Alter Ego

Releasing arguably the first album of "listening techno" in Germany (their 1994 self-titled debut) and building on the style with subsequent releases, <a href="spotify:artist:2GvwZbDjH1DbQpodGKENDw">Roman Flügel</a> and Jörn Elling-Wuttke are the exception that proves the rule in boom-boom dominated Deutschland. Better known and revered in England, where dance-based electronic music of a home-listening stripe has been the norm for nearly a decade, Alter Ego have also managed to influenced countrymen and labelmates such as <a href="spotify:artist:6z9JhbmcTrVKITp9ah4mJk">Hardfloor</a> and Yokota to move away from Germany's increasingly commercial trance/techno scene and into headier, more experimental climes. The pair signed to <a href="spotify:artist:5TQaBSTOSypp7S4jfSnN3F">Sven Väth's</a> trance-dominated <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Harthouse%22">Harthouse</a> label in 1993, after releasing a self-titled full-length on their own <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Klang+Elektronik%22">Klang Elektronik</a> (under the name <a href="spotify:artist:18EgXo5g6KK1GSIoo4GD9A">Acid Jesus</a>) which caught <a href="spotify:artist:5TQaBSTOSypp7S4jfSnN3F">Väth's</a> attention. <a href="spotify:artist:2GvwZbDjH1DbQpodGKENDw">Flügel</a> was a jazz drummer prior to his work with Wuttke, and the pair met in the late '80s as a result of the snowballing German trance scene. They began producing tracks in the studio Wuttke was piecing together, and had an immediate hit as <a href="spotify:artist:18EgXo5g6KK1GSIoo4GD9A">Acid Jesus</a> with their first single, "Move My Body."

By the time they'd signed with Harthouse, however, <a href="spotify:artist:2GvwZbDjH1DbQpodGKENDw">Flügel</a> and Wuttke were no longer interested in pursuing the club side of dance-based electronic music. Turned off by the German trance and techno scenes' steady commercialization, <a href="spotify:artist:2GvwZbDjH1DbQpodGKENDw">Flügel</a> and Wuttke sought to innovate German techno out of redundancy by diversifying. Originally slated for release on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Harthouse%22">Harthouse</a> ambient sublabel <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Recycle+or+Die%22">Recycle or Die</a>, Alter Ego got a main label release instead, and together with the subsequent Decoding the Hacker Myth, succeeded in slowing the pace of German techno and adding a cachet of new influences (U.K. ambient techno outfits such as <a href="spotify:artist:66I0uUVKgpOPlEjTiy87nm">B12</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:7qdsk0UXx2jCX7jbp6rxeq">the Black Dog</a>, hip-hop and electro, jazz and soul). Decoding the Hacker Myth was reissued in 1996, coupled with a bonus disc of remixes by the likes of <a href="spotify:artist:5BJa6TIqtoWm8QRRbfRmyt">Luke Slater</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:33Ztukerf3He8FeKk5acn8">Two Lone Swordsmen</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:0zdn1nNmOZXHZ9K28FvcFp">Matt "Dr. Rockit" Herbert's</a> <a href="spotify:artist:3OTxAJPE5mwEIB3zRujYcW">Wishmountain</a> project. <a href="spotify:artist:2GvwZbDjH1DbQpodGKENDw">Flügel</a> has also released an EP and full-length as Ro70 on David Moufang's <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Source%22">Source</a> label, and both <a href="spotify:artist:2GvwZbDjH1DbQpodGKENDw">Flügel</a> and Wuttke continue to release tracks under such side-project pseudonyms as <a href="spotify:artist:60KdpD7VNlmg3e2TVrJyYY">Sensorama</a>, Primitive Painter, and <a href="spotify:artist:7qXBWatmP9xBXBoNHtRPDm">Eight Miles High</a> for Ladomat, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22R%26S%22">R&S</a>, and Klang. They also worked on production for <a href="spotify:artist:5TQaBSTOSypp7S4jfSnN3F">Väth</a>'s Contact LP. ~ Sean Cooper, Rovi