Ellen Allien plays tomorrow night at Lola. She’s the woman behind Berlin’s BPitch Control records, home of Apparat, Autotune, Mode Selektor and Paul Kalkbrenner, among dozens of others. She’s also one of the best DJs from that city, a true Berlin originator who’s been dropping hammers across the world since 1992. Where she goes, others follow.
We talked to her about time machines, anti-capitalism and what to do when you're stuck inside a giant plastic bag.
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It’s thanks to the talented musicians we've had, the good, solid network we’ve built up and our professional team. Of course, all those elements are bound together by lots of passion and creativity. I’m a music addict and I love to work with musicians and with my team. I like the entire process of developing a new album. The greatest moment is when you have the finished product in your hand, when you see the finished artwork and you listen to the master.
Berlin has become more and more like an electronic time machine. The clubs are always packed and they can exist and survive at the same time without that much competition. The tourists support this process by visiting and partying in Berlin. The life for music lovers like us is much easier than it used to be. If I think about some stories of the past… puh, sometimes I thought I couldn’t make it and I had to grit my teeth so many times, especially as a women. But today I am happy about the job I do and about the professionalism I’ve built up. The underground still exists, exactly like big professional clubs and DJs do.
Of course I’m still producing! My last single Galactic Horse just came out, we also just made a video for Take me Out and I recently did a remix of Telefon Tel Aviv’s The Birds. During the summer I live in Ibiza because I have a residency at DC10 every two weeks, which is my favorite club on the island. That’s what my track Take Me Out is all about, how Ibiza helped me to get out of my Berlin life.
I love Berlin. I was born there and lived through the fall of the wall and all the political changes and the reunification between east and west. I love Berlin life, but I also love the seaside!
Freaking out isn’t my thing. Some countries in Europe are doing fine, others not so fine. The euro is still not that stable but we’re on our way, and we’ll make it.
Anti-capitalist? I’m not. I stand for peace and equal rights for women and men and for the gay scene. Everyone at BPitch Control works on bringing out and promoting good and independent musicians. We try to avoid marketing plans that don’t have anything to do with the music itself. What matters as a DJ is the interplay between dancer and DJ. I want to feel a peaceful interaction and the spiritual weave and I don’t want to force things with frenzied business plans.
Well, I lived in a squat for five years and music has always allowed me to live out what’s inside me, which is fire and a desire for freedom and creativity. I’m not radical, nor punk, I’m a women with lots of fire who found her way of expressing herself through DJing. What’s sure is that I have an aptitude for underground and indie tunes and a big sense of justice: maybe that’s what you mean with punk. Modernity doesn’t make me punk, I am the techno fairy.
Every tune has the right to exist as long as people are happy while they’ve hearing it. Certain notes make me very unhappy and I just try to avoid hearing them. But, I really think that music brings us together, that is why I chose to be a DJ: I want to fill the floor with music and make people dance, and I want to share this with the public. I just don't like when the situation gets out of control, when people exaggerate with drug consumption, that’s stupid.
I mix everything -- house, techno, breaks, indie. I mix it all up. That’s the funny part.
… *** Ellen Allien plays Lola on Friday, June 22. Tickets available at the door for 350rmb or in advance for 250rmb by calling this number: 138 1692 7970. More info here.
