Music Existence Because of Music, We Exist
NIK:11 releases 4Play (single)
Human beings are a pretty diverse group. We all have different tastes in art, music, food and other humans, and no two of us are quite the same when it comes to how we see and translate the world around us. There are a couple of things that we all have in common though. We all need to eat, we all wish to find and know the love of another, and once in a while, we all need to dance. Dancing is as much a part of the human experience as falling love or learning how to walk in the first place; it connects us to each other and to music in a way that can’t be imitated or compared to anything else. NIK:11 understands how important our need to shake and groove is, and that’s the main reason why she produced her new single “4Play.” “4Play” is not your standard nightclub background music; it’s an ambient anthem, and frankly one of the first of its kind. NIK:11 isn’t here to give you what you’re used to – she’s here to show you something you’ve never seen before.
“4Play” is anti-melodic, almost harsh in its fiery dispatch of rhythm and beats that quake the very ground beneath our feet. I would call this industrial music, but it isn’t quite as DIY-raw as what I would usually classify as such. NIK:11 stylishly vocalizes poetry between a boundless thunder of percussion, and while there’s distorted wall of sound that follows the listener around like a shadow throughout the track, we never feel like we’re in any immediate danger. The insular nature of this music could be construed as suffocating, but I think techno aficionados will be able to appreciate just how complicated of an arrangement this song is boasting. It’s almost like an electronic symphony played out through a stack of bass amplifiers. Is it a sonic juggernaut? Obviously, but if that’s not the kind of thing that you’re looking for in your pop music, you might be living in the wrong time.
NIK:11’s music reminds me a lot of a powerful, addictive psychoactive drug. We don’t realize what we’ve just ingested until its side effects begin to seep their way through and influence our every move. It doesn’t take but a single hit and we’re powerless to resist another and another, becoming insatiably chained to this beat like a dog on a very short leash. NIK:11’s command over her audience is stellar, and whether you’re a fan of her style of music or not, she really deserves a lot of credit for how spellbinding and hypnotic her material can be. This has got to be one of the best songs to come out this year if for no other reason than its impenetrable hook that defies genre, trends and even marketability. My gut tells me this song is going to end up seeing a lot of heavy rotation on college and specialty radio and the big FM players will follow soon after. NIK:11 has everything in front of her right now, and she doesn’t appear to have a hard time taking exactly what she wants.
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/djnik11/
Loren Sperry
