Portland party-series Spend the Night has wasted no time getting back to business since venues reopened early this summer, bringing Ben UFO, Jacques Greene, and Chrissy to Rose City dance floors in short order. Next week, Spend the Night returns to Holocene to push their forward thinking take on dance music with Atlanta-based Nikki Nair for his Portland debut.
Nikki Nair has been on the receiving end of well deserved critical acclaim for his creatively hybridized approach to techno and breakbeat through releases on Scuffed, TRAM Planet, Banoffee Pies, and Dirtybird Records. Most recently though, Nikki Nair stepped more into the realm of pop music with an official remix for Back Together by Amorphous featuring Kehlani. The track shuffles and bubbles blissfully with Nair's signature touch guiding the melodies and rhythms to maximum dance floor efficacy.
"I felt like I could be a little less restrained than I am when making an underground dance track," Nair told us over the weekend.
"Amorphous had already created some beautiful melodies and textures to work with, and of course Kehlani's vocals were also totally spot on, so I was able to play with the harmonies and kind of get joyous in the studio. And getting to work on a track with such a big and fun hook made me feel like I was on a cloud."
Poster Designed by Evan Geltosky
In the middle of his first proper outing across the U.S., including Dirtybird Campout this past weekend, Nikki Nair's presence is becoming more solid - both literally and figuratively.
"Especially over the pandemic when I was just doing streaming events, it felt like I was playing a video game about being a DJ. Now that I get to play at these events for people it's starting to feel like it wasn't a simulation, and I'm starting to doubt myself a bit less."
Spend the Night chose a proper welcoming committee for Nikki as well, with Wake the Town cofounder PRSN on local support, preceded by the capable hands of longtime resident Ben Tactic on opening detail.
Spend the Night: Nikki Nair
PRSN, Ben Tactic
Holocene
1001 SE Morrison St
21+
$12adv / $15dos
Proof of Vaccination Required for Entry