Ellen Allien Interview

Ellen Allien Interview

2 May, 2007 | 10.20AM

• Written by: Terry Church
• Filed under: Music News: ellen allien

Whilst many aspiring DJs dream of a life of fame, groupies and mega bucks, Germany’s Ellen Allien sees techno and DJing as an alternative culture and lifestyle.

It’s a way of life. She doesn’t DJ for the money. She doesn’t DJ for the celebrity status. She hates the capitalists’ pursuit of wealth and doesn’t want to die of stress-related cancer.

Such underground grass-root ideals make her the perfect choice to do a mix CD for London club Fabric.

Whilst Fabric has remained at the cutting-edge of clubbing by never watering down its DJ line-ups or selling out, Ellen has spent much of her life producing and immersing herself in electronic music simply because she loves it.

“I could use the industry to try and further my own career or get records signed to major record labels but that’s not what I’m about,” says Ellen.

“I’m just so happy to be traveling around with my friends and to play records for people in clubs.

“It’s not about success or money for me, it’s about shared experiences.”

For Ellen, the dance music industry is like one big family, and her ‘Fabric34’ mix CD is a result of her close relationship with the club.

“I’ve played Fabric many times and I love it,” she says.

“This mix CD is based on tracks that I had in my record box during my gigs at the club in the past year.

“Usually I play Room 2 at the club which is a pretty hard techno environment, so this CD is a bit deeper then I usually play at Fabric.

“It’s also a bit more melodic.

“In clubs, my mixing is usually a lot dirtier because it’s louder and more rock & roll,” she states.

“But when I recorded this mix at home, there was no crowd and I could hear all the elements in the tracks so it’s more delicate balance.”

Over 74 mins, Ellen weaves an intricate path through deep techno and trippy minimal and with 15 tracks creates a melancholic listening experience.

Beautiful moments like Thom Yorke’s ‘Harrowdown Hill’ and Ellen’s own ‘Just A Woman’ contrasts with the haunting beats of Roman Flügel’s ‘Mutter’ and Cobblestone Jazz’ groovy ‘India In Me’.

It’s a late night trip through some of the best techno on Earth.

“I actually danced whilst I recorded this CD,” she says, laughing heavily down the phoneline.

With so many of techno’s top artists and producers on one CD, presumably Ellen pulled a few strings?

“The techno community is very respectful of each other, especially in Berlin,” reveals Ellen.

“We even have techno barbeques so we can all gather and exchange ideas.

“There’s no in-fighting or negative competition.

“We share feelings and there is peace.

“Of course, there are one or two people in the industry who don’t respect those principles, but I don’t hang around with them anyway.”

And then Ellen, as if speaking for all dance music fans around the world, gets up on her soap box and delivers a decree that should be written in stone on every dancefloor in the land.

“The way I see it, there’s too much war and fear in the world already, we don’t need that in electronic music.

“This is our little island and our little network.

“And in the end, that makes our community stronger.

“It’s about human strength and collectivisation not using music as a capitalist tool.

“Our network is so big now, and we’re all growing up learning how to run labels, produce music, and run clubs.

“As an art form it can only get better.”

Ellen Allien’s ‘Fabric34’ mix CD is out in May 2007.

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