Ellen Allien has been DJing for a long time—more than 30 years. But when I met her at Soho Warehouse in Los Angeles, less than 12 hours after her gig Downtown, she was a picture of youth: giggling, pigtails flying, a big smile plastered across her face. "You can do that?" she claimed incredulously when I ordered a cocktail instead of a coffee. Excited to talk, she switched her order to her usual: tequila, on the rocks, with agave syrup and lime juice. Fresh lime juice only.
"My three passions are music, food and kissing," she said at one point in our conversation, which was filled with entertaining diversions, heartwarming stories and a clear, possibly endless passion for DJing and sharing music. I never got the vibe of someone 11 albums deep into their career. She sounded as excited about music as a newbie.
Of course, as with anyone who's been around a long time, her sound has morphed over time, though never that much. What I saw the night before at Exchange LA—where she DJ'd in the middle of the crowd—was one of the best straight-up techno sets I've seen in recent memory. The tempo and energy spectrums dipped up and down, bringing in some of the hardest shit you've ever heard and then softening with extended, pillowy breakdowns. She pulled in familiar vocals from unexpected places before clobbering you all over again. Her style is a vibey balancing act that brings hints of pop and approachability to techno without losing any edge. ("Sorry, but I don't play Madonna," she told me.)
The Berlin-based maven also thinks about DJing differently to anyone I've ever met. It's not only about the music she plays or how she plays it—the environment is just as important, dictating what she might pull out on any given evening. When we sat down to talk, the first thing she mentioned was club lighting, and how different lights can severely affect her mood. In some ways, she's on another planet from most DJs—but what else would you expect from Ellen Allien?