Hello Anna, how are you today?

Hey, I’m good, thanks! I feel lucky to be safe these days and to keep doing what I love.

You seem to be a very versatile artist—you produce, teach, mix, and organize events…

Right! Ever since I discovered my passion for audio production, I’ve worked in a variety of roles. My first job (2011-2012) was as an audio engineer at the Eurosport TV channels’ broadcasting studio in Moscow. Later, I worked as a sound technician on film sets for entertainment TV programs, then moved into sound design and music production in game development. For eight years, I mastered music for Hyperboloid Records and organized sound system parties.

I’ve accumulated a lot of experience in sound and music, and because I enjoy helping others, it naturally led to me sharing my knowledge. After leaving Russia in 2022, I launched my YouTube channel to reach a wider audience. It encouraged me to keep learning, and my workflow has consistently improved. I’ve become more engaged with people, and it’s so rewarding to see the great feedback on my tutorials! Even some cool music tech companies have reached out for collaborations because of them – I feel like I’m moving exactly in the direction I want to be.

Your music crosses genres and could be described as break-heavy, hybrid bass music, influenced by glitch, footwork, juke, and drum & bass. How did you reach this point? What’s your story of evolving within the music world? What inspired you to create this distinctive style?

I think the main reason I make cross-genre music is that I genuinely love all the styles you mentioned. I also love jungle, breakbeat, and dubstep. At home, I often listen to ambient music, hip-hop, R’n’B, or even dark jazz. When I was a teenager, I loved heavy alternative rock music, and I’m still vibing to The Mars Volta. I guess, when I sleep at night it all gets mixed in my head, and then I wake up, open Ableton Live, and this weird A.Fruit music gets written.

In addition to being a DJ and producer, you’re also a sound designer creating music for video games and ads. Can you share some recent sound design projects you’re most proud of and the stories behind them?

My favorite project was Spire of Sorcery. It’s a turn-based fantasy strategy game, for which I composed a mysterious and dark soundtrack – hours of music I’m really proud of. There’s a demo version available on Steam, but unfortunately, the project has been on hold for some time. I hope it’ll be revived, completed, and fully released someday.

Another project I’m proud of is Gremlins, Inc., a steampunk-style online board game where I did both the music and sound design. For this project, I recorded unique sounds from vintage clocks and mechanisms to craft a fitting soundscape. This project’s style is very different from the music I released as A.Fruit, but it was a fascinating experience.

Speaking of sound design, what’s one piece of equipment or VST you currently can’t live without, and why?

If we’re talking equipment, I can’t go without Ableton Push 3 – it’s my main workhorse. My workflow has become so much better and faster since I started using it.

As for VSTs, I’m a huge fan of Kilohearts’ Phase Plant. I’ve even created a tutorial about it, along with a bunch of bass presets and a sample pack based on those presets. Even though Kilohearts hasn’t approached me for collaboration, I did it purely out of love for their software – I use Phase Plant in every single project.

When you lived in Russia, you organized your own events called ‘Get High On Bass,’ including special “GRL PWR” editions that focused on empowering women in the scene.

Get High On Bass was truly magical. It was possible because of the passionate music lovers I met in Moscow and Saint Petersburg while learning to produce and DJ. I literally started an event series because all my friends were DJs or learning to DJ too, and we didn’t fit in a bedroom studio anymore. Our focus was on UK sound, leftfield and experimental bass music, footwork, and juke. These genres weren’t widely played in Russia, so the events attracted a unique crowd. The support we received even allowed us to invite some of my favorite producers and DJs from abroad (in 2018-2019), including Itoa, Shield, Sarah Farina, and Anna Morgan.

Meeting Anna Morgan at Outlook Festival 2016 in Croatia was actually the first time I met a woman whose musical taste and approach matched mine so closely. It was an inspiring connection that encouraged me to find more women with similar tastes in Russia and reach out to them. That’s how I started inviting girls from other cities to play at Get High On Bass together with my male DJ friends, and once it became enough women to fill the whole lineup, GRL PWR nights were born. These all-female lineups not only helped empower women in bass music but also showed the broader community that talent transcends gender. It worked as a platform not only to help women in bass music to get more visibility in the male-dominated music community, but also to help men to see that there’s no gender difference when it comes to a professional slamming of the dancefloor. No matter if it was a GRL PWR edition or our regular event where men and women perform together – it was always a crazy energy, and we would just hang out all together. When you see all-male lineups everywhere, all-female lineups can be a norm too, and it isn’t just something made by women for women. It’s something for everyone who’s into particular music and vibe and yes, it’s all-female lineup, and you will see not only talented women there, but also men – famous local bass DJs, coming to GRL PWR to dance their asses off and respect female DJs for the selections and blends, just like they do with their male music mates. Then on next events, we all play back-to-back together. That’s when, as I feel, the real equality starts – when you ruin prejudices in your head and start seeing other people as human beings who are similar to you, instead of opposing yourself to them. The main idea is to unite us all by a shared love for music.

Are you considering launching similar parties in Spain? How do you perceive the bass music scene here in terms of its audience, events, collectives, and local artists? What opportunities or challenges do you see for growing this genre in Spain?

Bass music scene in Spain feels small, but there are a lot of great people from different countries contributing to it these days. I think it’s visibly growing and has great potential. I already met some incredibly passionate musicians, promoters, and collectives here, they’re coming from all over the world, from different cultures… The city and the scene are super multicultural, and it’s inspiring me a lot. I’ve been living in Barcelona for only 2 years though and the challenges of immigration distracted me a lot, so I still have a lot to discover. I’m considering launching parties in Barcelona in the future, but organizing events is a lot of work, and starting from scratch in a new place alone is not easy. At the moment, I’m focusing on finding people who are sharing my music taste and ideas – people who we can be friends with and create a community together.

So far I’m having these little regular gatherings on my terrace where we play b2b2b with our small cute international crew, and it’s been a lot of fun!

In a previous interview, you mentioned that when you started out in 2015, you “didn’t see any women on the scene” and thought, “This is not for girls, this is impossible.” How do you feel about the state of the bass music scene for women 10 years later? Have we made progress? Why?

Well, first of all, I should say: I started to see more only when I WANTED to see more. I didn’t care if the music I liked was made by a man or a woman before I found myself in particular in the music scene, surrounded almost only by men, for a long time. Honestly, it felt strange. Now it feels like the scene is maybe 70% male. I also saw this number in some recent studies about the gender balance in the music scene in general. So it’s not as strange as before, but still very far from equality in the lineups, if we’re aiming for this. So I think some progress is definitely made, but if we want to move further, we need to educate people more, support each other more, work together on ruining stereotypes, and making more people want to see change in this direction.

Reflecting on your “Get High on Bass” events in Russia and your Russian-Ukrainian roots while living in Barcelona, this must be an incredibly challenging time for you. How has the war impacted you and your music?

I always called Ukraine my second motherland, because my parents were born there, and I used to go to Kyiv to visit my grandfather since I was a baby. So what’s happening there breaks my heart and I sincerely condole with all Ukrainians who have lost their loved ones, lost their future. I despise Putin and his supporters for destroying peaceful life in both countries and for spreading so much lies and hate. Before 2014, I went to Ukraine many times – I saw the Orange Revolution and its peaceful protest, I saw how Ukrainians wanted and needed to become a part of the European Union, and I saw the horrible Russian propaganda spreading lies and hate against them. For the whole decade before the full-scale invasion happened. This all has been making me feel angry, sad and helpless, I was making tracks about this – for instance, “Wars” and “Propaganda”. The annexation of Crimea in 2014 was an actual event that led my family to a decision to immigrate. I’m a pacifist, and I didn’t believe that it all led to a big war, I just did not want to believe, and also I was young, naive and full of hopes, just starting to find a place in the Moscow music scene… So I was staying in Russia even after my parents had already left, and in 2022 I was among the anti-war protesters on the streets – until it became too dangerous, and then I eventually left too. Actually, a huge part of our music crew and audience left the country, it’s crazy how far away from each other we are now.

A couple of my best friends who we always used to go to raves together are now living in Argentina – our lovely peaceful music people are now spread all over earth, really. A few years ago, we couldn’t even imagine that life would turn that way – that’s just insane.

What can we expect from A.Fruit in the near future? Any upcoming releases, projects, or shows?

You can expect a lot of new music! Firstly, I have a 6-track EP coming soon on YUKU—it’s my second release on this label, and I’m so proud that my music has found a place among all the mind-blowing releases they put out. YUKU is my favorite record label at the moment, and you will hear a lot of new and upcoming music from their catalog in my Adrenaline Mix.

Besides that, I have some exciting remixes coming out on Defrostatica, SPE:C, and Yanked Beats, along with many inspiring collaborations with friends and colleagues on the way – we’re currently cooking up something with Catnapp, Sestrica, Oddkut, Alllone, and more! I will also continue making regular self-releases on Bandcamp, and I’m about to put more effort into creating educational content and activities for my YouTube channel and Patreon subscribers. There’s really a lot going on on my side, so stay tuned!

Where would you recommend listening to this Adrenaline episode, and what state of mind should listeners bring?

I must warn everyone that this mix is really heavy. I would recommend using it for a workout or for shaking off stress after work at home. Maybe listen with someone who shares your love of “weird” music and has an extremely cute bass face, or enjoy it alone while admiring your own extremely cute bass face in the mirror. Listen with the state of mind where you want to stop thinking and let your mind dance.

What’s your favorite track in the mix, and what makes it stand out for you?

I can’t answer this question because I only play my favorite tracks, each of them stands out to me and deserves to find more listeners – that’s one of the main reasons why I choose to play these tunes!

Tracklist

1. Shinra Knives – Some of Y’all Don’t
2. Průvan – Zlobivá
3. Anadeezy – Go To Work
4. Turismo Blu – Narcotic Excitement
5. Ron Mercy – From The Back
6. Portway – Proto
7. TRAKA – Fatime
8. SNKLS – ESSENCE III
9. Pura Pura – I Love Music Too
10. Rea – Baile Bump
11. Autechre – Simmm (A.Fruit VIP)
12. ????? – ?????
13. Apex Twin – Alberto Balsalm (A.Fruit VIP)
14. Mark Cloud – The Second Last Scene
15. ????? – ????? (?????)
16. Bastin Benjamin – Glistening (Maude Vôs’ Moonbeam Remix) (Whos susan) 
17. ????? – ????? (?????)
18. Torn – Immortal
19. uu011 – a3
20. ????? – ????? (?????)
21. Aroma Nice – your gonna get it
22. Midik – Tribes.
23. Bleep Bloop – Brutality w-Baseck
24. Alllone – Dynamo
25. Mo_Vibez – Wisdom
26. Noer the Boy – Molten Iron
27. Sentic Cycle – Puta
28. RDMT – rreaper
29. ????? – ?????
30. Foreign Beggars, Ocean Wisdom, Machine Drum, Fracture – 100 Standard
31. Eprom – The Search