Ellen Allien - Watergate 05

Artist: Ellen Allien

Title: Watergate 05

Label: Watergate Records

Catalog #: WG005

Release Date: Febuary 1, 2010

Rating: 6

Ellen Allien is on the decks for the latest installment of the Watergate mix series and you can expect an upbeat mix with a clean musical selection from the reigning Bpitch queen. Allien’s selection covers a wide array of heavy hitters with a distinctly techno flavor. Everyone from John Tejada to Royskopp and even Uffie (through Allien’s own remix of “Pop The Glock”) all make an appearance. Even with such a diverse cast of characters, Allien is able to transport the listener to the darker corners of her world, keeping a steady hand to keep the mix moving at an exciting pace.

Allien’s point of view is dark, but not necessarily mysterious. The soft melodies of DJ Yellow and John Tejada set the stage for a thriving journey to the center of Allien’s creative mind. However, whatever mood Allien sets with the first two tracks begins to shift a bit and suddenly we are taken on a shape-shifting voyage to uncover exactly what Allien intended with her Watergate mix. Compared to her more recent mixes for Fabric and the Boogybytes mix series, Allien finds herself diving headfirst into emotional and compelling tracks that culminate in the gloomy heaviness of the Dark Unknown’s “The Dark (Black Mix),” although the lack of smooth emotional transitions is again brought into question. The transitions are, at times, not as smooth as the similarities between the tracks would have you believe. Watergate 05 jumps from mood to mood in such a way that, best-case scenario, could be disorienting, but in this case it just feels underwhelming. There are some genuinely heart-pounding moments that keep the latter half of Watergate 05 gripping until the very strange piano-laden end where Allien employs Brigitte Fontain & Khan’s “Fine Mouche (Original Tango Piano Version)” to properly seal the envelope.

I find myself craving more darkness, but I feel as though Allien keeps turning all of the lights on and for a mix being put out by Watergate, turning the lights on is near blasphemous. The frequent mood swings expose the track-by-track skeleton that took away some of the magic, though by no means does that slow things down. Compared to Sebo K’s latest entry in the Watergate series, this mix does not go as deep. There is no murky jungle to wade through; the light is always visible at the end of the tunnel. Though at certain points there are moments of pure euphoria, Royskopp’s “This Must Be It (Apparat Remix)”, that do fit nicely into the overall picture.

However, those moments of sheer ecstasy do come with an awful lot of operatic singing and chanting, which totally works with Allien’s unique point of view. I just wish there was a consistent emotion that these moments could be attributed to. Despite the often-drastic changes in sentiment throughout, Allien’s Watergate 05 is a compelling and interesting mix. Watergate 05 is a mix that prides itself on a unique track list of talent being utilized by one of the scene’s premier tastemakers that feels like a natural contribution to the already impressive mix series.

-Andrew Reilly