Article
Ten Questions Eric Quach

Albums
Actress
Ellen Allien
The Alps
Aniline
Anodyne
Tommy Babin's Benzene
Maya Beiser
Pier Bucci
Budd & Wright
Celer
Ceremony
Richard Chartier
Deceptikon
Deepchord & Echospace
Marcel Dettmann
Dirac
Efdemin
GéNIA
Guillaume & C. Dumonts
Hammock
Helvacioglu & Boysen
Richard A Ingram
Inhabitants
Marsen Jules
Akira Kosemura
Manual
Dom Mino'
Teruyuki Nobuchika
Nono/ Wakabayashi
Olan Mill
Originalljudet
Fabio Orsi
M.Ostermeier
Rene Hell
Jeffrey Roden
J. Rogers
Roll The Dice
Secret Cities
Soundpool

Compilations / Mixes
Main Control Board
SEED X: Part I - III

EPs
Alternative Networks Vol. 2
Aural Diptych Series # 1
Aural Diptych Series # 2
Celer
Deerhoof vs OneOne
Filterwolf
Incite/
Ketem
Kogumaza
Yann Novak
Poratz
Quiroga
Repeat Orchestra
Sepalcure
Sub Loam
v4w.enko
The Zeitgeist EP

DVD
Stephen Vitiello

Ellen Allien: Dust
BPitch Control

“Our Utopie” opens Dust so strongly, one immediately wonders whether it might match Ellen Allien's best releases, 2003's Berlinette and her 2006 collaboration with Apparat, Orchestra of Bubbles. Alas, that doesn't happen, although her fifth solo album does contain a couple of tracks that, singly, manage that feat. To her credit, the Berlin-based DJ and BPitch Control owner continues to move forward, boldly pushing on and attempting something new. If sometimes that works (Orchestra of Bubbles) and sometimes doesn't (2008's Sool), Allien should nevetheless by applauded for her readiness to tackle new challenges.

“Our Utopie” royally charges from the gate with a strutting bass-powered thump augmented by, first of all, the delicious hook of a tick-tock melodic line and, secondly, an angular guitar riff, the combination of which amounts to the album's most seductive track. While not as quite as captivating, “Flashy Flashy” leaves a strong impression too, especially when its disco pulse slinks so enticingly beneath the vocal call-and-response Allien performs with herself, one voice a low-pitched drawl and the other a cryptic whisper (her singing is prominently featured throughout the album, with her fragile delivery often presented so that it sounds almost girlish, if not child-like). Unfortunately, the considerable momentum generated by that opening pair is squandered by the third, “My Tree,” which, aside from the ear-catching appearance of a clarinet towards song's end, meanders without ultimately amounting to much of significance. The next song, “Sun The Rain,” attempts to re-establish the opening songs' breeziness and succeeds to some degree in doing so when it adds raw electric guitar riffing to the song's driving synth-pop base.

Awash in cloudy clusters of trilling flutes and disembodied voices, the dream-like “Should We Go Home” gradually comes into focus as a study in ambient techno, with a lightly pumping bass drum pulse drenched in fluttering noises. But while it succeeds as an exercise in atmosphere, it's melodically undistinguished and can't help but feel secondary when heard alongside a song such as “Our Utopie.” Bubbly and funky, “Ever” works a jacking groove to nice effect, especially when it's powered by a disco-funk bass line and sparkling glockenspiel cascades, but here too the track—more club groove than anything else—is finally diminished by the absence of a melodic dimension. “Dream” makes for a memorable side-trip when it weds Kraftwerkian “Numbers”-styled synth patterns to African percussion polyrhythms. Unfortunately, “Schlumi” ends the album on a forgettable note with a groove-based track that feels tailor-made to send clubbers home.

June 2010