Anastasia Kristensen

Techno doesn’t need more rules, it needs more nerve. On Lost and Sound, I’m joined by Copenhagen-based DJ and producer Anastasia Kristensen, an artist whose work sits right on the edge between club functionality and something far more exploratory.

After approaching a decade in the spotlight, her debut album Bestiarium Sombre (out 8 May on Intercept Records) is the perfect entry point into that mindset. Every track is tied to an animal, some real and some imagined. Anastasia uses this as a tool for storytelling, sound design, and rhythm choices that feel tactile, dark, and playful. Anastasia breaks down how field recordings and found sounds become musical material, how a hydraulic mechanism can turn into a “whale”, and why not overthinking is sometimes the most disciplined creative choice.

We also get into the lived reality around the work: touring and crowd connection, how she prepares music without over-preparing a set, why atmosphere and darkness change what people hear, and what it meant to clarify her Ukrainian background after 2022 while staying focused on meaningful local action. We finish with thoughts on AI in music, not as an artistic replacement but as a wider economic and climate question, plus where she wants to take her sound next.

If you enjoy Lost and Sound and want to help keep it thriving, the best way to support is simple: subscribe, leave a rating, and write a quick review on your favourite podcast platform. It really helps others find the show. You can do that here on Apple Podcasts or wherever you like to listen.

Anastasia Kristensen on Instagram: 

https://www.instagram.com/anastasia.kristensen/

Anastasia Kristensen on Bandcamp:

https://anastasiakristensen.bandcamp.com/music

Huge thanks to Audio-Technica – makers of beautifully engineered audio gear and sponsors of Lost and Sound. Check them out here: Audio-Technica

My book Coming To Berlin is a journey through the city’s creative underground, and is available via Velocity Press.

You can also follow me on Instagram at @paulhanford for behind-the-scenes bits, guest updates, and whatever else is bubbling up.

Transcript

Opening Thoughts On Rule-Breaking Techno

Paul 0:02

Okay, you've got to admit it sometimes techno can get a little bit conservative. And I love it when techno stops following rules, starts disregarding what you're supposed to do on a dance floor, and generally stops behaving and goes on a bit of a wander into the wilder parts of the imagination. This is exactly where Anastasia Kristensen is right now. And yes, she's my guest on this week's episode of Lost and Sound. The show that goes deep with artists shaping music and culture from the underground up. Let's have the title music. So whether you're new here or you've been listening for a while, it's great to have you along. And it's great today. It's sort of sunny. I'm I'm imagining not wearing a jacket. I'm a little bit cold not wearing the jacket, but I'm just enjoying it being bright. I'm speaking to you from a street corner in Neukeln in Berlin. And I hope whatever you're doing today, you're having a really lovely one. Today on the show, I'm talking with a DJ and producer whose work sits in a fascinating space between club functionality and something more exploratory. Anastasia Kristensen has built a reputation as someone equally comfortable making dance for move as she is pushing at the edges of what club music can be. Her Instagram subtitle, Avantgarde Dance Electronics, is a bit of a clue here. Over the last decade, across releases for labels like Houndstooth, Turbo, and Arcola, her productions have always had a restless, curious quality to them. Alongside that, she's become a respected DJ, known for sets that move fluidly between techno, experimental electronics, and more left field territory. And now she's released her debut album, Bysterium Sombre. Well, when I say released, it's out on May the 1st, but you know what I mean. And I think you could possibly say that the album is even a bit of a concept album. Every track is based on an animal, it's named after an animal. Some of these animals are real, some of them are made up. And sonically, the album pulls in strange directions. There are narrative ideas, there's strange hooks and a kind of dark imagination and storytelling but goes with some quite unorthodox production methods that still feel cohesively danceable. It's definitely a real step into an unusual space. And the kind of space that I love is a point where artists that have had a really strong connection or have a really strong connection to the dance floor decide or feel naturally, perhaps without deciding, just following their intuition perhaps, that it's time to make an artistic statement. That might sound a bit contrived. Maybe I should reword that. Maybe I should say it's time where their path leads to doing something that feels like it's jettisoned a lot of their roots and has entered into like a totally new terrain. So in this conversation with Anastasia Kristensen, we talk about the journey towards the album, the ideas behind it, the creative processes that drive her work, her background, and some of the moments along the way that shaped her path as an artist. But before we get going, Lost in Sound is sponsored by Audio Technica. For over 60 years, this family run company has been making the kind of gear that helps artists, DJs, and listeners alike really hear the detail. Headphones, microphones, turntables and cartridges, studio quality, beautifully engineered and designed and built on the belief that great sound should be for everyone. So wherever you are in the world, head on over to Audiotechnica.com to check out all of their range of stuff. Okay, so uh we had this chat on March the 16th, 2026. I think you're gonna enjoy this. This is me, Paul Hamford, talking with Anastasia Christensen for the Lost and Sound podcast. So, Anastasia Kristensen, welcome to Lost and Sound. How are you doing? Whereabouts are you today?

Anastasia Kristensen 5:36

I'm doing alright. I'm a little under the weather, a bit sick, but I had a weekend at home and uh there were end sessions back home where uh people gather and line pillows and listen to soothing music. So I attended that yesterday and uh it was really nice.

Paul 5:55

So you had a kind of musical medication?

Anastasia Kristensen 5:59

Yeah, you can say that, definitely.

Paul 6:01

Yeah, I mean, you're DJing a lot. I mean, do you really look forward to weekends where you don't have so much on?

Anastasia Kristensen 6:09

I mean, I don't know. I'm that kind of person where I always find something fun to do, whether I'm free or I'm on tour, you know. I um I think we're given this chances to experience life. So I don't think anything is more important than the other thing, you know. Yeah, happy that we have a place to unwind, which is you know, nightlife is often associated with something aggressive and fast and always destructive. Whereas here it's like it's coming from a healing place.

Paul 6:40

Right. Okay, yeah. I think there is like even in hedonism, there is a sort of healing element to it, it just depends on like whether people follow that or not, I guess.

Anastasia Kristensen 6:53

Absolutely, and I think also, you know, uh starting doing this in early 20s and now being mid-30s, you kind of start looking at things a bit differently.

Paul 7:02

Yeah, yeah. That's always a question that I'm always interested to ask people that particularly that have been DJing for a period of time and are in a different period of life from when they started. It's like, what do you think have been like the main changes to how you manage your lifestyle and manage these things from when you started?

Anastasia Kristensen 7:23

I think I'm definitely more self-aware and well-reflected now than maybe when a lot of things happened to me, you know. But yeah, it definitely reflected my music and depth music as well. But also the will to continue working on it, you know, whereas before I think it was more maybe impatient and maximalistic, kind of like let's get this out there, and you know, um, the labels would come to you because you already were a popular DJ rather than you know, come to you because you're a skillful producer, you know. Um yeah.

Paul 8:00

Do you feel like the the producing thing, uh being a skillful producer, has taken longer for you, in your own opinion, and in terms of your own judgment of what you do to get to a level on?

Anastasia Kristensen 8:15

I think if I didn't take the time I I took, it wouldn't be as good now. You know, also a lot of the recordings in the album come from my own kind of like field recordings, so it requires to kind of travel and gather some experience before kind of using those elements in the production. But I don't know if it's um necessarily taking longer, you know. I think if I could choose today, I would probably wait with so much attention, which I was exposed to early on. But at the same time, I mean, no regrets. I mean, you know, the this scene was ready for me, and you know, now I'm part of it over 10 years, and uh we survived the pandemic and uh lots of different crises, and actually I'm I think right now is a very exciting time for the scene again.

Paul 9:06

What do you think is most exciting for you about the scene at the moment?

Anastasia Kristensen 9:10

I think people are digging what has been kind of hidden and forgotten because of again pandemic, a complete change of economic landscape as well, with big events booming and clubs struggling to survive. And I think you know, it's an act of resistance. People want to know what there is more behind the music, or like what what is there other than social media and this kind of diluted of entertainment we are getting served, you know. Um so I think I'm finding constantly underrated labels of Bancamp, you know, where there's like three buyers in total or something, and I'm seeing a lot of collectives across Europe and and all over the world, and yeah, like I haven't experienced that since maybe 2019, you know, when things were still okay.

Paul 10:05

Yeah, yeah. So it's kind of coming around full circle in a little way.

Anastasia Kristensen 10:10

Yeah, but do you feel the same? I mean, you've been part of this scene when you know, even earlier than me. So do you agree that you experienced the same?

Challenging Techno Frameworks In Production

Paul 10:20

Um, it's interesting. I feel like sometimes I can feel very pessimistic. Um, but that's more to do with the industry than artistry. Like I feel in terms of creativity, like I'm always surprised and taken aback by like the way people are reshaping sounds and reshaping genres. And I feel a lot more artists, and I would include your new album in on this, are kind of you know coming from the dance floor, but like in a in certain ways leaving conventions that for I think for a long time people felt that they had to stick to. Um, and I think that that's quite exciting, and I think that that is something that got a bit conservative for a few years, and I've I feel like in the last couple of years, like I mean, I think on one hand, it's impossible to keep up for me to keep up with everything that's going on, and and there are so many genres and subgenres and like new emerging scenes coming out of like parts of the internet or parts of like cities where previously something else was going on that I can't keep in track. But what I do notice is what is reaching me is that I feel like people are getting more confident in leaving certain structures behind. Um taking more risks, taking more risks, yeah, definitely. Um and I've I think that's something I really picked up on with your album, really, is that it's very playful, very tactile. It feels like there's definitely a lot of club structure there, but it feels like it's totally unafraid to like leave a lot of that behind to just get into like certain conceptual ideas and to go where the sound wants to go, you know. Was that something that making this album was was like a a definite thing for you to like leave behind, like because your earlier EPs they're a that they feel a lot more structured towards the dance floor, strictly. Were you consciously trying to move away from that?

Building Bestiarium Sombra Around Animals

Anastasia Kristensen 12:24

Um of course, dance source is like my alma mater. This is where I come from, you know. But I also think my general interest in all sorts of music, acoustic music as well, and drums and you know, everything outside of Europe as well. I think it I've just cultivated it so much at this point that I'm like, well, why would I not try that? You know, I don't feel like we need courses in rugged rums to be able to program rugged rums, you know, and the same with like the way we program percussion. Yeah, there is certain kind of like frameworks that would be established in techno, but I think this is where the fun part really comes in, is where you try to kind of like uh challenge it, you know, and see how that sounds when it's not just 3D techno, and also I think to complement this whole idea of uh of producing this way is I've been gathering a lot of material. I would visit different studios, find some weird ass Soviet old scenes, and just jam it out, you know. Yeah, I was lucky enough to have access either through friends or um uh a festival would invite me to their studios or stuff like that, you know, uh kind of different gimmicks and deals across uh across the city usually. And uh this way I process my material and I kind of pick the favorites and then I start playing with the favorites. So it goes from a big amount of of material to kind of narrow narrowing it to something that I know is going to be my work kind of piece, you know. And and yeah, I think the the overall answer to all this is just patient and and cultivating, also cultivating life, yeah you know. Um I consciously made a decision to spend much less time in socials and be present, you know, like all these yoga obvious things, you know, but they do work, they do, they do, yeah. Yeah, and I think kind of the overall appreciation of like craftship, you know, something where you know it's not an overnight thing, you can't make it overnight. There is no way you can come up with something overnight. Um, but I would also say my previous EP from Turbo took me also quite a while, and also Cordis had disco before that. But I think the album kind of concept required me to definitely like really think it through. And yeah, the names that I have given to the tracks, uh, they all came a bit later on. Some of them actually, some of the animals do exist, and some of them are completely mysterious, you know, fantasy world creatures.

Paul 15:07

Yeah, so I just wanted to sort of mention though at this point, so the album is based around um like each track represents a different animal. And I was wondering if you could tell me a little bit about like how where that part of the concept for the album came in to make sort of quite a conceptually themed record about animals.

Anastasia Kristensen 15:29

I think it all started with a magpie song. I was in Sydney and I have uh field recorded those sounds, so they are legit uh magpie sounding. And I think the more I kind of applied the idea of of animals and uh different animal characteristics, you know, some of them are slow or some of them are very fast and temperingful. And I think it kind of came up very naturally, and also I had a couple of tracks that I didn't really see as part of this kind of uh beast gathering, so I decided to kind of use them as a pre-word and how we say like um prologue and prelogue, I think.

Paul 16:11

Prologue, right? Yeah, like a before and an after, yeah.

Anastasia Kristensen 16:15

Yeah, because I mean everything is a bit kind of shaky already in in the music, so why not also do the same with the text, you know, in the late well, why be linear? Yeah, and it kind of reminds of kind of like book writing notion, you know, and I don't mind like let's connect it all together.

Paul 16:35

Yeah, I mean, I I that's a really interesting approach, and I I do really love it when like music makers do connect up their ideas to literature as well, or art or food, or something like that. You know, this definitely feels like you know, you're making a piece of work, basically, aren't you?

Anastasia Kristensen 16:53

Yeah, and also I really believe that our own creativity is a product of all sorts of inspirations and all sorts of other arts, you know. Like, I don't think we can just do that from an incubator, you know. We are a product of so many things. And when the designer came up with uh with the final idea, it was just it. We actually he refused working on the project because we just couldn't nail it, and then we gave it one more time, and then it really like came up. Uh you colloids and um medieval uh drawing and everything. So yeah, it it kind of was truly creative collaborative process.

Paul 17:34

That's amazing, and and the name I have to apologize. I I'm probably gonna pronounce the name of the album really badly. Bestiarium sombra. Please tell me how badly I pronounced that. Oh, I think it's so bad, it's like Latin, so that was actually do you feel like was there something very tactile that you were drawing an animal like we when you're making the sounds, were you sort of picturing the animals like because some of them exist and other of the animals are like animals that you've made up? Were you drawing in a sort of very visual way on feeling the animals?

Anastasia Kristensen 18:12

Yeah, I would say, for example, the track uh hydraulic whale. Uh I start I actually had a hydraulic kind of mechanism uh sound recording, like recording of it uh from a car, like an older car. And then I started playing with effects, and then it made this kind of whale sound, uh, because I you know used applied some filters, and so this whole idea just kind of came up, you know, very naturally because if you think about a whale has its own hydraulic mechanism when it when it does the shower thing, so I was like, okay, this is in, you know, and also I think the secret is to not overthink either. Uh, you know, like um I could probably write several books with different names at this point if I really want to think too long about it. But when you hear this kind of two weird things merging, like okay, hydraulic sound suddenly sounds like an animal, and then it kind of all adds up to my gathering of, you know. Um, actually, sulfur mostang exists, it's a race of a horse in North America, and it has this kind of beige color. But I just thought the name was really cool, you know. Yeah.

Paul 19:29

And I I think sometimes when these connections are made, like they can kind of grow, can't they? Like in our minds afterwards. Some things like you described there, there's a real strong connection. I think other times, like there's just a feeling or a suggestion, but once you put the name together, it does sort of solidify. It's like with band names, sometimes band names on their own can feel just really weird and abstract. Like who would call a band geese? But now we know we we associate geese with a bunch of people and a specific sound.

From Ukraine To Denmark With Nuance

Anastasia Kristensen 20:01

Yeah, exactly.

Paul 20:03

Okay, so I'm just gonna go back and ask a few questions about like how music came into your life and your background. So you were born in Russia and then moved to Denmark. I was wondering how these two environments shaped the way you heard music whilst you were growing up.

Anastasia Kristensen 20:21

I will have to correct you. I was born in Ukraine, but I grew up.

Paul 20:24

Oh, I am so sorry. That is a very big, that is a very big, quite significant correction, isn't it?

Anastasia Kristensen 20:31

Yeah, it is, but also, I mean, I understand a lot of people probably have kind of got it wrong because for a long time I didn't really put much distinction myself. For we I'm very sorry, and it's been also um edited at the appropriate places, you know, where where it's needed. The thing is, like my whole music career was always in Denmark, and right I think this whole mention about backgrounds, because that's something that people would do, you know, in 2015-16. It was almost like you would want to tell about your background, like even people living in London said, like, yeah, I'm I'm Irish, London-based artist, you know, like things like that. It was just a trendy, like a nice kind of touch and individual. Whereas I experienced after the beginning of uh Russian invasion in Ukraine in 2022, it felt like something that I, you know, I had to definitely be clear about. And yeah, I did experience um yeah, I would say maybe less I I can't say like apathy like that, but definitely some kind of how would you say it, like uh attentive state around it, you know. Like I think people were very careful with uh you know with these things, like who's booking who and what kind of political message we have, each of us. And it's a very complex matter, all of it, and you know, but yeah, I have grown up in I was 14 when I moved. So it's been a good chunk already here in Denmark. And I think I'm definitely influenced by the way that electronic music is has been kind of shaped and cultivated in Russia. But I also have obtained this kind of Scandinavian, more I would say, melancholic and more pragmatic and minimalistic kind of touch. Whereas I think in the Eastern Europe it's um it's more about more industrial, probably sound because of our history and because everything is a bit like uh one big metal kind of vehicle or something, you know. But it's I think like my my own taste really spans across all these kind of subgenres, and I never really wanted to exclude each of them, you know, or any any of them. I mean, but yeah, it's a good blend of of a bit of every flavor.

Paul 23:01

Right. Okay, well, firstly, my apologies about um the the mistake I made there.

Anastasia Kristensen 23:08

Um I mean, I think it's also okay to say it publicly like that. So, you know, I'm I'm very open about these things. You're not the first one who asked it like that. So let's stay let's clear this out right away.

Paul 23:22

Yeah, yeah. No, I think I mean, I guess like basically, I mean, if you don't mind talking a little bit about it, like after the the the Russian invasion, it did become like this very clear thing. Obviously, like I'd spent a little bit of time in Kiev in 2019 and made some friends there and contacts there um in the music world, and like I think there was it became very clear that there was like this real sort of you know, like that there was a battle line in the music culture as well as what was going on outside. And and did you feel like that sense of pressure then to make things clear because of that?

Early Influences From Rock To Electroclash

Anastasia Kristensen 24:04

Um to be honest, no, because I took care of the internal pressure from the very beginning. I have organized a fundraiser uh together with the club. Uh, we raised actually 5,000 euro for uh K41 Club uh fund. Oh, yes, yeah. So no, I I don't feel like you know I was I I I was being watched or expected something, also because I have family in both countries. Some of that family is very brainwashed, which made it very difficult to even just you know communicate. Yeah. Um, so I think I'm experiencing all this uh equally uh heavily, like like people from both sides, but it it's also like it is so full of nuance as well. So I I find that it's very important for me to take my own uh responsibility and be active in my community. Like, for example, I'd like to help local refugees. I did that, you know. I helped someone to write a CV, or how do you get by in Danish workspaces and stuff like that, you know? And I think your local action is is what in the end makes a difference. So even if somebody posts uh a statement but they did it because they don't want to feel cancelled, then it's just no use, right? It's just performative crap, it's all like uh um strange relations that you think you need to maintain. And but I also understand the people who are not able to um to post it because of you know their families or because of the government that that can simply ruin your life because of one of us, you know. And that's what I'm saying. There is a lot of nuance to it, and my heart is absolutely broken. Yeah, um, but luckily, no, I did not experience, and in fact, I've I played several Ukrainian charities events. I just played B2B with Polychain, an amazing artist, as well. Uh, also operates an experimental music scene. So, yeah, I mean, I understand the language, I understand the culture. I grew up in Ukraine almost uh every summer I would go to Ukraine to Crimea, which is annexed now, but yeah, that's where uh you know things come for me. Um, and then I moved in 2006 and and never looked back. I uh I've always been here in Denmark.

Paul 26:31

Right, okay. What um was there a point where you felt in Denmark that you were connecting, like a first point where you felt like you were connecting with music in a very specific way?

Anastasia Kristensen 26:45

Uh I think I was connected with music already from Moscow times, you know, from um cassettes and CD players and all that. Um, my parents were quite you know, mellow men, and there's always been abundance of CDs, and my father used to collect vinyl records and trade them in the 80s when it was super prohibited. Yeah.

Paul 27:09

So what kind of things, what kind of uh albums or artists sort of stick out in your mind now from that era?

Anastasia Kristensen 27:18

Yeah, it's like this weird merge of classics, like I don't know, David Bowie and like stuff like that, but then also alternative rock, because that's where uh when I was a teenager, you know, things like corn and and limb biscuit and that, but also like all the underground stuff, uh that you know, not necessarily the big names, but kind of that emu alter industrial kind of pop thing, you know. Um yeah, and through that I discovered massive attack and shoegase and like a bit more kind of refined, you know, not so angry, but more like similar collector, but still moody, but sort of like a smoky heaviness. Absolutely, you know. Um, if you you I'm pretty sure you have read Russian literature, it's all very depressive and moody, you know, it's all about death and love and definitely, yeah.

Paul 28:09

I mean, I do I do stro I do struggle a bit with sometimes the size of those books, um just from the outset. It's a very narrow way of like approaching literature, but it's something I do suffer from. It's like 800 pages. I don't know about that.

unknown 28:26

Yeah.

Paul 28:27

Was there a point where like I I read elsewhere as well about like where in an interview where you mentioned about like corn and the and Limp Biscuit and these influences, the sort of like uh early noughties, millennial kind of influences. Was there a point you remember where electronic music was starting to kind of come into that equation?

Anastasia Kristensen 28:49

I would say that actually happened around the same time when I moved to Denmark. So the year is 2006 and 2007. It's uh electroclash, kind of Ziga vibe, you know, it's not tech house, but but it's already getting there, and a lot of dub elements, and it was actually a very beautiful era, I would say. Um, now looking back at it, like after digging a lot of labels, you know.

Paul 29:13

Yeah, um, but yeah, yeah, right. Yeah, and I think it was like a really good gateway between like if you came from more of a rock background or more of a you know classic background, like a lot of the those sort of electro clash artists were they they did feel a bit punky as well, you know, they had that sort of weigh into the dance floor vibe about them, yeah.

Learning To DJ And Managing Music

Anastasia Kristensen 29:37

And I also like how unapologetically stripped back that music is at the same time, you know, like uh some kind of crazy squelchy synth lid would take the whole space, and that's the story, you know. And we all like it, you know, we dance to it. Yeah, I like that. Like this kind of simplicity is something that I'm looking forward to kind of seeing more, and we're already seeing that, you know, there's a lot of minimalistic minimal stuff coming back, and kind of like a deal of noise, you know, nothing too crazy, but it's still there. So I like that. Um, yeah, I think uh I started going to libraries at the age of 14. I started um discovering a lot of uh online communities and forums, you know. You could say I was pirating, like at the age of 14. Yes, I was definitely pirating. Yeah, you know, but it it was kind of my uh gateway to the whole thing. Uh and only many years later, when I was an exchange student in Canada, that I got like uh access to decks, and I realized that I could play all the basic channels. So I got a gig at a cocktail bar and I was blasting basic channel 140 because I didn't know better. And then they came up to me like, no, you can't do those. Like, but that stuff but the music I think is cool, you know. But it was funny because I remember the couple of times I I tried it because I just didn't know better. Like I didn't know the popular pop music in the radio, but I knew the whole back catalog of some German minimal label, you know. But that was that was how I looked at it, you know. Um, but somebody came up to me and said they loved it. This is what they did, you know, 10 years ago in their younger days. And then somebody else came up super furious asking for Rihanna. People react differently to that kind of stuff, but I think um my genuine interest in music has led me to all these things, you know. I I just before we call today, I have found another 200 tracks. Oh wow, yeah. Okay, I have a I have a file management problem. Like I find so much music that I don't know how how to process it yet.

Paul 31:46

That must be quite nice though to know that perhaps you have too much music to ever play.

Anastasia Kristensen 31:52

Yeah, I think it's also a question of like class, like how do you pretty much uh divide them and organize them?

Paul 31:58

Yeah, I mean, do you feel like um when you're doing DJ sets, do you feel like there are a certain amount of tracks that you just leave up to like leave open or like certain spaces on your record box or whatever that are like like sort of spaces where you just have a lot of stuff and you see what happens, or do you kind of plan a bit more?

Anastasia Kristensen 32:18

I used to plan before each gig, and now I still plan, but maybe a bit in a different manner, not so dependent on a gig, but rather than rather category. So I have different genres and I update those folders regularly. So I would spend maybe a couple of times in the ideal world, of course, a couple of times uh maybe more a week, kind of go through all the news and also see how they combined with each other, but also with older stuff, you know. And I try to do revisions with let's say music from two years ago because yeah, if I download 200 tracks a week, uh I'm I'm I'm going to be very busy reviewing it, you know. So I'm trying to kind of do it uh frequently so that I keep my knowledge about the music as sharp as possible.

Paul 33:10

Yeah, there's the curation side that's done like before the the set, and then there's the certain amount of stuff that happens that could be like chance in a set. And I'm wondering what like your relationship is with the crowd in terms of like how much the crowd can sway what you're playing, how what's your relationship with how you feed into the crowd when you're when you're playing?

Crowd Connection Risk And Recovery

Anastasia Kristensen 33:38

I think that's a very important task, and probably absolutely central one for a person performing music. Um, is definitely connection with audience. If there is audience, you know, sometimes we play for in front of camera, but for the void, yeah. Well, I definitely observe and I'm also a hypersensitive person. I think I'm like a sponge, I can totally get what the vibe is around me. Um, this is also why I do like darkness because it leaves a bit of mystery, and you know, I like when it's very foggy. So people really just focus on what they hear and sense rather than you know look uh worship a DJ or look at each other and feel embarrassed about whatever it is, you know, or like look looking too sprangled on drugs and feeling bad about that, you know. Like I really, I really think first of all, it's important to have the right atmosphere for all of us, like both me, but also my guests and the staff and everyone. And then when these kind of circumstances are there, I think it's so much easier to create that connection and just this is where like go with the flow comes in. Like, I know exactly what folder to access the next five minutes, you know, even though I wouldn't know it 10 minutes ago. Yeah, so definitely connection is also I heard like a really funny a bit of a mercantile joke. A good DJ sends people to the bar.

Paul 35:08

Yes, yeah.

Anastasia Kristensen 35:10

You need to give people breaks, they also need to buy a drink.

Paul 35:13

100%, 100%. Yeah, I think this is a yeah, definitely. I think um I've had like conversations with some artists that have been on the podcast where we talk about like the the necessity to sometimes play the wrong tune as well, like obviously not deliberately, like you're not you not like you intend people to leave the dance floor, but like how if you don't sometimes risk a tune, are you really pushing the form forward? How do you relate to that? Have there have been times where you felt like, oh, I don't know if this is gonna work, or it just hasn't worked, but you're glad you went there.

Anastasia Kristensen 35:52

I think it's uh one of those work elements, you know. Um, yeah, sometimes things don't go as intended. Like DJs choose the wrong tracks by just looking wrong at the menu. That happens too, and you still need to improvise. Like, okay, so where do we go from here? You know, I try to kind of, you know, in the situations where it didn't go as you imagine, then the art here is to focus on your rescuing technique. So what okay, you fucked up, what's next? You know, do you have third C DJ, fourth C DJ? Can you do something? Like sometimes I would set a kick uh ready on uh on a C DJ, uh, and then I would just like jam like additional drum on top of my drum, you know, because it's just it just adds this kind of very human and very unique, like you can't really reproduce it once you've done it, right? And again, like when the connection is there, it things flow like that, you know. Um but of course, like every as you probably you know yourself, you're artists as well. Some gigs are are not that what are not that good, they don't go well, you know, and some are amazing and we still remember them.

Paul 37:06

Yeah, yeah, totally. I think sometimes, like sometimes you you feel a gig's gonna be brilliant beforehand, like all of the elements should be in place, they're perhaps in place, and there's just maybe there's something going on in the world that day, or maybe there's like just a maybe there's a flu going around, or some, or yeah, or you know, whatever. There's there's you know, like is it any form of art or like any form of like live performance is just as susceptible to whatever else is is susceptible to that day, if that makes sense, isn't it?

Anastasia Kristensen 37:39

Yeah, and and like often the sound is not very ideal, and that's like yeah, that's just half of your job is killed already, you know. Sadly, yeah.

Leaving IT Going Full-Time

Paul 37:48

Yeah, yeah, definitely. I mean, so up until 2018, you were working in IT, and then in 2018 you went from just DJing to becoming like a pro DJ, and that was like your professional career. What was the process for that for you?

Anastasia Kristensen 38:07

To be honest, I think it was such a hectic time. I don't know what process was, to be honest with you. And this is a very reflected answer. Um, yeah, you know, I think everything was really popping off, and um yeah, I would probably deal with some things differently today than I did back then. You know, it's everything from lifestyle to relations to entitlement and ego and boundaries, and like yeah, you know, I would like to say as it is, I do not come from a privileged background and fairly chaotic background as well. I uh yeah, like there were a couple of things that I just didn't have sorted like many other people at that age, you know. Yeah, and maybe they had a bit easier start. Maybe I had easier start because of other things, you know. It everyone's journey is is is um is uh individual, but I can't even reply to your question because I think it was very, very chaotic time. And the reason I went full-time was because my boss asked me to resign.

Paul 39:10

Right.

Anastasia Kristensen 39:11

He asked me to resign because he saw how much I was doing with music. He's like, Well, you you know, you you're not here, you're there, you know. And it was very friendly, and they asked me to like in a nice manner, so they didn't fire me, they asked me to resign. So because yeah, and the same evening, uh the same day when my boss asked me, a national TV station, uh equivalent to BBC, has called me and asked if I wanted to do an interview about the youth talent of Denmark. So, yeah, a documentary movie. So it was kind of like, okay, well, I guess something is happening here, you know.

Paul 39:52

Um some people could read that as being like a fate type thing, you know, like this is it this fate is coming and taking you from one place to another. Do you believe in things like fate or do you you more sort of a pragmatic kind of person?

Anastasia Kristensen 40:10

I don't know, but I believe in manifestation techniques, right?

Paul 40:14

Yeah.

Anastasia Kristensen 40:16

Uh but I've never really wanted to be DJ or artists, like the first time things really took off. Uh, I don't think I was prepared for the caliber of it, but I have absolutely no regrets. It's been a crazy life lesson so far. And I think I'm definitely built for that. Definitely now, you know. Maybe there's some things I missed before, but it's also like who hasn't? No, nobody's got it sorted. Uh, you know.

Paul 40:43

Yeah. Yeah, no, I mean 100%. I mean, I feel you, I I don't know if anyone's ever got it sorted. Um, but you feel like you're definitely more sorted than you used to be in terms of like how you balance things and like expectations and like keeping a kind of balance on life.

Anastasia Kristensen 41:04

Yeah, I worked a lot on my mental health, uh, with treatment and with uh exercises and all sorts of stuff, you know. I'm I'm quite uh interested in that uh in wellness um and psychology. And I think, you know, after kind of working on that, a lot of questions that I had are no longer questions, right? You know, so when you long for an answer because you ask a question, but then suddenly you don't even need to ask anything or question anything, I think that kind of helps with a lot of decision making and like the good thing just flows to you naturally. I make it sound like a completely terribly fucked up back in the day. I totally didn't, but I was way more nervous and self-conscious about everything. I was not really acting out of a safe, kind of you know, healthy artist uh psychology kind of hype. You know, I was I was uh I was not prepared mentally for that. I would like to admit it. Yeah. Yeah. You know, maybe I have a talent and skills, but like what was happening in my head and my heart and around me and uh inside of my head, it was it's only now I think I've got some kind of clarity of what I was going through. But I would when you're in the middle of that, and you know, people just constantly tell you how successful you are and how what big talent you are, and every press outlet is there for you, and it was quite overwhelming, you know. And and and the thing is, I never I never even imagined it like that, at least at that time, of of uh, you know, I just really liked nerdy music, and which I still do, you know. Uh, and I think we need more of it. I think that's my mission now, you know.

Paul 42:48

You're on a mission to bring more m nerdy music.

Anastasia Kristensen 42:51

Absolutely. I think uh I I have defined it for myself.

Paul 42:55

Yeah, I think it's it's so interesting what you're saying, actually. I think um there isn't, I don't know, it doesn't feel I feel like that point where people become successful, where in terms of like people getting a lot of attention, um that there's so much in society, particularly in social media, that encourages people to pursue that. And I'm not saying that this is something that you pursued. It sounds like for Menophin that you just always been on a journey just for the music and enjoying the music and where it can go, but there's there's very little that prepares people for just the reality of like attention, isn't there? And and like, I mean, I I've had experiences in in the late 90s, early 2000s when my band got signed and we had like a little wave of attention, and it does it does flip your ego around, you know. Um, it definitely flipped ours in terms of like, oh, you know, um people think we're good, people are saying we're this and that. And it's very easy to start believing what basically maybe a journalist or a record company person or or Someone on social media has complimented you with that is just literally something that they they believe, but they've just fought up because they've written because it sounds good, you know. Um and it could it it can really play with people a bit, can't it? But uh getting to that position, you know.

Anastasia Kristensen 44:19

Yes, absolutely. But I would like to be transparent that the press has absolutely, you know, has been all over me very early on compared to a lot of my colleagues. Um, it was some kind of phenomena in a way because my music got picked up by Call Super, and then you know, it kind of was a chain reaction from there. More people picked up on it, Mixma came to me, then suddenly Red Bull back then Academy Radio, whatever, and like it was a snowball effect, which I didn't know it like I didn't realize I would have a cover five years later, like that's insane. I didn't realize the warp records would reach out to me like uh for their offshoot, you know. So sometimes I feel like yeah, it's definitely was a lot and very early on, but again, like okay, now I'm much better geared for that. Now I, you know, I have a much better better idea of what can be done. But I definitely didn't like you know, I didn't wake up every morning like, hmm, how do I get hold of editor in array so they can write about me? Like, no, like I uh I was finishing my degree and working in IT, health, healthcare IT in the government, and I was actually also very happy about it, you know. And I was a good specialist and I had a very nice social life, and yeah, I was supposed to be working with computers, right? And and then all of this just like with one track and one mix, it's just uh a first agency reaches out to me, and and yeah, it was quite exciting and quite chaotic, but in a good way.

Studio Routine Short Sessions And Rotation

Paul 45:56

And so, yeah, like when it comes to like the production side of things, you know, we've been sort of talking earlier on about the new album and about it's sort of so it's so richly layered and it's kind of chaotic, but at the same time, it follows this sort of dream like logic and it's very tactile. I was wondering about like your studio environment. What is like a typical day like for you in your studio when you're working on something?

Anastasia Kristensen 46:18

I think I would definitely start my project with looking into that bank of material that I spoke of before. Yeah. Because I think having some kind of default palette of sounds is definitely something that could kick start your ideas on the go already. This is also why I'm a big fan of remixes because you already have something to play with, right?

Paul 46:42

Yeah, the blank page can be terrifying.

Anastasia Kristensen 46:45

Oh, absolutely. No, I can't. My studio is uh is actually my home office. Um I have uh quite nice walls, so I don't really need to isolate much, which I'm very lucky about. And since I started producing music around 10 years ago, I didn't really switch my setup. It's pretty much the same. I am a digital producer and I have a couple of scenes that I barely use. Uh I mean hardware. Um, I really think you can get more results with a computer because it is a machine and it's made for counting very fast. And with the today's quality, you can make anything sound like anything, you know. So I keep it again quite uh Scandinavian, very minimalistic, uh, with a couple of gem legs uh and a sandbox, so it absorbs the sound. So it's quite it's very easy and simple. And uh I also prefer shorter sessions. I really think that every 30-30 minutes we need a break, but yeah, uh sometimes a few weeks can pass before I uh I do something new, you know.

Paul 47:54

Yeah, do you do you find um that's really interesting saying about like shorter sessions? I think this is what all of the advice that you know you could read about working, creative work sort of says, isn't it? Like and it goes contrary to that kind of myth about the lone genius sort of spending two weeks in an attic coming up with like epic masterpieces, you know. I'm sure some people do, but um like for you, do you feel like it's very important to have like some kind of sense of regulation into your work, like mixing it with like you know, your outer life and like how much you work based on like putting work in compared to like not working, if that makes sense?

Anastasia Kristensen 48:40

I think the more I think about these things, the more complicated they become.

Paul 48:45

Right.

Anastasia Kristensen 48:46

But I really appreciate your question, and I think I could come up with a lot of different scenarios uh for how it could go, but really the the secret is to just start doing something, even if it's five minutes, even if it's one snare you've been looking at. But like I think intellectualizing um and thinking what's best or what's worst can result in a blank slate, you know, where you still have nothing. I prefer to have several projects kind of happening, like remakes, uh uh collaborations and original works. So I have this kind of three pillars that I try to revisit and rotate. This way you kind of don't get tired and you don't wear your ear off on only one project, you know. I think it's very important to have different kind of like avenues, you know. When I say collab, this is a remote collaboration where people send me their music, I send it back. Um, you know, whereas my own, it would be just my own files and it would have a different style. So it's it's very good to have kind of several small and clear workflows, you know. Not always has to be giant right away, just small steps and uh you know, revisit and do your best next day or next week, you know.

Paul 50:06

Are you good at walking away when you need to? Are you good at shutting down for the day when the ideas dry up?

Anastasia Kristensen 50:12

Yes, for sure. Um I like going out for a walk. I think that's the best, just in general, you know, not only for producing, but uh yeah. I have quite small apartments, so it gets a bit tight here for a long time for many hours. So um, but also with touring, I get to see the world. So once I'm back at home, it's also very nice to spend a couple of days just you know catching up with Ableton and upgrading it. And you know, there is a new device now, chat device, where you can kind of prompt it and design your own device now by just typing it. So I don't know. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I don't know if I'm gonna try it, but uh for ethical reasons yet, but I think it sounds so cool.

AI Worries Economics And Climate

Paul 50:57

I mean, I guess that's an interesting question as well. There'd be ethical concerns about that. Like, I mean, and there's so much dialogue at the moment about like AI in music. Do you feel that that is something that do you feel like threatened by AI? Um, like uh replacing like the artist, or do you feel like there's always going to be a space for like the human exchange?

Anastasia Kristensen 51:22

I'm more worried about the economical and uh climate consequences it's having when all world investments are towards something that doesn't even it's not even built yet, and you know, I think this concerns me way more than whether human connection is gonna persist, because I think it will. Yeah, I also think there is no AI that can make music as weird as I did, you know. So no, I really don't feel a competition at all, right?

Cult Versus Commercial And Live Sets

Paul 51:54

Yeah, and I think rounding off a little bit, like I mean, your music sort of does straddle in a way, like you know, you become really big, but there's always that, as you say, you know, the music nerd element as well. And it seems to be like this fine line that you manage to tread between like cult status and like large-scale commercial activity, you know, playing big stages, but also making music that is very full of personality and doesn't follow like a particular tailored route. Is that like a conscious balance? Because it seems to me if I'm talking to you, there's just a lot of natural flow that goes into how you do things. You know, what is the balance like for you between like cult and commercial?

Anastasia Kristensen 52:38

I think to answer this question, I'll go about it uh a bit untraditionally, but you can expect me, yeah. You can expect me to go maybe even back to grassroots at this point because I am going into life set realm, um, which I would really like to explore more. And I'm still I'm still a Digigirl and I love my Digi Booze, but I just think there is more to music. And when you ask me about balance, well, I think when you are really good, you can balance them because you know what works and why. Yeah. Um, I think professional artists they look at the full kind of environment they're in, you know, sound people, um, and you kind of understand what's gonna work. Is it little tight jackie room or is it a big warehouse with a lot of feedback and you know um things like that will play absolute role in how the night is gonna be shaped? And if you as an artist only think about your own ego and how you look on pictures and how much money you earned, then it's just not for the same reasons, you know. So, yeah, how do I balance it? I think when you just know what what's up, you you just do it.

Paul 53:58

Did I reply your question? I think we gave a really good answer, actually. I I think um The more you do it, the more you learn, you know. Yeah, Anastasia. I that was it. Thank you, thank you so much.

Wrap-Up Album Details And Listener Support

Anastasia Kristensen 54:11

Thank you so much for the chat.

Paul 54:14

Okay, so that was me, Paul Hanford, talking with Anastasia Christensen for the Lost and Sound Podcast. And we had that chat on March the 16th, 2026. Thank you so much, Anastasia, for sharing your time and thoughts with me there. The album Bysterium Sombra, I feel like I pronounced that slightly wrong. My apologies there if I do, is out on May the 8th on Intercept Records. Well, well, well worth checking out. And so, yeah, thanks for listening. If you like listening to Lust and Sound and you haven't already, please do give it a subscribe. It really, really does matter. And if you really want to be special to me and nice, please leave a review on the podcast platform of your choice. It really does help. I know I say that all the time, but it really, really, really does help. Lust and Sound is sponsored by Audio Technica, the global but still family-run company that make headphones, turntables, cartridges, and microphones. They make studio quality, yet affordable products because they believe that high-quality audio should be accessible to all. So wherever you are in the world, head on over to audiotechnica.com to check out all of their range of stuff. The music that you hear at the beginning and the end of every episode of Lost and Sound is by Tom Giddens. And so, yeah, that's it. I hope whatever you're doing today, you're having a really lovely one, and I'll chat to you soon.