I’ve always had an affinity for all electronic music. It’s been more of a personal love that lives rent-free in my head – hitting play on any given playlist – becoming entranced by the variety of sounds these artists create; it’s like finding yourself at a DJing venue, vibing while one’s close to the DJ. Often, when they come into my ear’s plane of existence, personal discography deep dives bring these beautifully enriching DJ Mixes, but more importantly, self-produced tracks that embolden their identity. Hearing and seeing the intimate and more focused live radio mixes to the more illustrious and fun curations by places like MIXMAG and The Boiler Room, it’s not hard to hear their talent, especially within the ID tracks or newly printed singles. I’ve spoken about Nora Van Elken and Telenovel in the past; however, I never made a concerted effort to blog my thoughts about more of these artists, which had found innate replay amongst the varying electronic music I keep in a personal playlist. I’m planning on changing that because these artists have me return without hesitation, so to start the New Year, I thought, why not the artist I’ve been vibing with recently, Nia Archives.

2022 was full of momentous splashes for Nia Archives’ career – a multi-talented artist that can mix, produce, sing, and write music whose craft expands to new realms where blending styles can come subtly and delve the music to unique depths. Sometimes we get subtle dance/EDM influence in the vocals, like on “Luv Like” off her Forbidden Feelingz EP. Yet, she continuously creates these luscious and hypnotically rhythmic breakbeats and jungle/drum-n-bass overtures that are ever-shifting in tone. It also blends into her solo work as some of her chorus performances embody the grooves influenced by dancehall and reggae, like on “18 & Over.” Jungle and Drum-N-Bass – like all electronic music – take from the rhythmic soil that elevated particular instruments to the forefront. Despite House music growing with percussion as one of its core features, the sound and other instruments/sounds started to focus more on synths — not all, but some of the more popular styles we know, like EDM or Tropical House. Jungle and Drum-N-Bass take from varying influential sources like dancehall, funk, and reggae and synchronizes them with these energetically powerful percussion patterns. These genres also embolden the nuanced influences that helped elevate the standards and quality of Grime music, which, in turn, finds common ground with these genres coded from a similar camp.

In Electronic music, there is so much infusion that sometimes you never know other sub-genres (like melodic house or glitch); it’s easy to get lost through many avenues you’ll never know you’ll find yourself in; all you have to do is explore. That’s what I did, and when I hit play on Nia Archives’ Luvleh Mix, it hit me, creating an unwavering head bopping. The way she blended these arcane breakbeat tracks into one illustrious cohesion that doesn’t temper its progression, wavering fantastic levels that keep you engaged, whether you’re already a fan of the genre or discovering. We hear her blending these mesmerizing beats that shift in style, whether it’s atmospherically more echo-y or the tempo is sifting between distinct melodies with tracks that evoke danceable tangibles in the performance like that of mixed song “Greetings” by Red Light. On her Luvleh Mix, the intangibles are there as you get percussion is as vibrant as the rainbow through a glass prism.

Nia Archives has released a few Singles and EPs that embody the essence of breakbeat and jungle/drum-n-bass sounds, bringing this echo chamber of nuance and showing us upbeat energy within her performances. You can hear it in the energetic and fun “18 & Over,” which also sees Nia Archives encouraging her love of the genres that influence her. It’s continuously effervescent in the music she creates, like the monstrously bombastic “Baianá” or the more melodic (comparatively), “So Tell Me,” which brings an essence of dance grooves in the choruses while keeping to that core breakbeat aesthetic. That blend gets heard enormously on her Boiler Room set from September in London; here, we hear these luscious transitions Archives’ creates, seamlessly mixing breakbeat with these overly vigorous percussion notes.

Check out Nia Archives’ work, and let me know how you vibe. I’ll be writing about varying artists and how it was to discover them in the moment. From her EPs to her Mixes, there is a treasure trove of music to play. Unfortunately, for Spotify users, many of these mixes are accessible through Apple Music and YouTube – the former has Mixes available to stream without having to play a video. But regardless, we have that treasure trove of options to seek and listen to, and I hope you do so with Nia Archives, a DJ that I will have on steady rotation all of 2023.