Ellen Allien

Ellen Allien
Berlinette
(2003)

Rating: 8.2

This is a lovely German Techno album with gorgeous splashy pop hooks and I'm going to do my best to avoid doing it a disservice by mentioning things like motorways, nihilism and cutting off Johnsons. Berlinette is pure electro-pleasure and I was sold on it right from the first listen so I'm not going to delve too deep into it's technical brilliance in my recommendation. It's lovely. Absolutely lovely. And nice.

Actually calling the album nice is doing Ellen Allien a huge disservice. This album is considerably more inventive and interesting than any of those of her peers that I have come across. Miss Kitten is hardly worth mentioning in comparision and she makes Felix da Housecat sound like a complete cheesecake.

A song like Sehnsucht for example, trucks along with all the business intent of a floor filler but manages to accommodate a slow spiralling synth loop half-way through before continuing on its way. Augenblick swings sounding both screechy clean and pleasant at the same time and you can appreciate the crafty attention to detail with an immaculately timed guitar riff in Open. You could even describe opening track Alles Sehen as elegant. "Oh that's it!", I hear you say,"I'm fucking sick of the wankpot way he describes things. He described an Electro song as Elegant for fucks sake!" But give it a go. There will be a word on the tip of your tongue for most of the song and in the end, with grinding terror and absolute remorse, you'll realise that word is Elegant. I'll probably still be a terrible prick though.

This is a special album and I'd highly recommend it to electro fans and non-fans alike. So there it is. All done without even a mention of nihilism and how exhausting it can be.