Various Artists - BPC Camping Compilation 03, Compiled by Ellen Allien

Ellen Allien has always been a fascinating and obtuse figure, like modern techno’s Woman Who Fell To Earth. Her extraterrestrial productions exhibit dual musical personalities that can blind with powerful shafts of light or seduce you into unlikely shadows. With partner in crime Apparat she was responsible for one of last year’s most outstanding electronic long players, ‘Bubbles’, and her own artist album ‘Berlinette’ was exemplary in welcoming the world into the German capitals strange and extremely fertile techno scene. It has always been her B Pitch Control label, however, that has defined and defied the Berlin sound with a roster of talent far too eclectic to be anything but mind blowing. Sasha Funke, Jahcoozi, and the superlative Modeselector are just some of the techno mercenaries Allien has at her disposal, to wage war on minimal mediocrity and push her native cities sound further into the stratosphere.

As you would expect, ‘BPC Camping Compilation’ is unapologetically Germanic, with dense electronics, atonal melodies, and rhythms you need a degree in physics to fully comprehend, but Allien has a great ear for what rocks dance floors. She’s a Berlinette after all, and there is nothing daunting or demanding here. Jahcoozi’s woozy vocal funk dropkicks your head into the future with irresistible monotone female stutter and clipped beats to match. The quietly camp electro of Tomas Anderssons ‘Go To Disco’ recalls the best of Anthony Rother, and Sasha Funke dives deep into abyssal soundscapes with his entrancing ‘I Love This Tent’. Timtim sounds a little naff with his cringe worthy ‘You Sexy Beast’, it sounds like Napoleon Dynamite writhing around in underpants pouting to Prince songs, but the slow acidic sludge of ‘Clotches’ by Sludge is more on the mark; CJ Bolland style analogue snarls gnashing through metallic walls of tough percussion.

Modeselector have been one of the more exciting electronica acts in recent years, with their bright and brutal take on techno, dub and grime, and here they provide the inimitable center piece with rolling, ragga number that proves them a future force. Two outstanding Allien productions bookend a fascinating last half, both bristling examples of her split identities. Her spooky and sparse remix of ‘Saftey Scissors’ sets the controls for the heart of the sun while the brilliant and aptly titled ‘Red Planet’ slams on the hyper space drive and unloads you in a blissful supernova of Ulrich Schnauss bass lines and shoe gazing percussion. In between are two sharp and funky techno cuts (‘Off Voices’ by Larson and Ben Clocks ‘Similar Colors’) that would tear holes in any modern dance floor. Fairmont closes the disc with ‘Pavilon’, a sad and sublime sci fi cut that has Eno-esque synths weeping on a life support of wheezing drums. It’s almost a touching homage to the alienated Berlin alliance of Eno and Bowie in the late 70s.

There is a lot being bandied about today about German techno and the Berlin sound, B Pitch Control encapsulate both effortlessly with Ellen Allien and her cohorts eying the future as trends of the now wash past them. This is a powerful and poignant release.

You need to be logged in to add comments... Login Now

There are 0 user comments