Happy Birthday

Ellen Allien knows that Modeselektor is her label’s act most likely to cross over, which explains why advance copies of Happy Birthday have been issued containing just abridged versions of each track, behaviour that echoes the majors’ paranoid modus operandi. Judging on what we’ve heard, the album isn’t as wild and adventurous as its predecessor’s crunk, hip-hop and techno melange. In the main, it’s an understated affair, with the exception of the stuttering, typically Bpitch dance floor groove of ‘Sucker Pin’ and the smoky, evocative collaboration with Paul St Hillaire. Maybe it’s not time for Bpitch to blow out all the candles.