Daria Kolosova's skyrocketing international reputation is all about keeping audiences on their toes. In blending pounding techno, hardcore, breakbeat, jungle, and electro, she consistently delivers electrifying mixes built on instinct and precision. It's an energy you can feel for yourself on Saturday, March 1, as Control Club welcomes Daria Kolosova to Bucharest.
Lutugino, eastern Ukraine, may not exactly be where one associates many of electronic music’s leading disruptors, but that’s where Kolosova’s story begins. In a musical household, she absorbed her DJ and bassist father’s deep love for music. At age nine, when she heard The Prodigy’s war cry, Diesel Power, her artistic world opened up. Recognizing a growing interest in music, her mother enrolled her in piano lessons. This early training would provide a foundational knowledge of music theory, melody, and structure. While formal training gave her the technical know-how, she found herself more drawn to the pulse of electronic music over classical compositions. By 2010, she was DJing in Lugansk’s clubs. But she would quickly outgrow her limited surroundings and set her sights on the bustling Ukrainian capital.
Kyiv's electronic music scene was an ecosystem of creativity where Kolosova dove right in. She adopted the alias Dar:k and became a resident at Keller Club, a subterranean techno haven. There, she co-founded Materia UA with Berchy, a party series where unrelenting techno collided with the unexpected.
As her confidence and skill expanded, she shed the Dar:k moniker, stepping forward under her own name. Her sets became cult experiences in Kyiv’s no-frills underground—Closer, Otel, and the elusive K41—where she carved out a reputation as a selector who threw dancefloors into a frenzy, and the world took notice.
A crucial turning point came in 2015 when Kolosova met Nastia at Moscow’s Outline Festival. The meeting would spark a performance relationship that took the two well beyond Ukraine: Arma17, Warung, Fabric, Rex Club, and a Boiler Room set at Pacha Ibiza, to name a few. In 2020, she joined Nastia’s NECHTO label as a resident. Soon, Kolosova was being booked for the biggest stages—Berghain, Bassiani [add profile link], BASEMENT, London’s Fold, and Amsterdam’s Shelter. The festival circuit followed: Awakenings, Time Warp, Junction 2, Tomorrowland, Into the Woods, Rotterdam Rave, NEOPOP, and Strichka. In 2023, she took on Ibiza full force, appearing at Amnesia, Hï, and DC10. Each of these sets proved that for Kolosova, DJing is about orchestrating catharsis. Her breakout HÖR set, now with 3 million+ views, also defined this. Though it captured the sheer force that define her sets, her real playground remains the club.
Aside from Nastia, Kolosova has also partnered with Etapp Kyle, with whom she shares an artistic and personal relationship. Their frequent B2B sets are eclectic, energy-driven chemistry masterclasses, with Kyle also encouraging a deeper push into production.
Despite all the highs, this career ascent is not without its challenges. Constant travel, overnight performances, and the expectation of flawless sets have come to affect even the most seasoned of traveling DJs. To avoid burnout, Kolosova has candidly spoken about the mental strain of DJing at this level. In something of a rarity in the scene, she has openly discussed working with a therapist and the importance of maintaining mental well-being.
Now based in Berlin, Kolosova continues expanding her arsenal, ensuring that no two sets are ever the same. She is now one of modern techno's most exciting and unpredictable forces, with a future as limitless as her music.
