By The drum and bass beats of the night’s opening act are booming as Rain Gonzales, an avid Los Angeles concertgoer, speaks about their appreciation for the still-to-perform main act, Nia Archives, on Sept. 25 at The Fonda Theatre.
“Dance music is the epicenter of queer music, and at the center of the new sound in dance is Nia Archives,” said Rain Gonzales.
Archives herself later said it was her favorite show played in LA thus far.
On Wednesday, at the historic theatre in Hollywood, Archives played a show alongside other artists who fall under the jungle category, a genre pioneered in the UK in part by Black queer underground artists.
“I’m super excited to bring the jungle party vibes to the West Coast,” Archives said. “And we’ll continue to hear this sound because jungle is the future.”
Sarah Mahmoodi, production coordinator at the Fonda, described jungle as heavy drum and bass beats over traditional samples from the genre of reggae or soul.
Mahmoodi said that this gives jungle the undeniable influence of popular Black music combined with the sounds of house music.
As another LA native who follows the trends within the dance genre specifically, Mahmoodi recognizes the resurgence of trajectory dance music in recent years and gives thanks to the queer community for it.
“Every year, recently, there’s been a trend in dance music. So, house became really popular after Beyoncé’s ‘Renaissance’ a couple [of] years ago, and this year we’re seeing drum and bass become trendy as well and Nia Archives hopped on the trend at the right time,” Mahmoodi said.
While house music has become popularized through recent releases from stars including Beyoncé and Drake, the genre has deep roots within the queer community in the American Midwest.
The Fonda Theatre marquee welcomes Nia Archives for the first time at the venue. Tickets for the show were sold out upon showtime. Photo Credit: Jazmyn De Jesus
Jungle, what many call the U.K. underground equivalent, is now making waves again by virtue of up-and-coming queer artists.
“It’s hard not to flex being part of this community because so much of what creates culture comes from us queer folk,” Gonzales said.
Archives, a queer Black woman, said that jungle has provided a safe space and form of therapy for her, allowing her to express herself fully.
The night’s crowd at The Fonda Theatre was packed with people who recognized many of the samples Archives incorporates into her original beats, blending sounds from the past and present into something new and representative of the innovation queer spaces which have contributed to popular music for decades.
“Hot spots like LA, Chicago and the U.K. are where these spaces exist heavily and these trends in queer music come from, so it looks like we’re living through a jungle renaissance right now,” Mahmoodi said.
