Heavenly synths
"Your Body Is My Body" by Ellen Allien
Ellen Allien is one of my favorite Berliners, and she is also one of the best producers working in the Techno/Electro scene there. She runs the BPitch Control label, home to Kiki, Sylvie Marks and Sascha Funke, among others. Ellen Allien makes rediculously good techno music, as her two previous artist-albums Stadtkind and Berlinette attest to. Adding to her already impressive output is Thrills which came out a couple of weeks ago, and is where this track comes from.
Allien is extremely passionate about music, whether its DJ gigs, working with the other artists on her label, or producing new tracks. She is, like many other artists in the genre, constantly searching for new ways to make machines speak for her. While producing Thills, she searched for an Arp 2600 synthesizer, known for its warm and quirky analog sounds, for months before finding one on eBay - since then, it has become one of her favorite instruments. In many ways, Thrills is Allien's attempts to fuse the sounds of past and future, and to express herself through the beats, rhythms, basslines and the electronic squiggles of her synths.
I like the way this song unfolds, starting with a squeaky rhythm, adding layers of synths to the mix, then around the 1:10 mark a great polyrhythm thing starts up and rolls its way through the rest of the song. The synths and beat have a really great crunch to them that I really like - every track on the album has something about it that is purely Allien-esq, as she really works the palate of sounds in ways that others working in the genre don't. I had a hard time picking what song to post from the album because I think its really good all the way through, especially the opening track "Come", "Washing Machine Is Speaking" which sounds a bit like another great modern electro-woman, Andrea Parker; and "Cloudy City" which reminds me of an Underground Resistance track I heard last night but have forgotten the name of.
You can, and should, buy Thrills direct from the label (probably best if you're living in Europe) or from our friends at Insound or Forced Exposure. The CD also has this totally insane video of the track "Down" on it, which is definitely worth checking out. If you like this track, I'd also suggest you give the rest of her work a listen too - her first two albums are quite fantastic, there's a remix-collection that came out last year, and she's got a couple of mix-CDs that are really amazing and really show you what kind of music she likes to listen to.
PS: Don't forget to swing by Savalas (285 Bedford in Williamsburg Brooklyn) tonight to rock out with me and fellow robot JP - bring your dancing shoes!