Miss Kittin may have attained international infamy for her deadpan singing on such electroclash anthems as "Frank Sinatra" (produced by
the Hacker) and "Silver Screen-Shower Sceen" (
Felix da Housecat), but don't be mistaken -- she's a techno DJ through and through, and an impressive one at that. She showcases her stock in trade well on her debut mix CD,
On the Road. Released in early 2002, shortly after she'd become the toast of the electroclash scene, the mix is highlighted by remixes of her aforementioned two signature songs, but this is no electro mix, nor does it even border on electro-techno. In fact,
On the Road is a rather straightforward mix of hard techno. There are practically no vocals and there is little kitsch here outside of the slightly wry intro where
Miss Kittin whispers in her trademark deadpan delivery, "What do you think
Miss Kittin is doing on the road? flying? raving? eating? spinning? rocking? breathing? smiling? crying? waiting? dreaming? sleeping?," followed by the opening salvo of
DJ Rush's "Motherfucking Bass (Tanith Remix)" and its sassy vocal tag: "Do you like bass?/Motherf*ckin' bass in your motherf*ckin' face!?!" After this expectedly playful beginning,
Miss Kittin gets down to business and unexpectedly drops one bombastic hard techno track after another by the likes of
Gary Martin,
Umek, Heckmann, and
James Ruskin. The mix takes an interesting turn at the halfway point, when
Miss Kittin teases in the
Laurent Garnier remix of "Silver Screen-Shower Scene" followed shortly afterward by a crafty tweaking of "Frank Sinatra." From here, the mix-closing run is nothing short of amazing: the "suck my" part of "Frank Sinatra" mixed as an a cappella over the squawking sax intro of
Garnier's "The Man With the Red Face," into the 909 hailstorm of
Plastikman's "Elektrostatik," into the out-there sounds of
Plaid's "Ohh Be Do," into the even-farther-out-there electro of Pink Ellin's "Futurist," into
Miss Kittin's dreamy outro ("Do you wanna come? flying? raving? eating? spinning? rocking? breathing? smiling? crying? waiting? dreaming? sleeping? with me?"). Taken as a whole,
On the Road certainly isn't the debut mix most would have expected from
Miss Kittin. The French-born Berliner seems wholly uninterested in the electroclash scene she'd been pigeonholed in, no doubt to the dismay of some. She's instead fashioned her debut mix as a wholehearted appeal to the more respectable and long-standing techno establishment and proves that she, as a DJ rather than an electroclash diva, has both the technical skills as well as the creativity to complement her unquestionably novel personality.