Ellen Allien is really mysterious to me, but I’m fascinated by the mystique of not really knowing. I guess the people that do know her maybe don’t see her as a musical icon, but to me she is symbolic of many things. For the longest time I always felt like I really wanted to have a better appreciation for her music, and all the Bpitch Control artists, but that I didn’t really get the asbstract techno stuff. It’s like you have to start thinking about the music conceptually, but the possibilities are infinite…How you feel, think, and hear music changes, and so I think the concepts themselves change, and as a result the music has a new, or different meaning.
I read an interview not too long ago with Quentin Dupieux (Mr. Oizo) I remember basically that he was describing his musical influences and explaining that no one can really “choose” what influences them. Quentin believes this because all interactions influence us in some way, even if we don’t realize it. Reading this crap will one way or another have an effect on you!
So, to really isolate your influences you would have to reduce your environment to include only things you purposely “choose” to interact with. This may be difficult depending on your own personal circumstances but the objective is to focus. By listening to the radio constantly, the same cds, the same mixes, whatever it is will definitely start to influence how you internalize music.
Try it out yourself, I have. Choose a label preferably, and spend the next couple months limiting youself to listening to those set of records, mixes, cds, whatever. The trick is to making a selection that you already know about, that`s relevant to you, but also a label that has been around for a little bit and has got some substance. One more important thing to is to not skip anything, even if you think you don’t like it.
I’ll have to admit, a lot of Ellen’s music I didn’t like at first, it really took me some time to get into it, but now’a days I would cite Ellen as a key influence in my own musical endeavors. Ellen has done a mix and a little interview for Resident Advisor recorded at Watergate Berlin. Ellen discusses her future plans for the label aswell as some news about her fashion line. You have to register to download the mix on RA but if you don’t have an account I would suggest you get one anyway if only for the podcast mixes.
Audion & Ellen Allien – Just A Man (Ellen Allien Version)
[audio:/0509/Audion And Ellen Allien - Just A Man Ellen Allien Version.mp3]
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