Head Against The Wall

Nia Archives “Sunrise Bang Ur Head Against Tha Wall”

One thing I find very appealing about the resurgence of drum and bass ultra-fast beat programming is that in many cases the music being made has a very chill vibe, so bursts of frantic percussion either serve as a sharp contrast with everything else in the arrangement or an element that becomes chill despite itself. It makes sense to me as I’ve always felt this sort of percussion in an ASMR way, it sparks a sort of pleasing tingling sensation in my brain. It’s also like finding calm within chaos – the beats may come at breakneck speed, but there’s still a steadiness within it.

Nia Archives’ music seems like the result of a mission to seamlessly and cleverly work drum and bass programming into different types of songs, like a contestant on a cooking show tasked with being creative in their use of ingredients with seemingly limited utility. “Sunrise Beat Ur Head Against Tha Wall” does both of the things I described above – bursts of percussion drop in out of nowhere but the dynamic shift isn’t too jarring because they end up feeling just as meditative as the considerably more relaxed piano part or the warm, soothing quality of her voice. The contrasts are extreme, but the overall sensation is much closer to equilibrium than chaos.

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