I remember the first time I saw Nina Kraviz play like it was yesterday. It was the first and only time Oval Space held a 24-hour party with the likes of Jeff Mills, Radio Slave, James Ruskin, Evan Baggs and KiNK all billed and Nina Kraviz happened to be the unannounced special guest. Returning back to the club after a quick power nap, Nina’s set was in full force. At this time, she was playing hypnotising techno records such as Prototype 909’s ‘Atma’ – a stand out from her DJ Kicks mix. Dancing behind the decks in her signature entrancing style, it wasn’t hard to be immersed in her daze.
That was four years ago now. Since then, Nina has been pushing experimental music from Eastern Europe and tiny pockets of emerging scenes on her acclaimed трип imprint as well as founding sub-label GALAXIID – focusing on reissues with the first two releases from 90s Russian artists Solar X and Species Of Fishes. It was Nina who put Icelandic innovator Bjarki on the map with the stand-out debut EP ‘Arthur and The Intergalactic Whales’ featuring the hype track ‘I Wanna Go Bang’. The series of compilations ‘The Deviant Octopus’, ‘De Niro Is Concerned’ (the first vinyl I ever bought because of Barcode Population’s reissue), ‘Ivan, Come On, Unlock The Box’, ‘When I Was 14’, ‘Sleep Not Found’, ‘Don’t Mess With Cupid ‘Cause Cupid Aint Stupid’ and ‘Happy New Year! We Wish You Happiness’ have become known for their conceptual stories and distinctive artwork by Portuguese artist Tombo. As well as releasing records from Parrish Smith, Volruptus, Roma Zuckerman, Biogen, Aleksi Perälä, Deniro and Vladimir Dubyshkin, трип has become a go-to label for outlandish sounds spanning across IDM, electro and techno.
Focusing on quality rather than quantity, Nina’s productions have been sparse over the last few years, releasing one EP on трип, several single contributions to the compilation series and remixes for Marie Davidson, Special Request and Franz Ferdinand. However, with those two platforms, Nina has been able to showcase her knowledge of weirder, unknown music and further cement her status as one of the most highly regarded tastemakers in the industry. So for this Essentials feature, we’ve decided to not only include Nina’s own productions but spotlight some of the stand-out records on трип.
Nina Kraviz plays FLY Open Air on the 19th May – buy tickets here.