Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised by the fact that Ellen Allien’s new album is comprised of one, highly ambitious, deeply challenging and, ultimately arresting 47-minute, 58 second ‘soundtrack’ track. LISm speaks volumes, in all manner of ways, about Allien’s progressive career to date, and the boundary-smashing pedigree of her world renowned label BPitch Control, as Defected’s Ben Lovett found out…
“LISm is a track, a very personal track that opens different curtains to my understanding of music” she opens. “The arrangement is detached from stiff soundtrack structures. Producing it helped to release myself from the ‘track by track’ logic. Rather than that, I finally composed one piece containing different sounds that lead and accompany the listener into a journey.”
That journey began over two years ago, when two dancers and choreographers – Alexandre Roccoli and Severine Rieme – asked Allien to shape a soundtrack around their latest contemporary stage production Drama per Musica. The piece was performed in March 2011 at the Centre Pompidou, Paris for the Spectacles Vivants Festival, Allien’s epic accompaniment co-produced by BPitch regular Thomas Muller. But after that the music lay dormant for nearly 18 months, Allien only revisiting it last Christmas. Why the long pause?
“I let the music ‘rest’ on my hard drive for more than a year. Then, after six months in Ibiza [Ellien had a long Circo Loco residency at DC-10], I moved back to Berlin and kind of felt in a hole. That can happen after months spent in the sun of Ibiza and, then, all of a sudden back to Berlin without sun.... That’s when I went to the studio” she says. “I started to rework the piece by kicking out half of the content and composing new sounds, this time with Bruno Pronsato [fellow Berlin-based DJ-producer]. Guitars, strings, bells, voices, drums and other analogue sounds have been recorded.”
LISm is pure aural adventure, a largely beat-less sweep from deep, bleep sonic textures to uplifting vocal passages via jazz shuffle, soaring sax and gentle, melodic guitar and piano play. To sum it up is difficult such is its constant, but well-measured flow between different organic, analogue and digital tones and tempos. How difficult does Allien find it to guard her creative freedoms in an industry so obsessed with, and reliant on brand-driven trends and profits?
“I love dance...house...tech...being a DJ obsesses me and I live to dance and to meet people in the clubs, especially the Sundays in Panorama bar” she smiles. “LISm is, for me, a different kind of making music; it’s more like feelings, no song structures, no thinking about tracks, only putting together sounds without calculating. This was unusual and felt good for me as a musician.
“I only go to the studio when I have ideas to realize; this is coming from inside. I don’t feel any restrictions. LISm gave me the opportunity to waken up different music emotions. I did it because I had the feeling to do music...important or not, it’s important here for me. It is just my art I want to share with the world.”
If Allien isn’t restricted by the rules and opinions of others within electronic music, is she ever bamboozled by herself? Artists often talk about how much more creatively draining albums can be, versus singles and EPs. Within clubland, the situation is even more pronounced, hectic DJs and producers usually swerving demanding album projects for the sanctuary of pedal-to-the-metal dancefloor tracks – the medium clubland is most familiar with. LISm, impressively, is Allien’s seventh long-player; she must have faced idea droughts at some point?
Apparently not. “For me it is not so difficult to make music. I have so many ideas, also I am working with producers helping me technically” she counters. “I think everything is possible. The artist only has to look deep inside of themselves to feel which message they want to give. The freakier the person is the better their music; I can tell you this after my long experience working for my label.”
BPitch Control was founded in 1999, evolving from a series of cult house, tech and electro parties under the same name in Berlin. Prior to those, Allien operated techno label Braincandy, worked at Berlin’s Delirium record shop and bounced airwaves on capital radio station Kiss FM. She had first embraced dance music whilst living in London on the cusp of the Nineties and acid house’s game-changing explosion. Returning to Berlin soon after, she began DJing and earned spots at key German clubs including Tresor, E-Werk and Fischlabor.
Much of Allien’s striking discography is attached to BPitch. Her forceful debut album Stadtkind (which translates to ‘City Kid’) arrived on the label in 2001, followed by Berlinette (2003), Thrills (2005), Sool (2008), Dust (2010) and Dust RMX (2011). Debut 12-inch Yellow Sky Vol II came earlier, on MFS in 1995, as well as Braincandy releases Be Wild and Rockt Krieger, but sharp BPitch releases such as Dataromance (2000), Astral (2004), Go (2007) and Our Utopie (2010) have truly defined their author.
Allien, a self confessed ‘techno fairy’, remains closely allied to 4-4 and its linear charms but she has played and played with the blueprint. Over time, the sleek, moody tech-house of earlier albums has given meaningful ground to melody, instrumentation and more sophisticated rhythms and arrangements - all the better to convey timbre and emotion. Her collaborative 2006 opus with Apparat, Orchestra Of Bubbles, represented a particularly smart turning point, mixing muscular house drum with pop sheen, guitar and even grime. Allien’s vision has continued to expand, mirrored by BPitch’s ever broadening palette.
So what is next from the label? BPitch has boldly trodden where many supposedly edgy indies have previously failed to despite their cool PR posturing. Originally a hub for fellow creative Berlin artists, Allien’s baby has added a rich array of sounds, electronic or not, from around the world – the kooky folk-pop of Dillon (Brazil, via Berlin), multi-lingual, cabaret-inflected groove of Aerea Negrot (Venezuela) and New Wave thrust of We Love (Italy), alongside weighty house and tech fare from scene giants Paul Kalkbrenner, Sascha Funke and Modeselektor. There is an expectation these days for Allien to surprise.
“We have some very fresh plans” she reassures. “There will be a new label compilation Where The Wind Blows in March and a new Safety Scissors [minimal American Matthew Patterson Curry] album. David K, from Paris, has a groovy album; we’ve also signed Joy Wellboy [electro acoustic Belgian duo] and have Dillon working on a new album. We’re working well; we’re a record label and international booking agency today.”
Versatility does have its drawbacks. Whilst Allien refuses to compromise her artistic beliefs, and those of her label, she acknowledges that the end product might not always connect with its intended audience; any audience even: “It was difficult to establish our agenda in the early days. It is still not so easy. We are not releasing only one kind of sound, BPitch is focused on the artist and on not forcing the artist to do one special sound. This can be very interesting for our fans but also very disturbing if they are focussed on one style.”
It would be ridiculous, for all her musical independence, to suggest that Allien avoids playing the marketing and brand game at all. But such tools are used conscientiously to help root and convey BPitch’s disparate music (her own included) rather than distort it. “Our marketing is not to create hype” Allien affirms. “It is a bit boring what is sometimes done without any background – the lies in interviews, this is unbelievable, only to be cool. For BPitch Control, the music speaks. We spend alot of money on marketing tools but for a machine that makes fun. The elegance and honesty is the winner in the end.”
Aside from music, Allien also designs clothes – primarily T-shirts made from bamboo - which tell stories inspired by her life and loves: “The T-shirt ‘Lost’ from my collection ‘Storm’ arose after splitting from a four-and-a-half-year relationship; shortly I felt lost...lost a storm changing something.”
Has she considered weaving fashion more directly into her sonic life? “It’s just my second passion; I don’t focus so much on the commercial aspect” she explains. “All together, being label manager, DJ, musician, artist and fashion designer makes one. It’s a life style I want to transmit and share. It’s all about flying, relaxing and creating your own island, to move things forward coming from the street.”
Existing previously between the world and “something else”, the Berlinette has finally, it seems, worked out her fullest, truest purpose. “I’ve been searching for the connection between me and the sky, peace, passion and social communication. Now after years I feel it strongly...moving positively together. I will do music forever; BPitch should be there forever...till I die maybe? I am very flexible and I can push a lot of things that are in my mind, so we will see what happens next. Maybe a club?”
Allien isn’t finished: “I have already tried many things and, of course, there are wild stories to tell. One day I will write a book.”
A best-selling page turner no doubt, but first to living the next set of exciting chapters.
Words: Ben Lovett
Ellen Allien’s new album LISm is out February 25 on BPitch Control.
BPitch Control compilation Where The Wind Blows follows in late March.
A Day With...BPitch Control, featuring Allien, takes place on May 5 (4pm to 2am), at London’s Loft Studios, NW10. Check www.londonelectronic.net for ticket info.
