Growing up in Poland, Anastazja crossed the border into Germany for funky house and minimal techno parties. Around 2008 she found the underground acid techno scene in Szczecin and became a regular at NEUROSHOCKED nights.
“I wasn’t collecting vinyl or planning to DJ. I was just there, watching and listening, trying to understand what the DJs were doing. I remember seeing the Stay Up Forever crew mix four records at once with such precision. They weren’t just playing tracks. They were creating another sound.”
In 2011 she moved to the UK and went to acid techno nights at 414, Fridge and other London clubs. In 2013, at the Stay Up Forever 10th anniversary at 414, the party was nearly over and the music had stopped. Then another DJ began playing something completely different.
“I remember him so clearly. He was wearing a bandana and, honestly, looked like a Mortal Kombat warrior.”
“I just thought, ‘What the hell is this?’ The music was fast, uplifting and beautiful, with these amazing basslines.”
At home she found out the artist was Savage Circuit, tracked down the two tracks she had heard and played them every day.
“And psytrance was my way of life, it was the main reason why I stayed in UK. And I knew: yeah, this is it. This is my music destination.”
In Manchester she was a regular at Crystal Kids parties. At an afterparty, the founder, Ozzy, told her she had good taste in music and should be a DJ. Then he offered her a B2B set at his next event, about three months away. She was only just learning to mix. Lorraine, one of her biggest inspirations, invited her home and taught her BPM, beatmatching and the basics of mixing.
“I remember her constantly passing me another pair of headphones and saying, ‘Listen to this,’ showing me what she was doing and explaining things.”
A friend of Lorraine’s, also a well-known DJ, offered to sell her his Pioneer CDJ-1000 MK2s and let her pay monthly.
“I had just moved into a new flat. I had a mattress, but practically no furniture. No fridge, no washing machine, not even a proper table. I was literally living around cardboard boxes!”
“But guess what was the first proper thing I bought? My CDJs!”
She had practised at home from CDs. On the night they played from USBs.
“I began with Jumpstreet & Render – No Problems, then mixed into Fungus Funk & Circus Bent – Banger Mutabor. When I did that first mix and heard it all come together perfectly, I thought: ‘Wow… I’m actually doing this!’”
Belonging came when she was playing regularly and people started coming back to hear her.
“I remember looking around at the dancefloor and thinking, ‘Okay… these are my people.’ Nobody cared where I came from. Nobody cared about anything else. We were just there for the music.”
“So I’d say Poland gave me the drive, and the UK gave me the freedom.”
“I always say that the journey is more important than the destination.”
She builds compilations the same way she builds a set. GROOVADELIC was meant to be funky and driving, growing darker with every track.
“Creating a compilation takes a long time if you want something truly unique. I’m very selective about the artists I approach, and I give them specific criteria because I already have a vision of where I want to take the listener.”
Years of Twilight and Night Full-On pushed her towards something faster: Hi-Tech.
“I wanted something fast, but not just fast for the sake of being fast. I needed groove, emotion, melody, and that euphoric feeling. And honestly, you really have to dig deep to find tracks that combine all those elements.”
Rusalka Dreams was meant to show people the beautiful side of Hi-Tech. Much of the inspiration came from the Indian students who came to every one of her London events.
“It reminded me that music doesn’t need explaining. You don’t need to understand the BPM, the subgenre, or the technical side of it. You just need to feel it.”
“For Rusalka Dreams, one of my main criteria when approaching producers was that I wanted them to incorporate violin-inspired synth sounds, influenced by the style of Lindsey Stirling.”
At the end of her darker sets she always played the same track, Tropical Bleyage’s “Nine”.
“I found this track that I called ‘the track I want to marry.’”
Psytrance brought her something else too.
“And, incredibly, psytrance also brought me the love of my life. We actually met through playing at the same event, performing at the same stage.”
“Nine” became the starting point for Soul Flames, the track she made with her partner, Champa.
“Champa did most of the writing and production, and I was definitely the demanding one saying, ‘No, try this… change that…’ But we were building it together. I was bringing my own feeling and direction into the sound.”
“So Soul Flames really came from two completely different musical worlds meeting in the middle.”
“For me, you can’t read a dancefloor from behind the decks, you have to actually be part of it.”
She comes early and is usually one of the last to leave.
“Because if you’re genuinely enjoying what you’re playing, people pick up on that. You don’t always have to give them what you think they expect. Sometimes giving them something unexpected is what makes the moment special.”
“Sometimes you just have to say, ‘Fuck it, I’m going for it.’”
The parties she runs with Champa are meant to be a community, with different styles on one bill, so that someone who comes for one DJ can find another.
“That’s why we’ve started bringing in different activities as well, like origami, drawing and other little creative things. It gives people another reason to sit together, talk, laugh and actually connect with each other.”
“And I really want there to be no ego. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing on the main stage or you’re dancing right at the front. Everyone is bringing something to the party.”
“I also want to give opportunities to other DJs, especially people who are just starting out or maybe haven’t had many chances yet. I know how much that first opportunity can mean.”
She rarely plays the same set twice. For Holy Pendragon she has a plan, because she knows how the lineup will flow.
“I’m going to start much slower and keep building and building until the end.”
“It won’t be just Hi-Tech. I’ll start with darker fast Twilight sounds, then move into deeper, euphoric and hypnotic tracks before getting into some fast bangers. And of course, I’ll bring some Raggatek because it’s very close to my heart. It makes me happy and feels like going back to my roots, just much faster.”
“Poland gave me the drive, and the UK gave me the freedom.”
Anastazja plays Holy Pendragon, Friday 9 October 2026, at The Hairy Dog in Derby. Tickets are on TicketTailor at tickettailor.com/events/psycentral/2228802.
In her own words: “My mission is to take everyone for a proper rollercoaster journey.”
