Ellen Allien

Like a lot of dance music producers, Berlin's Ellen Allien has had her hands in just about every aspect of her field. Allien's immersion into dance music began during an extended stay in London, at the height of the acid house phenomenon. Shortly after returning home she got into DJing, and by 1993 she had spun at Fischlabor, Tresor, and a number of other significant clubs. Throughout the remainder of the '90s, she hosted programs on Berlin's Kiss FM, worked at the Delirium record shop, operated a label called Braincandy, and threw a number of parties called BPitch Control, which led to her label of the same name. She eventually became a noted producer; along with a slew of 12" releases, she issued a series of full-lengths -- Stadtkind (2001), Berlinette (2003), Thrills (2005), Orchestra of Bubbles (2006, with Apparat), SOOL (2008), and Dust (2010), along with the mix albums Weiss Mix (2002), My Parade (2004), Fabric 34 (2007), Boogybytes, Vol. 4 (2008), and Watergate 05 (2010). After the release of Dust RMX in 2011, Allien expanded the music she'd been commissioned to write for a dance production staged at Paris' Pompidou Centre into 2013's free-flowing album LISm. Throughout the years, the sound of Allien's productions took on subtle changes, ingested new inspirations, and gravitated toward full-blown songs while remaining pared down all along. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi