a remix album with the sleeker but no less fun Thrills. It's more concise than Berlinette, beginning with the insistent layering and chopped reverb guitar of "Come," a track that's Berlin's ultimate answer to Achtung Baby if there ever was one. And it continues. The churning "Your Body Is My Body," "Ghost Train"'s gentle clockwise cascade, and "Naked Rain"'s brittle, almost synth pop feel -- these are songs that move feet and stroke chins. Allien is a world-class DJ, so the dancing part is no surprise. But blending those consistent beats with synthetic detachment and left-field moments? Thrills puts "experimental" and "techno" on balance. ~ Johnny Loftus
Techno-goddess Ellen Allien returns with her third studio album. Teaming up with Holger Zielske (Smash TV). Thrills harkens back to the dank, dense warehouses of German clubs like Tresor and Detroit basement acid house blowouts. Allien also conducts experiments with new-old units such as the Roland 808 and an ARP 2600 (her new favorite instrument) to produce warmer, more relaxed digital sounds. Thrills connects the dots of 808 State, Gina X and Kompakt. And where Berlinette, her stunning second album, introduced her techno to a wider audience, she now turns around and exposes that wider audience to her techno, raising her stunning profile while alerting the world to the brilliance of her label BPitch Control. Allien has never been more in the moment, never been more relevant. The basslines rise like tides, synth lines tickle like feathers and beats bounce bounce bounce. 2005.Uncut (p.96) - 3 stars out of 5 - "THRILLS finds BPitch boss and jet-set electro DJ Ellen Allien cool and composed at the controls, steering an earthy analogue funk through her sassiest collection yet."
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