From GarageBand to Logic Pro, their catalogue dating back to the summer of COVID-19, naagelatin’s new collection of ambient, downtempo and electronic experiments has finally made its way to all major streaming platforms after a distribution delay. It’s the sonic equivalent of a humid haze. Sticky and sickly sweet, the 25-year-old's EP rises like the sun. Exposure is intensive but bright nonetheless, a total tonal shift of their previous moodier works. At its core sits the song “CH0P”; saturnine then jovial, almost juvenile with cool, casual whimsy and warmth.
For naagelatin, real name Naa Ramírez, “CH0P might be [my favourite] ‘cause I feel like it’s the beating heart of the EP. It encompasses the carefreeness that I was kind of going for with releasing this, with sequencing this.” A series of merry, frolicsome “la la la”s reveals a sprinkle of Ramírez’s vocal offerings, front and centre across . “I’ve definitely released music prior with my voice, I’m trying to incorporate it more, but it’s tricky to wrap my head around recording myself and being comfortable. I feel like ‘CH0P’ is one of the most in your face [tracks], like, ‘Yeah, I'm gonna show you my fucking voice being obnoxious and whatever.’”
A natural Arca comparison can be drawn to the track’s mutant reggaeton flavour; the Venezuelan visionary’s influence has been long embedded in Ramírez’s DNA ever since the ninth grade. At one point, you could find a young Ramírez on stan Twitter posting edits of their idol. “She practically raised me, same with Björk or M.I.A., they’re just woven into everything I do. I’ll put on the tin foil hat from time to time, I don’t mind.”
Recent listening has pulled Ramírez towards the orbit of Copenhagen's thriving, underground alt-pop scene. “I’ve been listening to a lot of Smerz and Erika de Casier,” they note. “Overall, the Copenhagen musicians that do these very minimalistic and rudimentary beats, I’ve been really attracted to exploring that with my stuff.”
By their own admission, “CH0P” was a way for Ramírez to “throw all taste out the window.” Off-kilter, rough around the edges, but polished enough for the total package. “I really just want to fucking dig in and go for it and have fun.” The story behind the song’s title is just as straightforward sounding. “I was like, ‘This is chopped as fuck, but I’m gonna enjoy the chop of it all, and revel in the chop.’”
Prior to earning their degree in sound design and audio engineering, Ramírez explored film, animation and photography. Rather than approaching with a traditionally rigid concept, Ramírez allowed its complete identity to emerge organically from a candid, impromptu photograph. A simple scorching snapshot birthed the cover, and from there they began compiling. Producing a synergy between audio and visual came spontaneously. “I just went on this binge of connecting these different songs to this image, finding the sequence that felt right to me and embodied that energy that I would get from the image,” they explain.
Songs without any predetermined narrative like “digestion demo” made the final cut. By name and nature they’re just as instinctive as the EP’s artwork. Ramírez considers “digestion demo” one of their proudest production pieces. “I love listening to it. When I made it initially, I would just loop it over and over. I’m like, ‘You know what? I’ll just release it as is. If I really enjoy this, someone’s probably gonna enjoy it as well.’” Another “random ass demo” is “pedal”, tacked in as ’s closer. Selling its sour synth sound, “lithium ion battery juuce” sees Ramírez reinterpreting unreleased compositions. “It doesn’t feel super pleasant to the ears, in my opinion, but it’s still fun. I don’t think it’s on key at all, and I don’t really care, that’s just the feel of the song.”
Even the moniker “naagelatin” lived as a random Xbox username before acquiring a more thoughtful meaning. “I think of gelatin as this byproduct of skin and carcasses,” Ramírez explains. “My work is my natural processing byproduct of every information I take in the world; those are the carcasses I’m taking in. My music is my gelatin, it’s my little condensed creation.”
Still, Ramírez considered a strategy in the pairing of their ambient songs with what would become the “sunniness” of . Before “CH0P” there’s “hybrid”; some may call it a lull in the tracklist, and others call it breathing room. “It’s odd to me, but at the same time, it’s kind of right. As much as I love those highs, I really love the energetic crashes in the EP. Sun’s coming down.”
Since their humble debut in 2024 with SoundCloud mixtape and EP 5, naagelatin has moved through drum and bass, indulged in industrial techno, and relished the seemingly disparate influences of post-punk, noise and hip-hop. Their practice is one of sensation, earning collaborations within Puerto Rico’s queer art scene, though Ramírez describes themself as more of an observer within that community. Surrounded by friends more deeply involved in the club circuit, their own music, they admit, can be difficult to imagine in such established environments. “I still don’t know how my music translates to large spaces. I find it hard to envision a lot of people jumping to my stuff.”
In the interim, their focus lies on creating music for shorts and student films. Developing for almost two years now, Ramírez and Puerto Rican artist AV María are putting together an experimental pop album. “I have a lot of songs in the vault, I could drop three albums if I wanted to.” Until further notice, naagelatin leaves behind a project that is second-nature, susceptible, and all the better for it.