NIKS Mixx
Hailing from south-east London via Bath is co-founder of the newly formed Black Artist Database (FKA Black Bandcamp), NIKS.
Versatile leftfield digger and selector, NIKS’ face and name has become the forefront of the underground scene and is one activist to keep your eye on.
Tracklist
Euphonic - Jah Science
Leon Vynehall - Snakeskin Has Been
Will Hofbauer & Sangre Voss - Pumice
Dirty Harry - Gotta Release
Pinder - Bit Darker
Haruka Salt & Tongji - Never Satisfaction (Dub Mix)
Floorplan - Never Satisfaction (Dub Mix)
Working Men's Club - X (Paranoid London Remix)
Mark Archer - Clap That
Floorplan - On the Case
Amal & DJ NativeSun - Break Bang
MoMA Ready - Yes Trax
Amal & Native & James Bangura - Columbia Rd
Hey NIKS! Great to have you with us :) How's your week been so far!?
It was actually my birthday on Saturday, so I’ve been celebrating and relaxing up in the Peak District for the past 5 days. It’s safe to say, I’ve started the week with a much clearer mind, in a positive headspace.
Can you tell us a bit about your mix? Fave track?
Ooo yes, so for this mix, I’ve given listeners a one-stop shop tour of the various sounds and tracks I’m into at the moment, and genres that I always find myself drawn back to. Fave track of this mix has to be “Gotta Release” by Dirty Harry, which came out in 1996 on the Masters at Works record label. I re-discovered this record recently on Discogs and made the purchase maybe a month ago now, and have had it on repeat ever since. You know those ones when you re-discover a track from your childhood that you’ve not heard in years, and it then becomes your favourite track again, yeah, that’s exactly it with this. It’s one the purest 90s house tracks to come out at the time, with those powerful vocals which are always a good indicator of the time.
I feel like you’ve been so active over the last years, it’s great, I remember the NOODS show, Mixcloud, Balami, and I loved the Lockdown Live in Conversations. How important do you feel radio has been to your own journey in dance music so far?
Ooo, well radio is literally the reason (my entry point as a young person) for furthering my career and journey in dance music. It’s been super important, as a platform, for me to showcase the array of sounds, producers, and genres that I collect, listen to and enjoy, as well as showcasing other talented individuals, it’s such a great way for me to express myself in that given moment, and will continue to be a medium which I will use throughout my career.
We’ve been following all your work which began with Black Bandcamp and now has grown to Black Artist Database. It’s truly awesome! What’s your vision for this and the impact that you hope to make on the scene?
I guess the ultimate goal is to re-centre Black artists in electronic music, ensuring that they’re getting paid, valued and honoured in the way that they have never been - and for this to be normalised. Now, in order for that to become normalised and internalised, a serious macro-level structural change would need to occur, and I guess that’s the long-term vision.
The impact of B.A.D should be positive and great in many ways, giving Black artists and producers a voice and platform that they have never had, to showcase their true authentic selves.
I feel like we have to touch on Bath as we’ve both got some roots there. I like to call Bath the Berlin of the South West (lol) we were really lucky to create something special there. Is there a particular club/clubbing moment that you can pick from the city?
This is such a good question haha because yes, that’s where our journey begins - in Bath. Hmm, a packed out Moles basement in March 2018 (see pic below haha), now I can’t remember which one of Ali’s nights it was but that b2b set with Luke and Ali was pure bliss. I remember, me and one of my best pals Kember ran away from a social we were at to attend, and literally had one of the best nights EVER! It was absolutely sweating and heaving, but the music and energy in the tiny basement was top.
Random music questions… 2021 album of the year? What’s your pick?
Ooo, this is a hard one, I have to say though, K15 has an unreleased album (hopefully forthcoming) entitled “currently”. I actually featured most of the tracks on my recent Jazz FM show, away from being an album full of full-throttle dance music, it’s made up of tracks with the most beautiful instrumentalisation and sounds. K15 I’ve always been a big fan of since purchasing his brighter/darker record 2 years ago, defo one to watch.
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Interview by @armand.origins