NIKO

NIKO is a DJ based in Belgrade. He was born in Kamchatka, in the Russian Far East, and has been working with sound since 2007. His own SoundCloud profile states it plainly: born in Kamchatka, now living in Beograd, and the most important thing is the atmosphere.

He plays drum & bass, breaks, bass and freeform, and he does not prepare a set. Both of his Sonic Shift sessions were improvised end to end — selection decided in the room, tempo and mood moving as the set goes, no plan to fall back on.

In Belgrade he is a core member of two crews. The first is frǾm, a collective that brings Russian-speaking creatives and underground club sound together — anything from small meetups to full-scale parties — with a strong sound-system streak; NIKO is one of its DJs. The second is Belgrade'N'Bass.

He has played the show twice. Ep. 6, "Freeform Drum & Bass Flow", was an improvised drum & bass set. Ep. 16, "Bass, Breaks & Pure Improvisation", ran 25 tracks across roughly fifty minutes, moving through Vladimir Dubyshkin, Sensi Affect, Bou, Gancher & Ruin and a jungle stretch, cut fast and blended without overthinking.