Martyna Maja talks law school dropouts, teenage heroes, fashion week and her dream collab with Korn, in between shows during her A/V tour through Europe and North America.

Martyna Maja, better known as VTSS, answered our questions from somewhere between cities. For the past few months, she’s been in multiple countries, venues and time zones. Such is life when you’re VTSS: the Polish-born and NYC based DJ, producer, singer and songwriter, currently on the final leg of her tour that took her new A/V show developed alongside longtime collaborator Freeka Tet across Europe, the UK and North America.

First emerging from Warsaw’s underground scene in the late 2010s, VTSS built her reputation on high-intensity, maximalist club sets. Uninterested in dark, monotonic sounds, she actively pushed the boundaries of techno. Since leaving Poland at age 24, she’s lived across Europe’s club capitals, from Berlin to London, where she had a breakout moment with her Boiler Room set in 2019, before landing in New York. 

Over the past decade, that refusal to stay in one lane, making VTSS a 360 project, has been Martyna’s defining characteristic. While she first made her name through her maximalist productions and sets, her current A/V tour feels like the clearest expression yet of how far her creative world has expanded. Developed alongside longtime collaborator Freeka Tet, the show combines music and visuals into a special fully realised universe that sits somewhere between a club set, live performance and multimedia project.

It doesn’t stop there: In recent years, VTSS has become a familiar face on runways for labels including Ottolinger and Dilara Findikoglu while continuing to challenge expectations around what a techno artist can be. Earlier this year she released “The Lobby” alongside Hudson Mohawke and LSDXOXO, a collaboration that further pushed her sound beyond traditional club music, and she’s also set to make her acting debut in Boy Harsher’s upcoming horror film The Lonely Woman alongside FKA twigs and Chloë Sevigny later this year.

Below, she talks about dropping out of law school after discovering Unsound Festival, collaborating with artists she grew up listening to, the realities of life on tour, and why Korn remains at the top of her collaboration wishlist.

Do you remember the first club night or set that made you feel like you’d found your world?

I’ve been going clubbing since my (inappropriately) young teenage years, but it was the first Unsound Festival I attended that changed my life (to be dramatic!). I was in uni, studying law in Krakow, and one of my friends dragged me to this obscure festival at an old communist hotel. That was the exact moment I first thought about dropping out to pursue music. I sat on the idea for an extra year, but eventually, I did drop out of law school, went to study sound engineering, and told my parents the phrase every parent dreams of hearing: “I’m going to be a DJ.”

In what ways did the Warsaw club scene shape your sound and your attitude towards rave culture? How does it differ from the scene in Berlin or London?

Everyone asks me about this, and every year I have less and less to say. I moved out of Warsaw almost 10 years ago, so my knowledge on the topic fades with time – and visiting biannually doesn’t make me an expert by any means. The scene that shaped me back then, though, was very DIY, distorted, pretentious, loud, gatekeep-y, passionate, and offline. I bet it’s completely different right now.

How did your relationship with fashion begin, and when did it become part of the VTSS language? 

I was always interested in fashion, but I didn’t quite have the balls to follow my instincts (or the wallet…). Over time, that relationship tightened up, partly due to my spending habits, but also because the rave world has become increasingly welcomed at fashion weeks and referenced in collections. It just felt very natural to me.

You’ve walked for Dilara Findikoglu, Diesel, Kim Shui and Ottolinger and modelled for KNWLS, how does being on a runway or in front of the camera compare to being on a stage? 

Performing as a DJ really helped me get comfortable with the idea of being perceived and judged. DJing is exciting because the smallest movement you make on your headphones might seem minor, but in the room, everyone can hear your mistakes or mishaps. That’s a very thrilling idea for me. I’m an adrenaline freak, so things that are safe and too rehearsed have never been appealing to me. I always need to do something risky to keep myself entertained.

It’s the same with walking in shows, or my recent experience acting in my first horror movie – it was exhilarating to relinquish the control I usually have and perform in a totally different setting. I do think all the DJing – which these days, fortunately or unfortunately, is very much a performance – helped build my confidence and shamelessness.

What’s your fashion holy grail?

My absolute fashion grail is that Sex and the City Christian Dior newspaper dress that Carrie wore. It was Autumn/Winter 2000 by John Galliano, I think. They go for something like $50k right now…

What inspires the visual world around VTSS? How do you find creatives to work with you on your visuals?

All my favourite visual collaborations have always been with people I was already close with – people who truly get me, rather than just relying on what they find online about who VTSS is. My recent collaborator, Freeka Tet, who has been a very close friend for about four or five years now, first designed my Coachella show and is now doing my A/V headline tour. There are ups and downs to working with friends, but it’s hard to feel as deeply understood by strangers who are just pitching something based on their “idea” of you.

How does your show prep differ between a huge festival stage like Coachella and your own headline club show? 

The size of the venue never changes my approach – I feel the exact same about a 500-cap club as I do about a 30k festival stage. However, if it’s an A/V show, it operates almost like live touring, so there is absolutely no partying before (or after), haha. For standard DJ sets, which are very plug-and-play, it always feels like a party. There is beauty in both!

What was it like working with artists like Hudson Mohawke and Boys Noize? What did you learn from them? 

I listened to both of these gentlemen religiously when I was in high school. I remember seeing TNGHT (Hudmo + Lunice) as a teenager in some basement back in Warsaw, and I saw Boys Noize at my first strictly electronic music festival, ‘Selector’, right after graduating. It feels like a massive full-circle moment getting to be close friends and collaborators with both of them.

They didn’t just see me as a techno DJ; they actively supported my more obscure productions and ambitions . Hudmo even wanted to release one of the weirdest songs I made, “Trust Me.” They were both incredibly encouraging of my decision to make non-typical releases, rather than just dropping standard techno EPs to stay relevant in the DJ booking circuit. I think all my artistic growth over the last few years came from making non-techno music with them (and others). We actually made like 20+ songs that are waiting for the right time. Now, I’m really excited to translate that knowledge into finally getting back to producing and releasing some straight-up techno again after a few years’ hiatus.

Who would you love to collaborate with next that might surprise people? 

Korn.

What are your must-haves for a perfect night in a club or festival? 

Clase Azul (sorry!). I’m too old for a cheap tequila hangover.

When a show is over, how do you come back to yourself after performing at that intensity? 

It took me many years to find a balance and bring all that excitement down enough to actually sleep. Sometimes, even when you’re fully sober, it’s incredibly hard to be alone and fall asleep after all that adrenaline. Meditation helps, and so does reminding yourself that you’re ‘not all that’. At the end of the day, performing is beautiful and incredible, but it’s not real life and doesn’t show your true value as a human. Real life for me is my routine, my friends, my family, and my dog, and how I treat all of the above. 

When people leave this A/V show, what do you hope lingers with them? 

That it is cool to care! It is cool to be proud of your work, to do things differently, and to invest your energy in art – even if it feels risky and doesn’t come with an immediate payout.

Catch VTSS on the final date of her A/V tour: 12th June: Avalon, Los Angeles or 13th June: The Regency Ballroom, San Francisco.