While it’s nearly impossible to make sense of all the music that floods our mailbox, inbox, and various Web browsers every day–not to mention the shelves at self-titled‘s favorite record stores–we’re constantly looking for artists who make us stop what we’re doing and actually listen. Here’s one of them….
The Artist/Album: Maayan Nidam, Nightlong (Powershovel Audio, 2009)
The Vibe: Maayan Nidam’s already got another album on the way through Cadenza in May (the club-calibrated New Moon), but in the meantime, we can’t recommend the Israeli producer’s 2009 debut highly enough. A dizzying collage of contemporary Cuban recordings, Nightlong unfolds like a fever dream, as if you just walked through a tear in the space-time continuum and emerged smack dab in the middle of a dancefloor that’s strangely familiar yet altogether alien. Beautiful yet bewildering, from the sleepyhead jazz hooks of “Dime Si Eres Tu” to the hypnotic house vibes of “Asi Son Las Cosas.”
RIYL: Shadow play samples; the groovier side of Nicolas Jaar; Cubra Libre cocktails spiked with peyote
