Magazine Sixty talks to DJ and producer Katerina about running labels Émotsiya / Kotarak, KULT Helsinki, and music production.
Welcome to Magazine Sixty, Katerina. It was a pleasure to review your new single, One EP for Rekids. I love the way the melodies intertwine with the contrasting, tougher drums and keys. Can you talk us through how you created One? And, do you have any favourite software/ hardware you use when making music?
Melody is the key for me. I love to play with melodies and harmonies and that’s something that comes naturally for me. It was pretty much in the moment for me with this record as it is usually.
This record was produced and mixed in the box. I don’t really have any favourite software or hardware. It’s more like whatever is new to me, that I’m excited about.
Also listening to your vocals on Get To Know You feels like a similar experience. Where do you find inspiration for the words you write?
I think some inspiration comes from reading and writing a lot of poetry. It’s basically anything and everything. Whatever I’m feeling when I hear the music.
Tell us about the experience of singing for you? In ways, it seems much more personal than just creating an instrumental piece of music?
It’s not easy for me and partly because yes, it feels very personal. Also because I’m not really a singer, it’s taken a lot of encouragement from other people to get me to sing at all. It’s like everything, the more I do it the easier it gets.
Do you think electronic music is missing something by not having more songs?
Yes.
Who are your favorite vocalists (from any genre, inside or outside of dance music)?
I love everyone from Arthur Russell to FKA Twigs. From newer artists, I’m really into Liv.e and John FM. When it comes to local Finnish artists I love Glayden, he’s a star! Lately listening to Future for some comfort. I could go on forever haha…
Do you have a certain microphone that you like to use?
I use Shure SM7B
Where did you learn to produce music? And also can you tell us about how you got onto DJ’ing?
My friends have kindly taught me how to produce over the years and I may have watched a few YouTube videos as well. I have always worked in music, since working for my dad who was a musician as well as a promoter later on in his life. I’m pretty sure that’s how I ended up being a DJ.
What can you tell us about your involvement with KULT Helsinki and about its aims?
KULT is a new club space that is a part of the House of Culture in Helsinki. My responsibility is to curate the programme and I aim to support the local scene as much as possible while doing so.
How would you describe your experience of running your record labels in 2024 (positive and negative)? And what releases have you got coming up?
I love it because I get to be involved with everything from creating the visual identity to curating the music. Since I do almost everything myself including photographing the artists for the artwork and writing the press releases and so on, it gets a bit overwhelming sometimes but I have a good relationship with my distributor, Rush Hour, and I receive support from them too. I mostly release music from artists that are my friends who are based in either one of my home towns Helsinki or Sofia but perhaps there will be some exceptions in the future.
buy Katerina – One EP – Rekids Here
Katerina on Instagram
Émotsiya / Kotarak on Bandcamp
KULT Helsinki
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