Music – Portland

Inspired by ‘80s dance cuts, dub grooves and high-tech production techniques, NIX creates from a middle place where differing soundscapes intersect. Unrestricted by musical categories, NIX draws from catchy synth-pop, electro manipulations, funk, soul and more. Originally from Detroit, Michigan, Nick Agorgianitis (aka Nix) migrated west to Portland in 2007, for a fresh start in a fertile music scene. Soon after, he joined the band Papagaiyo and resurrected his college jam-band Jesta in the Portland music scene. At the same time, he’d been listening to a lot of Tobacco, Jamiroquai, New Order, Chromeo and Gnarls Barkley and his interests soon turned toward the electronic dance music world. After mutating his apartment into a home recording studio, recruiting some colleagues from the jam-rock world, and allowing his inner deejay to escape, NIX exploded with new ideas. The result is NIX’s impressive debut solo LP “20 Something”, demonstrating his love of club-ready dance cuts. Flanked within the 11 songs encompassing 20 Something, Nix bandies Innervisions¬-era funk bangers (“Alawanadoo”), Euro-club beaters a la Daft Punk (“End of the World Part A”) and socio-political invective (“Occupy”), all while asserting the essentiality of his new M.O.: Fun. What Nix accomplishes on 20 Something is a homage to beat-synth-soaked pioneers like Chromeo and New Order, with obvious nods to contemporary amalgamations of dub, hip-hop, electro-rock and pop. Nix’s posi-diatribes offer succinct juxtaposition, wrapped up tight in drone-y melodies with Nix’s vox anchoring in hook-y choruses.