Ellen Allien
The creative tour de force holds forth on European techno and the Tokyo crowd

Courtesy of Ellen Allien/BPitch Control

Berliner Ellen Allien, along with her label-mates at BPitch Control, is recognized as a mainspring of the city’s arts and music scene. In 2007, she was on mixing duty for the definitive Fabric series; her analog creation managed to ooze warmth and rawness within an industrial and digital soundscape. Performing at the “Womb Presents W” event next week and with her latest mix, V.A. Boogy Bytes Vol. 04, set for imminent release, Allien talked with Metropolis via email.

What’s the concept behind your latest mix?
I did another mix CD for London‘s Fabric Club last year, focusing on the dancefloor. It was very rough and technoid. With the Boogy Bytes 04 mix, I tried something else—something arty. I opened my arms to welcome all my favorite tracks and artists of the last year. It was not so important to recreate a club night; it was more about the single tracks, which generate the kind of atmosphere of a sound adventure. It became more conceptual, like a voyage.

It has so many shifting soundscapes…
That’s exactly what I intended. Even when the beginning is quite experimental and slow, there is a movement in the whole mix… that motion is also something quite representative for a lot of (recent) electronic music.

What fears and aspirations do you have for Berlin’s techno scene?
Oh, I hope for as long as possible the city will stay open to the needs and wants of all the young artists that come here. It stays fresh because of the open minds of the producers. Maybe you cannot imagine how Germany, and especially Berlin, have changed within the last 10 years. Berlin has become so international, with so many young and talented artists coming here to get their start and produce something new, which nevertheless has elements of the places they came from. Berlin is very vivid and open. The only fear I have is that this will end sometime and we become kind of closed to influences from outside. But I don’t think this will happen soon.

Are there any artists that have recently gained your attention?
There is Chaim from Tel Aviv. His next release is on BPitch Control. He’s like a breath of fresh air and is definitely representative of the next generation of young artists. Also Thomas Muller, a French producer from Paris. He has also developed a kind of new approach towards techno and its structures, and he’s also on BPitch Control. And of course Sascha Funke. He surprised me so much with his amazing album, Mango, which is definitely one of the best conceptual releases in 2008. Outside of the BPitch Control universe, I really appreciate what is happening with European electronic music in general—and look at the US, San Francisco and LA with their abstract electronics.

Can you comment how you’re received by Japanese audiences?
Yes, definitely! The Japanese audience is quite special. They treat me with a lot of respect and are always so well-informed about everything in the electronic universe. I really appreciate that! When Japanese people start to get euphoric, it is so amazing. Japan possesses one of the best audiences ever. In Japan, techno and dancefloor culture has more attitude—or a better, different one (and) represents some kind of intellectual establishment. I guess in general techno is more treated as art than it is in Berlin, even if Berlin is made of techno. But that‘s another story ;)

Womb Presents W@Womb, Mar 29. See club listings for details. V.A. Boogy Bytes Vol. 04 will be released Mar 31 by BPitch Control.

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