We Are Not Alone Pt. 7

Returning for the seventh edition of the beloved WE ARE NOT ALONE compilation series, Ellen Allien and BPitch Berlin curate an unmissable collection of twelve new tracks celebrating the global underground that has influenced the label since its inception. Due out in May, it is to be followed by two further installments landing later this year.
With the announcement of this ambitious new compilation, BPitch continue to expand on their limitless roster, providing a reflection of the artists who have been involved in the WE ARE NOT ALONE event series from across the world. These events put a kaleidoscopic lens to electronic music from all over, championing a vision of culture that is far-reaching and inclusive in both spirit and sound. With contributions from rising talents and established heroes alike, WE ARE NOT ALONE Vol. 7 is a testament to the pluralism of one of electronic music’s most beloved record labels, and the family of artists that make it what it is.
Opening the proceedings is label founder Ellen Allien with ‘Kyiv’ – a brand new cut that weaves a vast pool of sonic references for the power hour. There are touches of acid, dub, breaks, and trance, but genre titles become futile when it’s ultimately a sound completely her own. Next up is a slice of the Stockholm underground with Andree Bohlin and Billie Jo teaming up for a high speed journey through big beats and hammerdrill piano licks. Warsaw- born producer Sept then provides some maximal trance for the weirder hours.

DJ Physical applies a romantic vision of techno, drenched in melancholy and geared towards the senses on the seductive ‘Scary Night’. WTCHCRFT brings us into murkier analogue territory with ‘Unusual Photograph’, a fusion of chopped vocals and hard-edged percussive loops from the New York underground fixture. Slowing things down a touch, the legendary Rhys Fulber of Front Line Assembly offers up a chugging, cyclical dose of arpeggiated industrialism.
Naix – also known as revered Scottish electro maestro Galaxian – takes a chainsaw to the production booth on the searing ‘Current-Gen’. Berlin’s own Lucinee lifts things up to the skies with a glistening cut of trance radiation, before REÄKTTOR, hailing from Colombia, presents a darkened dose of cybergoth realness on the weighty ‘Il Oscuro’.
Ayako Mori and Raul Alvarez plunge straight back into a cavernous warehouse with ‘Departure To (360 mix)’, Lady Maru – a Berlin resident with a background as a guitarist, noise musician and more – puts together a no-nonsense barrage of hard techno on ‘Don’t Cross The Line’. Rounding off the compilation is Under Black Helmet’s ‘Stargazer’, a levitational voyage into a different dimension.
Just as the WE ARE NOT ALONE event series connects the dots between a sprawling and passionate network of countercultural misfits, their compilation series offers a snapshot into the true underground of electronic music today.