Ellen Allien

Lazily categorized as an electroclash pinup, Ellen Allien's ultra-progressive label BPitchcontrol may release the occasional vocodered electro track. But much like fellow false diva Miss Kittin, Allien's persona is shattered once she takes to the decks, playing a challenging array of beats and pieces that would intimidate even the most left-of-center DJ, while rarely losing the dancefloor plot.

Weiss Mix is Allien's second mix CD, and while her first set, Flieg Mit Ellen Allien, denied her techno roots with breezy pseudo-disco and light electro, this mix moves in the opposite direction, trawling the bottom for digital cut-ups and fuzzy beatbox aggression. It all starts innocently enough, with the chiming techno-croon of Closer Musik. The music even builds for a moment with the disco strings of Kiki's "Luv Sikk" and the smart and sexy vocals of Sylvia Mark's "I Am Electric." But things begin to go afoul with the hip-hop mash of DJ Maxximus, and tempos take a sudden plunge with Andrea Parker's low-velocity booty call to DJs Godfather and Assault on "Freaky Bitch." Things hit rock bottom with the disjointed start-stop of Cex before the flow picks up on Allien's own "Erdbeermund." From there the mix shifts back and forth between ragged experimental noise and blurping minimal beats with Akufen, Otto Von Schirach, and Apparat before finally coming full circle with more chiming techno-croon by Superpitcher. If there is to be one complaint about this mix, it is perhaps that Allien shifts styles too much, as if diversity took precedence over continuity. As a result, some of the transitions feel forced. But considering the overriding complaint that most mix CDs are over-homogenized from beginning to end, it is exciting to hear a mix that is nothing like what you expected but everything you wanted to hear. ~ Joshua Glazer, All Music Guide