Ellen Allien & Apparat
Orchestra of Bubbles
Bpitch Control

A release I've been waiting for. But it could suck! Collaborations of great musicians often do not work at all. Let's take a peak at this one and see if they could work it out.

The first sounds don't pull you in too strong, but then a melody enters and gets your attention at the :58 mark of "Turbo Dreams". An Allien trick. Then with your attention got, they throw this delay-snare at you, and without your realizing it, they melodify that snare. So far very interesting sounds.

"Way Out" catches that attention because it very boldly features Ellen Allien's voice. Here we have female-voice with electronic backing that is innovative, and keeps "that sounds like portishead" comments at bay. This is a song that I can see me and Mark Piss bobbing heads to over some kind of alcohol.

We sink deeper into the release. The music continues what feels like a slow-hypnosis process. It's a slow pulling-you-in. They bring that ever-so-sad I-vi bassline up in this next song, "Jet". It conveys a certain shade of sadness you rarely hear in IDM. It's almost Yo La Tengo-esque in its melancholy. The melodic delay-snare theme continues in this song as well, carrying the hypnotic element. A four-to-the-floor comes up in "Floating Points". Again there's this element of suction. It's like the sound makes it hard for you to turn away. It has a magnetism. The album continues on with its awesome electronic-ness. You can hear a lot of Max/MSP tricks on this release. Sounds neat and very fresh.

Go Bpitch Control! This is a fine collaboration. Indeed, the pairing of Ellen Allien and Apparat turns out to be a sum instead of a difference.

Copyright © 2006 Mateo Orillas