Tuesday, December 29, 2020

2020 In New Music Part 10

 Nadia Reid - Out Of My Province (Spacebomb) 

Effective, bittersweet and empathetic collaboration between the assured singer-songwriter and the Spacebomb studio team. 

Nadine Shah - Kitchen Sink (Infectious/BMG) 

Shah's best album to date - a darkly imaginative, rhythmic confection. A particularly excellent opening three songs (Club Cougar, Ladies for Babies (Goats for Love) and Buckfast). 

Naeem - Startisha (37d03d)

The rapper also known as Spank Rock makes an ambitious (and successful) vault for modern soul. 

Nahash - Flowers Of The Revolution (SVBKVLT)

Confrontational and abrasive sound worlds. 

Nap Eyes - Snapshot Of A Beginner (Jagjaguwar) 

Quirky, idiosyncratic indie-rock. 

Nate Wolley - Seven Storey Mountain VI (Pyroclastic) 

Longform integration of composition and improvisation, the score assembled from instructions to musicians. Stunning choral arrangement. I first encountered Wooley's music in 2019 because he released a suite inspired by the Columbia Icefield just as I was visiting Banff and Jasper. I now really need to delve back and explore the rest of this song cycle - on this evidence, it is extraordinary music. 

Nathan Salsburg - Landwerk (No Quarter) 

Nathan Salsburg - Landwerk 2 (No Quarter) 

Inspired by The Caretaker, guitarist Salsburg (Joan Shelley, amongst others) took fragments from old 78rpm records as the basis for these atmospheric, haunting pieces. 

Nazar - Guerilla (Hyperdub) 

Nazar terms his music Rough Kuduro - a contemporary, unflinching interpretation of Angolan music and dance style to confront memory and collective trauma. 

Neil Charles - Low and Beyond (Takuroku) 

The entire, massive Takuroku catalogue of musicians' lockdown recordings is worth investigating, this album of highly creative, versatile solo bass improvising from the excellent Neil Charles being a particular highlight. 

Nels Cline Singers - Share The Wealth (Memorize and Destroy) 

Long and exploratory work from the great guitarist, often exploring softer textures and more melodic environments. 

Nick Cave - Idiot Prayer (Mute) 

Live recording of Cave's Alexandra Palace streamed event finds him playing to his strengths with tender, romantic solo piano performances. 

Nick Jonah Davis - When The Sun Came (Thread Recordings) 

Solo guitar work featuring blues-tinged laments and bright, joyful hymnals. 

Nicolas Jaar - Centriza (Other People)

Nicolas Jaar - Telas (Other People) 

A bounty from Jaar this year, when these two excellent albums are set alongside the Against All Logic material. Telas emphasises long form pieces incorporating a range of acoustic instrumentation, while Centriza focuses more on drones and electronics. 

Nicole Atkins - Italian Ice (Single Lock) 

Compelling, lush, soulful songwriting. 

Nicole Mitchell and Moor Mother - Offering (Don Giovanni) 

Nicole Mitchell and Lisa E. Harris - EarthSeed (FPE) 

Two great collaborations from the composer and improviser, the latter an opera project inspired by Octavia Butler, the former an electronics-dominated set with Moor Mother. 

Nihiloxica - Kaloli (Crammed Discs) 

Traditional Ugandan music meets the nightclub. 

No Age - Goons Be Gone (Drag City) 


Scuzzy, distorted, raw and elemental rock. 

Noemi Nuti - Venus Eye (Ubuntu) 


The female perspective in jazz song - including some startling arrangements. 

Nordra - Pylon III (Sige) 


Score to a multimedia performance. 

North Americans - Roped In (Third Man) 


Beautiful, drone based landscapes in sound. 

Noveller - Arrow (Ba Da Bing) 

Sarah Lipstate's radical guitar pieces, with furtive effects and electronics. 

Nubya Garcia - Source (Concord Jazz) 


Vibrant, accessible debut fusing jazz composition with a range of black musical forms - reggae, dub, West African rhythms and more beyond. 

Obongjayar - Which Way Is Forward? (September Recordings) 


Wonderfully intricate electronic soul, drawing from West African musical traditions. 

Oddjob - Kong (Headspin/Outhere) 


Swedish cinematic jazz quintet. 

Okkyung Lee - Neo-Yeun (Shelter Press) 


An unexpected shift sees the great cellist leading an experimental chamber quartet with harp, bass and piano and making disarmingly vulnerable, beautiful music. 

Oliver Coates - Skins n Slime (RVNG Intl.) 


With a five part suite called Caregiver, this feels painfully relevant to the pandemic year. It's also a sonically imaginative work, further expanding Coates' musical vocabulary. 

Oneohtrix Point Never - Magic Oneohtrix Point Never (Warp) 


Daniel Lopatin continues his prolific run with more fractured, attention deficit electronica, alternating with more melodically conventional pieces. 

ONO - Red Summer (American Dreams) 


A confrontational, provocative and uncategorisable record dealing with racial violence, history and the city of Chicago. 

Ooioo - Nijimusi (Thrill Jockey) 


Return of Yoshimi

Open Mike Eagle - Anime, Trauma & Divorce (Auto Reverse) 


Forward thinking, original and darkly funny hip hop. 

Osees - Protean Threat (Castleface) 
Osees - Panther Rotate (Castleface) 


Trashy, ramshackle, noisy psychedelia. 

Otis Sansjo - Y-OTIS 2 (We Jazz) 


In an ensemble with Petter Eldh, Dan Nicholls and Til Weber, Sandsjo is making intelligent, forward thinking contemporary jazz with electronics and synthesisers. 

Oval - Scis (Thrill Jockey) 


Markus Popp further refines his approach to electronic composition. 

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