Nina Las VegasAs Nina Las Vegas, Nina Agzarian is one of Australia's most celebrated radio personalities. Helming triple j's House Party and Mix Up programs, she's a key tastemaker in Australian dance music. Her House Party Vol. 2 mix is a testament to her ear – sporting global stars (Disclosure) and rising impresarios (Tyler Touche) alike. “I was so much more prepared [for Vol. 2]. The first time, I was so stressed out because I didn't know the process,” Agzarian says. “I'm such a flippant DJ. I play old tunes, rip stuff from Soundcloud, play remixes that aren't out – and you can't do that when you're doing something official. This time around, I was prepared... I got all the songs I love!”
There's significantly more to Agzarian than her considerable accomplishments as a radio DJ, though. For starters, she's something of a social worker. In 2007, she co-founded Heaps Decent alongside Wesley Pentz (aka Diplo) and fellow Sydney DJ Andrew Levins – an organisation devoted to giving disadvantaged youth access to music-making. “When the initial workshop with Diplo happened, it was a link I'd set up through my mum who was working at a juvenile justice centre in Wagga Wagga,” she explains, “and he had all this gear that he wanted to donate. After doing some research, I realised there weren't many places you could leave gear. I said, 'Leave it with me, I'll make sure it get used'. We were just a resource, originally. We'd drive computers with Ableton on them to various organisations. It's just grown since then, really. Eventually, Fuzzy came on board and that really took it to the next level. We have workshops running every day now, which is amazing.”
Beyond that, she's also an aspiring producer herself. In actual fact, she originally intended to dive fully into production following the release of last year's debut House Party mix. Unfortunately, she dove into a tour and another compilation (among her countless other commitments). She's not optimistic she'll pull it off on the second go-around, either. “Oh, man. I have like 50 things that are not finished and mastered. It takes so much time! I'm a perfectionist. I don't want anything shit going out there,” she laughs. “Even just finishing three mixes on the side of what I do every week for House Party took me three months. I just literally don't have the time. It's still very much a goal and maybe I'll try... But it seems like last year just went crazy after that tour. I had maybe four weekends off. And a full-time job. I don't even... Like, I don't think you'll see an EP for me anytime soon. I just want to do remixes and that sort of thing. Build up some industry cred. Even just producing for someone else, I don't need to be out the front. I kind of like the idea of just me and someone else. I come from a hip hop background, so it'd just be nice to do something along those lines, I think...”
