Up Ya Archives - Nia Archives

All Photos by Jody Hartley

NIa Archives blasting it through at The Warehouse Project

The Warehouse season is in full swing and we were graced by another visit from jungle legend Nia Archives, a continuation from last year's Up Ya Archives. Last year's edition would possibly have been the gig of the year for me... If it wasn't for the Curated By Skrillex night the weekend before! But this time around it has been my favourite of the year so far.

I'm extremely happy that we got another dose of Nia, this is the third time I've seen her and she always brings the fire. She didn't need to carry the night alone though, there was plenty of audio based delights for the punters. Let's dive in!

---

First of all a shout out to George who we spoke to during episode one of UNSAMPLED at Overmono, he was back for another quiet evening at Warehouse. Good to see you again!

We've talked at length about the new amenities at Warehouse both in print and during UNSAMPLED so I won't rehash those topics other than to share some new developments. Warehouse have employed photographers armed with Polaroid cameras to photograph you and your crew. I think it's a great idea, in today's age with phone cameras yielding such good results venue photographers have been seen less and less so having something physical to give you instead is a nice touch and a trend I expect will spread to other venues. Look out for them, usually wandering in the outside areas of WHP!

Stacked lineup - no playing around at Up Ya Archives

The first thing of note was that the depot was fairly quiet for longer than I was used to. It might have something to do with the amount of incredible artists on that night and the wise spreading out of acts across stages. This is something that was missing at Overmono. Don't get me wrong, it sucks to have Girls Don't Sync clash with Nia but it does wonders for the crowd control. Our first artist was Chloe Robinson B2B DJ ADHD. This is an excellent combo that produces some great tracks and remixes. It was my first time seeing them both together though they are B2B often. They gave a good set, my only disappointment was that they didn't play "PAX". It's my favourite track from them though we were ten minutes late so perhaps they opened with it! If you haven't checked it out, PAX is a great track with a great remix from Four Tet that's distinct enough for me to listen to both. A rare thing in remixes!

Speaking of back to back sets, Interplanetary Criminal B2B with Bakey was next up. Oof. I've probably seen Interplanetary Criminal do the most B2B sets out of any artist's, another one who always delivers and I'm never going to miss him on a line up. I saw him at Up Ya Archives last year (and coincidentally at Curated By Skrillex the weekend before!) and he always has a fresh set ready. It's really interesting how his B2B partner influences sets. With Sammy Virji at Parklife for instance the set combined Criminal's staples like "100%" with Virji's penchant for orchestral pieces. Tonight however, Bakey pushed the set into something... HEAVY. Probably the second loudest set I've heard at Warehouse it was sublime. If I had to sum the tones up in one word? Girth. I don't know who's mix it was but look out for the Robin S "Show Me Love" track at future events! It slapped.

Another revelation at this warehouse was the early closure of the roof terrace. We talked previously how much we love and it was disappointing to lose it so early considering the night went until 4am and the smoking area only got busier. As a side note, there were a lot more people at the bar upstairs checking out the music. I think it’s great that Warehouse has a space for smaller space for up and coming artists and even happier that people were there to listen.

Incredible night all-in-all

Nia came on at 12:50am, early for what could be defined as a headliner (I mean, her name is on the poster after all) but it meant Warehouse was in full swing! This was probably the best Nia set I've heard, all of what you'd expect while dipping into the drum and bass evolution of jungle. Love, love, love. I hope that Up Ya Archives becomes a regular staple of the Warehouse season, I personally would go every year.

We finished our night with Y U QT followed by AHADADREAM. This was my first time seeing both artists. I've listened to a lot of Y U QT, he's one of those artists that came up quickly during my formative rave years around nine years ago. It was a super fun and bouncy set and it's easy to understand why he's so universally liked. As dance music goes, he's very accessible for fans of many genres and incorporates a lot of genre traits into his music. I'm excited to see him again!

AHADADREAM's set was rife with his brand of heavy bass grooves. You'll have to excuse my memory from this point of the night so I'll leave you with a quote from my notes: "They should lower the floor of Warehouse so I can better get down". Hmm...

See you next year, Nia!