Carmen Electro is a DJ, label owner (KUJE Records), part of the Kaos and Selected collectives, and a resident at Tresor – and she’s no longer an insider tip. Rightly celebrated by the scene as a »vinyl queen«, she’s a passionate record collector known for finely curated sets that take the crowd on a journey through driving techno, dense kick drums, trance, breakbeat, and house – often niche, always on vinyl.
Before she ever stepped behind the decks, it was all about crate digging for her – preferably in small, tucked-away record shops. Vinyl was never just a medium but a piece of history: »I’m always looking for records that hold personal resonance—songs that take me back to a specific place, a feeling, a chapter in life.«
»Vinyl’s an honest, tactile format. It’s imperfect, but so are we – and there’s beauty in that«.
Carmen Electro
Carmen Electro lets herself drift while digging, often starting with a particular record or artist in mind and ending up discovering the most obscure finds. Vinyl, she says, makes the idea of selection deeply personal; precisely because she often finds music she wasn’t actively searching for, it keeps expanding her musical horizons. »Techno was my first love on the dancefloor, so it often serves as the thread that ties everything together. But honestly, there’s just too much incredible music out there to stick to one genre.« Her club sound differs from what she listens to at home: »At home, I often gravitate toward house or even nostalgic pop. Club environments demand more intensity and energy. I love how each space brings out a different facet of my collection.«
Speaking through records
First came the tracks, then the urge to play them herself. She started with CDJs and then moved increasingly to vinyl, already owning a vast collection – so why not use it? When Carmen Electro started DJing, FLINTA people behind the decks were rare. She didn’t let that put her off; on the contrary: »I committed to at least one hour of practice every day for a year—and I stuck to it. Training your ear to match tempo without visual cues takes time, but frequency is everything. That routine gave me the foundation I needed to build real confidence and control behind the decks.«
Carmen Electro represents a new generation of artists who don’t just play records but actively shape the culture – track by track, record by record. For her, the appeal of vinyl lies in its imperfection: »It’s an honest, tactile format. It’s imperfect, but so are we – and there’s beauty in that.« A good vinyl set, she says, is about technical stamina, trust in your own selections, and the instinct to bring genuine emotion to the dancefloor. It’s something she proves with every set – like last May at the HHV Store, when she spontaneously worked records into her set as the crowd handed them to her.
