Natalia Roth press photo.
Audio By Carbonatix
Sweet Collapse is one of many EPs from Natalia Roth, the Miami producer, resident DJ at Club Space, and solo artist. This record, released on Handpicked, a sub-label of California’s Music is 4 Lovers, obviously carries a techno sound that has made her a regular on Space’s darker lineups.
Still, the EP and Roth herself seek refinement. On the one hand, her five-year career as a producer, DJ, and figurehead to her party series at downtown’s Floyd, Melódie, has landed her in Ibiza for renowned parties like Marco Carola’s Music On, hardly known for darker-sounding music. On the other hand, she continues to release icy tracks on darker-sounding labels.
“I feel like my sound has developed more in detail,” Roth posits to New Times about the lineage of her sound. An early big break for the Puerto Rican native was having an EP signed to Sci + Tec, a minimal techno label founded by the legendary DJ, Dubfire.
“I think over the years, I have gotten more nitty-gritty into the sounds I like and the story I tell. I think it has become more defined, but it still retains a raw, dark essence. Always.”
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It wouldn’t be incorrect to say Sweet Collapse carries a “techno” gene: The tracks have pounding bass lines, tunneling melodies, and a steady repetition, but that alone will not cover the four corners of the EP. “If I had to name what the genre is, I wouldn’t be able to tell you,” she confesses. It’s ultimately a step forward to finding where she wants to plant herself.
The EP’s title is also not easy to place. Roth describes a year filled with highs and lows that all influenced the album she began creating in early 2025. “It was all coming together for something amazing. I had a great year. There were a lot of rough moments, but also amazing things. Career-wise, I checked off a lot of dreams.”
The first track, “Sweet Collapse,” begins with an electro tinge, featuring spiny pads, percussion, and robotic vocals — “What would you say if I told you . . .” — before unfolding into a sci-fi-sounding minimalist strip of music. Artists like DJ Tennis or Chris Stussy come to mind who could play this loud and true.
You then have the Adam Collins remix, which is cleaner-sounding — maybe a tad darker, falling somewhere in the mid-set or after-hours range. “When the time came, the label owner asked me who wanted to remix, and I asked Adam. I’ve looked up to Adam for a long time,” says Roth.
“Mind Mime” keeps that tunneling drive with its reverberating synth work and hazy breaks. Roth lends vocals to the track: “In the darkest corners/I face my own reflection/a mirror of the silence that goes without direction.”
Roth comments on this track: “This one might have something more progressive with a little bit of techno and a bit of acid.” The structure stays linear — no beefed-up, ear-piercing drops or superfluous ambient buildups. It’s a bullet train going down a 10,000-mile track.
Lastly, Chklte remixes and blesses it with a house-like feel. Its muffled bass rattles deep in the speaker, something a seasoned veteran like Mr. G would drop.
Despite the EP’s versatility, it has not been easy for Roth to play these out. Because she has been invited to play a variety of sets with different genres, mixing something like “Mind Mime” may not work for, say, an Art Basel opening slot.
“One thing that was happening is that since I’m a resident, I was getting different bookings all over the place. It could be a tech-house party or a techno party, and it was confusing people about what I would play,” she says. “This year, I am being more intentional about what I play. It’s not even about techno or house parties. It’s more based on vibes.”
Roth’s ultimate conquest would be welding her love of non-DJing music with what she plays at the clubs.“I like a lot of Spanish rock and alternative and industrial,” she lists. “I want to be able to evolve my sound into my dance music and listening music to colloid,” though this is the same DJ who once mixed between techno and Charly García, Pedro Aznar’s synth pop song “Hablando a Tu Corazón.”
Roth will welcome the new year with a special b2b set at Floyd with Dalva, Rello, and Ms. Mada on January 4, and as an opener for Nicole Moudaber at Space on January 17.
As a resident, a DJ would expect to have wild stories to tell about closing out the club well into the morning as possible. Roth’s only tale is that she is spinning on the Club Space Terrace, an achievement fewer than a dozen DJs on the planet can say. “It has let me be able to read a room better, and it gave me the tools and space to read artists and gave me a platform to be where I am now.”
But she is ready to plant herself in a sound that fits her tastes — the only question remains what that is. Being in the music industry has given Roth a list of things she doesn’t want to be known for, which is almost as good. “The whole genre thing is so confusing,” even an artist of her caliber admits.
She hopes to find her sound, or the right place, to harmonize.“I want to do my own sound where I can fit in certain lineups, but whose music can also fit there.” When asked what that may be, she admits, with a laugh, “I don’t know, that’s what I’m still trying to figure out.
