Other Side: Berlin (W/Dvd) (Dig)

Ellen Allien | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 20, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Deaf Dumb & Blind
• ASIN: B000MV8CPW
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #248,096 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Helden

2. In White Rooms [Neo Mix]

3. Königin

4. Rej

5. Poor People Must Work [Carl Craig Remix]

6. Neukollin 2

7. I Don't Know

8. Bombing Bastards

9. Berlin

10. Invisible

11. Ichso

12. Way Out

13. You with Now

Editorial Reviews

Berlin native and world-renowned techno DJ/artist Ellen Allien presents the next installment of "The Other Side". Produced in conjunction with Time Out magazine, this release features a newly enhanced DVD guide to Berlin with over two hours of information on her favorite restaurants, bars, clubs, hotels, and shops. Ellen's mix kicks off with Bowie singing his classic "Heroes" in German and draws on many facets of modern techno from the minimal to uplifting moments to eclectic quirky fun. Includes tracks from Plastikman, Miss Kitten, Booka Shade, Rhythm & Sound, Wayne County & The Electric Chairs, and more. This CD reflects the variety and experimental spirit of Ellen's native city.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Loads of content and music for your money., April 6, 2007

By 

Doctor Trance (MA, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Other Side: Berlin (W/Dvd) (Dig) (Audio CD)

The previous Time Out releases featured continuous mixes by the listed DJ (including a great techno mix by Black Strobe on Time Out Paris) with a double sided, dual disc and the DVD features on the flipside. The latest installment, Berlin, sadly only features a tracklisting compiled by Ellen, as I was very disappointed to realize the tracks were not DJ mixed. It's also quite odd, as some tracks continuously play into the next (kind of a soft mix into one another), but others stop prior to the next one starting. Most tracks play out for their entire durations. We will still get two DJ mixes from Ellen this year: the 4th installment in her BoogyBytes mix series (as Modeselektor is about to release the 3rd), and a mix for Fabric.

Aside from my disappointment of it not being a full DJ mix, Allien has compiled a list of some very good techno goodies, including two of the most popular tech house/minimal tracks of 2006, Âme's Rej and Booka Shade's In White Rooms. There is also a stunning Carl Craig remix of Rhythm & Sound's Poor People Must Work. Ellen has ecclectic taste in music, and this one is no different, as she adds a punk track, and one classic rock song that is actually sung in German by David Bowie.

The DVD portion really impressed me, as it surpasses the others in this series (Time Out Paris was only 24 minutes total), and they have gone to a separate disc and added much more content. It is also chock full of more techno and IDM tracks that are not on the CD portion. It starts off with a very well produced 48 minute documentary hosted by the übercute Ellen, who takes us shopping for clothes and records, and hangs out with other electronic artists like Modeselektor, Seth Hodder, and even Richie Hawtin, who all chat briefly on camera. She mostly speaks English, but some portions are subtitled when she speaks German. On top of that, the background music is full of tracks from Ellen's own current and back catalog, which makes this a well rounded 48 minute tour full of great sights and sounds.

The DVD still has more to come, with segments ranging from 8 to 27 minutes, concetrating on shopping, food, clubs, accomodations, and other miscellaneous sites in and around Berlin. And all this set to even more juicy techno tracks, that I believe are mostly from Ellen's BPitch Control label. It's just the music playing, with informational text at the bottom as they visit many locations. I wish they provided a tracklisting! There is a total of 2 hours and 20 minutes of video footage, between these segments and Ellen's portion, all set to the best musical background one could ever want for a documentary!

This is a great purchase, and could have been a truly overwhelming release, had it just had a full DJ mix by Ellen on the CD, but what we do have is an incredible amount of techno music and one very well produced DVD video on Berlin.