Playground magazine

In spite of not having had one minute of shuteye (she finished Sónar By Night on the main stage the night before), Nina Kraviz is very alert and receptive. With her feline forms and reflexive way of talking, from up close she doesn't fool anyone: here's a woman who takes music very seriously and who doesn’t feel like she has to prove anything to anybody (you know, the old story of the pretty woman in a male world like electronic music). As she herself says, she has no other goal than to express her emotions in everything she does, whether that be DJing or producing music. This is also reflected on her first full-length, “Nina Kraviz”, a straightforward house exercise on which she expresses her way of understanding life and art. After all, she's just a girl from Siberia who fell in love with electronic music and who wants to put in her two cents.

Let's start at the beginning. How did you get into electronic music?

When I was little, I was always surrounded by music. My parents were very cultured, musically. I was a bit of a lazy student, so when I got home I used to put on records instead of doing my homework: rock, pop, jazz, a bit of everything. At some point I started to go beyond my dad's record collection, because I was listening to the radio at night, especially a show on a Moscow radio station, called Garage. It used to keep me up until very late at night, because I lived in Irkutsk, in South-Eastern Siberia, and because of the time difference, it was three in the morning when the show started. One of those nights I heard a song that left me flabbergasted. Later I found out it was a track by Armando. From that moment on I got completely into electronic music.

And you got obsessed...

All my friends were always going on about boys, partying, drinking, and I was sitting at home in front of the computer (I had just discovered the internet) reading DJ biographies, looking for information. After some time I started to be very well informed, I knew the stories of many DJs by heart, especially of those from Chicago and Detroit.

So you're a bit of a freak.

Yes, I'm a freak. Especially when it comes to music.

At what point did you decide you wanted to be a DJ and produce your own tracks?

I started DJing when I met a boy who was very much involved with music, we started dating, and he really knew a lot. I like cultured people, you know? I detest stupid idiots. I like to talk with people who know their stuff; I try to surround myself with smart people, avoiding the idiots. So I moved in with this guy and he introduced me to a lot of underground music; disco, funk, different kinds of electronic music.

And then you became a DJ.

Yes. He was a DJ, so I said “I'm going to give it a shot”. I started playing disco and Italian soundtrack music in bars, pubs and art galleries. But at the same time I kept collecting Chicago and Detroit records, and listening to Intergalactic FM, an incredible online radio station. I-F is a fucking freak.

Yes, the music he plays is amazing.

He's the kind of person I meant earlier, you know? I-F is one of the most knowledgeable people I know. In fact, much of my musical education comes from that radio station, because they have the great habit of telling you the song they're playing, even showing the sleeves. I was listening to it all the time, I still do, actually. It's something I would advise everyone who wants to know more about electronic music to do. I discovered tons of music through them. But, returning to your question, it was a slow process. Step by step. It wasn't like I got up one morning and said “hey, I'm a DJ”.

And how did you start producing your own music?

It was when I left the band I was in, because basically they thought I couldn't do much, that I was just a singer. They didn't really pay me much mind, and basically they said “look, do your own thing if you want, but don't try to step on our territory.” It made me quite mad, and I left the band. I was very upset. I had just come back from the Red Bull Music Academy, and I knew a bit about Ableton, so I got a sound card, a keyboard and a microphone and started to make music on my own, just for myself, just to try things out. I noticed that I came up with a couple of melodies and thought “wow, I'm good at this”. So for two or three months I was just making music, I literally spent all day producing, I couldn't stop. I posted my tracks to MySpace, under a fake name, so that nobody knew it was me and I could see how people would react.

Your first release was on Underground Quality. How did you get in touch with Jus-Ed?

That's a nice story that actually has something to do with Barcelona. Soon after I started producing, I met Anton Zap, who had already released stuff on Underground Quality, and he got me in touch with them. I wrote to Jus-Ed introducing myself, and I showed him a couple of my tracks, but he never gave me an answer. A few months later, I came to Barcelona, for Sónar 2008. I had just arrived to the city and I remember I didn't like my hotel at all. I went down to the lobby and there was Jus-Ed, and he came up to me and said “Hey how are you? I love what you're doing, I'd like to release your tracks, let's stay in touch”. I was flabbergasted, I couldn't believe it. I had only been making music for five months.