Background: Berlin-native Lars Fenin has been peddling dub reggae since the mid-nineties. Has released dub techno music on such labels as Echocord, Meteosound, Textone and Shitkatapult. Those are very good labels. He is a very good artist. This is his debut album.

Yes: The noticeable thing about this album is that all the tracks have a propulsive kick. Sculpted from refined bass tones and clean sinewaves. Bookmark 'Konstrukt' for maximum minimal push media. 'No CIA' has such an addictive pulse to it, you can't help but bounce. 'Got It' is the darkest moment here whilst 'South' is music to read end film credits by.

No: Cliched lyrical matter (full of positivity about being 'up') slightly marrs the rhythmical progress of some pieces. 'Stony Road' sounds as ineffective as its title; short but pointless. And how did 'Aware' make it to the final track-listing?

Soundbite: The near-perfect marriage of dub-driven techno and pixel-pop.

The trouble with this is that it sounds great until you stick her previous album on. Clearly nowhere near as inventive as 'Berlinette'. 'Thrills' is certainly reflective of the current grime and grey of Berlin. The constantly shifting landscape, like Ellen herself on the cover art.

Opener 'Come' is a worthy introduction, but compare it to the stunning 'Alles Sehen' for evidence of my first statement. 'Your body is my body' is refined sounds and dense rhythms merged to create an audio tropical heat. A fondness for all things electro results in up-tempo numbers such as 'Naked Rain' and 'Down'. But efforts like 'Washing Machine is speaking' just sound like Radioactive Man rejects.

I'd have preferred it if she'd laced more of her sequences with vocals ('The brain is lost' seems to be the only exception). As a result, this is a foreboding, ominous electronic album. A very dark and masculine piece of work, whereas 'Berlinette' was feminine; brightness, colour and light.

Ask me again, in a years time, once i've managed to separate the two works apart. But for now, this certainly isn't lacking 'thrills', just ideas and finesse.