The world is Ellen Allien’s canvas, and what a colourful picture she paints. Thriving on imagination and inspiration, the Berliner is continually shifting shapes and blossoming under an impressive variety of creative lights. Whether she’s producing music that challenges the electronic world, or adhering to her globe-encompassing DJing schedule, or managing the phenomenal BPitch Control, or designing for her unique new fashion label – Ellen Allien, a veritable force to be reckoned with, is artistically infinite. It’s no wonder she rarely has a chance to sit still. She began carving a path for herself after the Berlin wall came down and her beloved city opened wide to new possibilities, including the innovative beat that got the East and West dancing together: techno. After her days as a disillusioned hip hopper, she was instantly hooked by techno’s allure; though the genre was much less sex-orientated than hip hop, she fell deep into a wild love affair with electronic music and machines.
“The whole (hip hop) scene got on my nerves and I therefore got more interested in electronic music. There were so many interesting people – artists, gay people, freaks…With all those people I felt more connected. And I could finally feel free as a woman in a club – no harassment. In 1992 I started working at a bar, Fischlabor, whose owner also owned Tresor, and one day spun some records there. This got regular and I later started my own radio shows “Braincandy”. I then started to play at E-Werk and Tresor, which became my resident clubs. It was a whole new environment for me, a great “Do it yourself” attitude.”- Ellen Allien
Berlin, now a city praised and celebrated for its artistic freedom, is the perfect place a visionary like Ellen to flourish, and she wears her love of the city on her sleeve – album sleeves included. Her first artist album `Stadtkind’ (“City Child\”) was a tender journey into the realms of self-exploration, and her second, `Berlinette,’ gracefully experimented with digital recording, vocals and instrumentation. `Thrills,’ arguably one of her most distinctive and influential albums to date, was most recently followed by her wondrous collaboration with Shitkatapult’s Apparat (Sascha Ring), `Orchestra Of Bubbles.’ Her latest remixes have seen her working with inventive likeminded artists, including Thom Yorke, Troy Pierce, Kate Wax and Beck. When not busying in the studio with her expressive music that still has yet to be aptly described (“electech” is the word she uses herself), Ellen is excitedly sourcing new sounds for the ever-thriving BPitch or for the many dance floors around the world that crave her diverse sonic ingenuity.
“I like playing gigs and I like filling rooms with music and sharing music with people. It’s always a challenge to get people going. And each club is different and needs a different atmosphere. My vision is to master each moment as something special. Like last week – I played three gigs in a row – first in Berlin, a 7 hour set. This was great because it allowed me to really plunge into the set. Next day France, Villa Rouge, a great gay club. Red light, firewords and a lot of sexy gay guys. Then I played in Italy in one of the best clubs – Tenx. An overwhelming atmosphere . And very soon I’ll play at a big fashion show in New York where the 100 most important New Yorkers are invited – so DJing is really interesting and fun!”- Ellen Allien
As with everything else she touches, on Fabric 34, Ellen Allien has imaginatively created a work of art that is both timely and timeless. Whereas every record is a complete experience in itself, collectively the seductive mix as a whole shines bright with a powerful synergy. Lose and find yourself in the freeing, surreal adventure as she mingles glitchy breakbeats with elegant poppy vocals and experimental elements, with twitches of electro and deep immersing basslines. Moving and evocative, Ellen Allien has attributed human elements to the infallibly machine-like; it’s almost possible to hear poetry in wordless music as each instrument sings a heart-pulling love song to the beat. As her ethereal mixes bleed in and out of each other flawlessly, every track creates a beautiful, remarkable musical dialogue with the one before and the one after. Similar to how she manages to find pop sensibilities in the most unpopular ideas, the mix combines as many different sounds as it does contradictory elements: the music wraps warmly around speakers sounding raw yet delicate, playful yet rigorous, touchable yet entirely intangible. A remarkably close glimpse of divine perfection.
“I wanted to do an analog mix, by hand. I used my favorite records of last year and the newest ones. I like analog! And I like to hear how one has to manipulate the mix until it’s tight. I like the mix because to me it’s the ideal club mix that I personally would like to hear in a club. It’s also a nice memory for me – I can remember every record being played by myself in a club. And when I now listen to the mix I can recall all the great moments.” - Ellen Allien
Tracklisting
01. Schubert – S1 [Don't Believe The Chord - Pop Hype] – Statik
02. Larry Heard Presents Mr. White – The Sun Can’t Compare [Long Version] – Alleviated
03. Estroe – Driven [Jamie Jones' Pacific Mix] – Connaisseur
04. Damián Schwartz – Tú Y Yo (Peros Nos Volvemos A Levantar) (Pilas Remix) – Mupa
05. Don Williams – Orderly Kaos – a.r.t.less
06. Melodyboy 2000 – Sound Stealer – Futuro
07. Artificial Latvamaki – It Is Not Now Either – Mezzotinto
08. Cobblestone Jazz – India In Me – Wagon Repair
09. Roman Flügel – Mutter – Klang
10. Ø – Aaltovaihe – Säkhö
11. Thom Yorke – Harrowdown Hill – XL
12. Ellen Allien – Just A Woman – BPitch
13. Ben Klock – Journey – BPitch
14. Heartthrob – Baby Kate (Plastikman Remix) – M_nus
15. Apparat – Arcadia – Random Noize
Release Date: fabric first members: 08/05/07 uk/r.o.w. retail: 14/05/07 usa: 22/04/07
