In an era where authenticity and raw beauty often take a backseat, Siberian-born musician, singer, producer, DJ and label head Nina Kraviz emerges as a beacon of both. Over the last two decades, she has become synonymous with a relentless and often avant-garde approach to music. Her unique blend of techno, house, acid and experimental sound has garnered her recognition as one of the leading personalities in the electronic music industry.

photography TRÉ KOCH
creative direction HUGH BARTON
photo assistant ADAM NESTORET-PUYON
stylist NIMA MARDANEH
stylist assistant MILOŠ MIHAJLUV
hair and makeup CATALINA SARTOR
production NICOLAS RIVET / GO-SEE
post-production MISHA CHUBUN
studio BLUE STUDIO PARIS

HUGH BARTON Hey Nina, it was so nice to meet you in Paris over the summer. Where are you at the moment?

NINA KRAVIZ Hello! The pleasure was all mine! I am on the plane responding to your interview.

HB On the day of the shoot with Tré, you had just come from four shows in four different countries. What keeps you motivated and focused?

NK I am greedy and want to make all the money in the world (I’m kidding) [laughs]. Maybe I like being in the maelstrom of events and people. And I like pushing my limits to the maximum. This is not really a choice, though, more of a necessity. Either that or suddenly I have too much time at my disposal and I don’t always manage to cope with it easily. I either make ten new songs in a week or no songs for a couple of months. Sometimes though, it looks like I’m just running away from myself.

HB With all the commuting, schedules and back-to-back shows, how do you find the time to pull your sets together? What is your process? Do you rely on unreleased tracks or last-minute dives at a record store to distinguish and progress each set?

NK It’s exciting to play music unprepared. If I am prepared, the mixes are probably tighter—which isn’t as exciting as when I play a track someone sent me ten minutes before and I have to check it in the car while putting my lipstick on. I love the energy of those sets, the adrenaline they bring when the mix is smooth and the records are mixing themselves without any decision-making needed. When I still played vinyl and carried records to my shows, my favourite thing was to go to the stores in Tokyo, buy a bunch of records and play them out at a streamed Dommune set. I would pick some classics that I knew very well and mix them with records I only skipped through at the record store.

HB People might not know that you were a dentist before you shifted to being a DJ. Can you tell us about that journey? How did you first get involved in the industry, and what inspired you to pursue a career in music?

NK I didn’t really proactively plan anything. There was not much thinking involved, either. Apart from my dentist job at that time, I’d been DJing for a couple of years and been singing and songwriting in a band. The decision to leave my job at the hospital was very sudden, but not that difficult to make. One morning my alarm clock was ringing unusually loud, and it was just terribly annoying. I switched it off and never returned to that work ever again.

HB Musical performances can be formulaic at times. Do you ever feel an expectation to play your hits in every set? To this point, do you think you need to ‘kill your darlings’ to grow as an artist or push into new musical territories?

NK There is always this expectation, but that doesn’t mean that it is always going to be fulfilled.As a DJ, I pushed into all musical territories, but as a musician, there are still areas that I wish to break through. I’ve been writing and producing very different music, and the further I get from the status quo, the happier it makes me feel. The latest remix I did for Jean-Michel Jarre’s ‘Sex in the Machine’ is a good example of such an endeavour.

HB You recently released a cover of the song ‘Bailando’ by Paradisio. What drew you to covering this, and when did you learn to speak Spanish?

NK It’s my favourite shower song, I just couldn’t resist! The idea came a couple of years ago when I tried re-singing the vocals, and it really fit my vocal tone. Many people don’t realise it’s me singing. Before ‘Bailando’, I did a couple of other psytrance songs, including a remix I did of Hercules & Love Affair’s ‘Dissociation’ and ‘Hace Ejercicios’, which was in Spanish too. There was also ‘Los Colores’ that I did for Purple [Future]. But it all started with ‘Tarde’. I wrote this song super quickly in my bedroom. I was pleasantly surprised to know that my love songs sound very particular when I sing in Spanish. I truly believe it’s one of my best songs.

HB Have you always been interested in Spanish?

NK My fascination with Spanish started when I visited Cuba for the first time. I love Cuban
music and how Cuban people speak and move. And let me tell you, they move heavenly. I’ve also become pretty good at distinguishing the dialects of Latin American countries, and needless to say, that it sounds like music.

HB What themes do you aim to communicate through your music?

NK I don’t really plan any themes. I am just taken by the swirl of emotion and whatever is transcending through me is shared with people. Whenever I’m working on music, the experience differs and I cannot really program it.

HB You’ve pioneered many techno subgenres back into circulation and popularised them over the years. Can you talk about the challenges (if any) of reintroducing styles like acid and psytrance to the contemporary techno scene?

NK I just play music that excites me and if it sounds like an unlikely combination, it’s not to surprise people. It’s out of a childlike curiosity.

HB When you’re on the move, do you ever get the urge to create instantaneously? What does producing on the road look and feel like for you?

NK I live on the road most of the time and I have my favourite plugins on my computer and a MIDI keyboard. If there is time and a good moment for a studio visit in the city, I’m in! I love to work there, but I can make music everywhere; I just need to be in the right mood for it.

HB What’s your most fulfilling club or festival to play at and why?

NK Any festival or club where I challenged my artistic ability and succeeded in making people feel something is very fulfilling.

HB What’s it like performing for tens of thousands of people? Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the crowd or the atmosphere.

NK I can establish intimate connections with the crowd if I have my space. I am very sensitive to energy, so when the sound system is on point and the lighting is slightly dimmed, it does give this occult sensation like I am in some laboratory. The larger the crowd, the more intimate and mysterious I feel. On the contrary, it may feel quite intimidating if I see people very close and very well. Unless it’s some cosy dark club.

HB What did you last Shazam? Where was it and have you played it since?

NK I went to an organ concert recently, and I thought the order of the music pieces was wrong, so I Shazamed it and I was right, it was Handel and not Bach! It was a very comforting feeling.

HB Can you speak to the importance of representation and diversity within the music industry? What positive changes have you seen over the years, and what else needs to be done to create an inclusive environment?

NK I don’t know what can be done on a bigger scale, but I think if everybody would just become a better person, the environment would benefit greatly from it.

HB Could you tell us about a life-affirming experience that has shaped how you approach music?

NK Participating at the Red Bull Music Academy in Melbourne was very inspiring to me. Before that, it was all a hobby, but afterwards, it all became quite real.

HB Does the idea of perfectionism resonate with you?

NK When I was working on the song ‘Skyscrapers’ I made about fifty versions with different arrangements and then did around the same amount for the mixdowns. My mastering engineer was destined to receive countless swirls of very detailed feedback about that particular bass tone that I felt could be a bit warmer. Working on my song ‘Tarde’ brought very different dynamics—I decided to make it perfect and made dozens of different options until it completely lost its original magic. Eventually, I decided to release the very first “rougher” version that I recorded in my bedroom.

HB Your music and personality exhibit a mix of confidence and vulnerability. How do you balance the two?

NK I am just being myself, which sometimes means going off balance.

HB Where do you find beauty?

NK For me, beauty exists on the edge of the opposite. It needs to be opposed to something and is sometimes disguised in the chaos.

HB How does music serve as a medium to address and confront the challenges of life that we often avoid discussing openly?

NK Music is a medium for everything. It’s a form of communication and a high-powered energy transmitter. So, it does translate, very well, whatever is in the air.

HB Beyond your achievements as a DJ and producer, you have also been involved in mixed creative endeavours, notably being the founder of two record labels трип (trip) and Galaxiid as well as ongoing collaborations with artists and designers. How have these experiences shaped and guided you?

NK When I founded трип, there was no agenda or particular timeframe. I had all this incredible music after completing research for my DJ Kicks and I wanted to do something with it. So starting a label was a very natural thing to do. I came up with the idea of gatefold concept albums built around a certain theme. Eventually, I started releasing EPs, double EPs and albums. Whenever someone entrusts me to release their music, I feel very honoured and responsible. It doesn’t matter if it’s a debut or something from a well-known artist. Recently, I went through the catalogue, and I love every single track on the label. It sounds fresh and timeless at the same time. I love hunting for new music, signing new artists and coming across a designer or videographer’s work. The best feeling is to find someone who really gets your vibe and shares the same frequencies. I recently released limited merch for my ‘Hace Ejercicios’ release, which features designs from Habib, (@sickhabib). I also love what Noël from Weberei (@weberei) does.

Noël—who usually designs and weaves fabrics—designed the font for the Hot Steel compilation series and the cover for ‘Locus Error.’ Just like with music, I prefer the physical products to be high quality. The production numbers are often limited, and I find it important to work with people who are passionate about making something unique and special. So, running a label and putting ideas together takes a lot of time and energy, but it is also a very fruitful process through which I learn a lot of new things. The artists I meet on the way share their world with me, and of course, holding a final product and seeing people appreciate the label and its output is the best feeling in the world. I just signed the 49th release for трип and have some incredible releases in the pipeline for Galaxiid and some very cool merch drops. All very exciting indeed!

HB What is the most valuable lesson you’ve learned that you’d like to share with aspiring musicians?

NK Life itself is a continuous lesson and I value every minute of it.