The Boy With The Thorn In His Side

In the world of electronic music, it does get a bit difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. The true artists from the pretenders who simply string together rudimentary loop patterns on Fruity Loops and call it a day. At the top of the heap in the dance genre, we find Ellen Allien. Simply put, there is no one in her league. No other artist that comes close to matching her particular brand of Kraut-disco. Whether at home alone letting the booming rhythm sink in through the pores or losing each and every inhibition on the dance floor, Allien has set a high standard in dance music for almost twenty years.

Her new record entitled Dust is out next week via Bpitch Control and I’m sure it’s a given that many of you will be out in full force to buy your copy. In a fair world, she would be on the short list of artists that would be more of a household name beyond the niche that she’s cultivated for herself. For now, let’s be happy and rejoice that we get to have her all to ourselves! Enjoy the video for Our Utopie taken from the new record. Brevity is the first word that comes to mind here but don’t let that deter you from enjoying. It has that trademark Allien sound and a vibe that commands your attention before it *BAM* stops just like that. It’s a banger.

“Our Utopie” by Ellen Allien, taken from the forthcoming Bpitch Control release, “Dust”

All hail the queen of minimal electro. Simply put, no one does it better than Berlin’s Ellen Allien. Whether it be on her artist records, her mix records or her epic live gigs, Ellen puts her contemporaries to shame with her consistency and quality in her output for the better part of the last fifteen years. On 18 May Allien will release a new record called Dust, the followup to 2008s SOOL. Word on the street is that this will be a more accessible record than the previous releases with a bit more pop to go along with those bleeps and blips. Something that tells me that won’t be a bad thing as long as Ellen is behind it.

Just add this to a growing list of 2010 releases that beg to scooped up. Ooontz oontz oontz! The party starts May 18 when the record is released via Allien’s B Picth Control label.

The tracklisting is…

01. Our Utopie
02. Flashy Flashy
03. My Tree
04. Sun The Rain
05. Should We Go Home
06. Ever
07. You
08. Dream
09. Huibuh
10. Schlumi

Ellen Allien on MySpace
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B Pitch Control on Twitter

And to tide you over for now, here is one of my personal favourite tracks from Ms. Allien.

“Push” by Ellen Allien, taken from the B Pitch Control release, “Berlinette”

and this boy just happens to make some of the craziest noise around. Fresh off a blistering set this past Saturday at the Central Park Summerstage. German tech-house producer extraordinaire, Alexander Ridha aka Boys Noize has returned and brought a smashing new single along with him in the form of the recently released Jeffer/Starter EP. Needless to say, it’s pretty ferocious. If you like bleeps and blips, there’s plenty here to spare. This EP gives a great preview of what’s to come when the new record POWER drops in October.

Jeffer (featured here) is a track that shows why Boys Noise is in the upper tier of dance producers going right now. With a style similar to fellow countrywoman, Ellen Allien, and her glacial, rigid brand of Teutonic techno, Jeffer begins with a mish-mosh of starts and stops before the beat drops and hell breaks loose.  Blast thie one at maximum volume.

“Jeffer” by Boys Noise, taken from the forthcoming Boys Noise release, “POWER”