SUNRISE BANG UR HEAD AGAINST THA WALL: RED LP

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Brought through last year by the awesome EQ50 mentorship helping womxn to progress in jungle and drum and bass, Nia has since been developing into an artist with a real understanding behind her music. With a heritage founded on Caribbean sound system culture, combined with her teenage years spent writing albums worth of music for fun, it feels like music has always been the destined path for Nia – a dream she is finally living. Goods that are faulty or sent in error must be returned to Crash Records Limited, 35 The Headrow, Leeds, LS1 6PU within 7 working days of the item being received by the customer. Thank you! Before I made jungle I used to make boom bap hip-hop blended with neo soul. I love the sound of jungle drums, so I try to put my melodies and sounds on top of them.

Absolutely. Looking at what has happened, I don’t think I can recall a jungle artist who has had such a dramatic rise in a short space of time. You’ve really got the scene talking. NiaArchives:‘Baianá’ is from another EP, which is going to have a really different feeling to the last one. That was a club record; the next one is going to be the sameNiaArchives, but a lot more refined, a lot more focused on the songs. Half of them, I’m like, “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe this is jungle.” And it is! It’s still 170bpm, but there’s just a lot of musical elements to it. I want the first album to be really special; Lauryn Hill only made one, but it was so iconic! I’m aiming for that level of musicality. Maybe next year. That’d be amazing. In This Article: I’ve not done any gigs as Nia Archives… Not gonna lie, I’m bare nervous. But in some ways it’s good as there are no expectations. No one knows what it will be like. I only started teaching myself how to DJ last year. I’m literally learning as I go. Here are the best photos from the winners’ room at the Rolling Stone UK Awards in collaboration with Rémy Martin I moved out when I was 16-years-old and I feel like that inspired my journey a lot. It was a transformative period. I went through a lot of stuff at that age and needed an outlet to express what I’d been through. It sounds cheesy, but music did save me in a way. I’m not good at expressing myself in other ways, so I started writing. That’s why I have so many lyrics from that age because I was very emotional. I started creating as a form of escapism. That period showed me what I wanted to do, because before that, I was just going through the motions. People told me music wasn’t realistic, but now I’m getting to a point where it feels like I can really do this.

I’m glad! I always loved singing as a kid. I only started making beats because I was singing for other producers and they were messing me about. I thought I might as well do it myself. That’s when I started singing over my productions. I love harmonies and layers, so I try to use my voice as an instrument – chopping it up and manipulating it. If you haven’t heard anything about Nia Archives then the question has got to be asked – where have you been? Arguably one of the most talked about newcomers breaking onto the jungle scene right now, at 21-years-old Nia is an exciting prospect on her way to big things. NiaArchives:Yeah, I think so. I’m half-Jamaican, so I’ve grown up with sound system culture, with dancehall and jungle. I grew up loving the basslines in dancehall tunes, and I found that jungle tends to have similar rhythms; plus, there’s a lot of sampling of reggae in jungle, especially on stuff out of London like Saxon, and those sound clashes. There’s a lot of crossover between Britain and Jamaica there, and I’m proud of my dual heritage. I feel like it’s something I didn’t get the opportunity to express when I was younger. Definitely. I never want to force anything. When I’m not feeling productive I will go and do something else that’s not music because I want my music to be authentic. I don’t want to force a beat out. I feel like you should always vibe to your music. With my debut EP, I listened to it for a whole year without anyone else hearing it. Making sure I love my music is the most important thing to me. NiaArchives:Yeah! I think I kind of manifested that. My friend Delphino, who I’ve made a few videos with, he’s Brazilian, and I said to him last year, “We’re going to go to Brazil together one day.” I didn’t know it’d be this soon, but I was so drawn to it — it seemed inevitable. We went into a favela community to film, and meeting the locals, playing football with the kids who dance in the video, that was such an experience. People seemed to appreciate that I’d paid homage to their culture with ‘Baianá’, even though I’d made it into something so different. Nia Archives (Picture: Cosmo Webber)

I know, it’s crazy! I’m still processing it to be honest… I think one of the reasons things have progressed so fast is because what I’m doing is not really being done in the scene right now. I don’t have an ego, but I feel like I’m approaching my sound from a different perspective, so that’s maybe why it stands out more. Yeah. I wrote Crossroads when I was 17-years-old. I’m not sure what was going on at the time, but somehow I wrote enough tunes for a whole album. I’m slowly trying rework all those old lyrics. Crossroads was originally written over a boom bap beat. It was one of the first beats I started, but the final beat I made last year. Speaking of improvements, it seems like EQ50 was the big moment helping you to reach the next level.Was there a moment in time when you felt like you’d made a breakthrough with the kind of sound you wanted to achieve? I’ve not done any gigs as Nia Archives… Not gonna lie, I’m bare nervous. But in some ways it’s good as there are no expectation. No one knows what it will be like. I only started teaching myself how to DJ last year. I’m literally learning as I go. It’s something that we already knew; on her releases to date, particularly the EPs Headz Gone West and Forbidden Feelingz, everything from her sample selection to the effervescent energy of her work suggests an unbridled passion for her genre of choice, one born of her Jamaican heritage but solidified when she crossed the Pennines to Manchester and immersed herself in rave culture. Read next

Erraticism meets composure on Robbie & Mona’s sophomore album, Tusky . Crafted out of disparate samples connected during post-production, Tusky treads a world of dark jazz experimentalism and finds solace in the abstract. It’s a release filled with grandeur, but knows its limits as glitching electronica unites sultry piano harmonies, vocal etherealism and improvised saxophone parts. It’s an intense listen, but an exciting journey into the unknown.–BR I started doing it for fun a couple of years ago. I got this Sony Handycam and began filming everything. My memory is really bad, so I like to capture moments on video. I’ve loved making videos since I was a kid. I started adding my own music onto the videos and that allowed me to show everyone what I’ve been producing. That’s how I got the archives name. I love ‘90s VHS and rave documentaries, so I was trying to emulate that. Haha, yeah! My nanna influenced a lot of my early music because I spent a lot of time with her. I used to go to her house and she would have a big sound system. In Caribbean culture everyone has a sound system in their house. My nanna would always show me tunes. She put me onto bare disco, rare groove, soul and funk. It’s mad how all these little influences changed the way I listen to and write music. If you haven’t heard anything about Nia Archives then the question has got to be asked – where have you been? Arguably one of the most talked about newcomers breaking onto the jungle scene right now, at 21-years-old Nia is an exciting prospect on her way to big things.It’s a side project I started before I put any music out. HIJINXX was the name for my visual archive. My ex-step dad used to love a skater called Beagle, who did this thing called Hijinx. It’s basically documenting the good side of life, but also the chaotic. I created that name because I wanted somewhere for visual work and music. In future, I would love to put together my own mini documentary and release it under HIJINXX. Not only does Nia excel as a producer, but she also showcases her powerful vocals as a singer. Her soulful voice effortlessly conveys raw emotions and connects with listeners on a deep level. Combined with her poignant lyrics and catchy melodies, Nia's songs have the power to leave a lasting impact. I’m still processing that too… I’m glad people are vibing to it. I’m happy it’s released because now I can start making new music. Releasing music is a physical process, but it’s also a mental / emotional process getting it out there so that I can move on.