As 2015 draws to a close, and the Nonesuch Journal takes a bit of a hiatus till the start of 2016, it's time to take a look back and remember all of the great and diverse music made by Nonesuch artists over the past year. Many Nonesuch artists and their recent Nonesuch releases have made music critics' and fans' year-end best lists. Here, in words and music and in chronological order, is a look back at the year in Nonesuch music.
As 2015 draws to a close, and the Nonesuch Journal takes a bit of a hiatus till the start of 2016, it's time to take a look back and remember all of the great and diverse music made by Nonesuch artists over the past year. Many Nonesuch artists and their recent Nonesuch releases have made music critics' and fans' year-end best lists. Here, in words and music and in chronological order, is a look back at the year in Nonesuch music:
JANUARY
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Various Artists
Another Day, Another Time: Celebrating the Music of "Inside Llewyn Davis"
The new year in Nonesuch music began with the release of Another Day, Another Time: Celebrating the Music of "Inside Llewyn Davis" on January 13. The two-disc collection captures a one-night-only concert held at New York City's Town Hall in 2013 to celebrate the music of the Coen brothers film Inside Llewyn Davis, featuring live performances by icons and rising stars of folk and Americana. They sang "in pitch perfect tone that left an oft-awestruck audience silently stunned," says the Los Angeles Times, "then vocally thrilled." The concert, the resulting Showtime documentary, and this live album were produced by Joel and Ethan Coen and T Bone Burnett. It was the first of three consecutive Nonesuch albums Burnett would produce for the year.
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Punch Brothers
The Phosphorescent Blues
Punch Brothers joined forces with producer T Bone Burnett for their fourth album, The Phosphorescent Blues, released on January 27, with the vinyl out on February 24. The CBC calls it "triumphant." All Music placed it among the Favorite Folk Albums of 2015, calling it "a defining record." "This band," says NPR, "makes the unimaginable contagious and fun. They push boundaries and make music like no one else."
Punch Brothers have been nominated for three Grammy Awards this year: Best Americana Album for The Phosphorescent Blues and Best American Roots Song and Best American Roots Performance for the album track "Julep." The track is among NPR Music's Favorite Songs of 2015, and the album is among NPR Listeners' 100 Favorite Albums, The Bluegrass Situation's year's best, and the Scotsman's Year in Folk. The band also received an Americana Honors & Awards nomination for Duo/Group of the Year.
FEBRUARY
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Rhiannon Giddens
Tomorrow Is My Turn
Rhiannon Giddens—singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and founding member of Carolina Chocolate Drops—made her solo recording debut with the release of Tomorrow Is My Turn on February 10. The album, produced by Burnett, features a broad range of songs from genres as diverse as gospel, jazz, blues, and country, including works made famous by Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline, Odetta, and Nina Simone. The album "is a showcase for Ms. Giddens's glorious voice," says the New York Times. "For all her technical control, her voice is a perpetually soulful marvel." "Gorgeous," exclaims the Daily Telegraph. "An exceptional record."
Tomorrow Is My Turn has been nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Folk Album. It has made an astounding number of Best of the Year lists, including those of Amazon UK, Los Angeles Times ("a tour de force"), MOJO, NPR Music ("downright giddy-making"), NPR's Ann Powers ("truly astounding"), NPR's Folk Alley ("exceptional"), NPR Listeners, PopMatters, Rolling Stone, Scotsman, Sun, and Sunday Times ("singer of the year"), and the track "Black Is the Color" is included in NPR Music's and the Bluegrass Situation's Favorite Songs of 2015.
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Tigran Hamasyan made his Nonesuch Records debut with the release of Mockroot on February 17. The album comprises new tracks written by Hamasyan, as well as his arrangements of traditional Armenian songs. Although trained as a classical and jazz musician, Hamasyan draws on a wide range of influences, including Armenian folk music, rock, electronica, poetry, and more. "There are many brilliant and perfectly finished young jazz pianists around," said the Telegraph, "but Hamasyan stands out because he has something important and urgent to say." "You will find it difficult if not impossible to get this disc out of your machine for quite a while," raved the Buffalo News. "Don't count on getting it out of your head for a long while either."
Mockroot is featured in Jazzwise magazine's list of the Best Albums of 2015.
MARCH
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Buena Vista Social Club
Lost and Found
It was a return to form for Buena Vista Social Club in 2015, nearly 20 years after the original album was first released in 1997 and helped to introduce Cuba's rich musical heritage and pre-revolutionary past to the world. Lost and Found, a collection of previously unreleased tracks from the Buena Vista all-star cast—Ibrahim Ferrer, Rubén González, Cachaíto López, Guajiro Mirabal, Eliades Ochoa, Omara Portuondo, and Compay Segundo—was released by World Circuit on March 23. Some of the songs were recorded during the original album's sessions in Havana, others from the years that followed. Lost and Found also features live recordings from the world tours of Buena Vista's legendary veterans. NPR calls it "a gorgeous reminder of what made [Buena Vista] so famous to begin with."
In August, Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club, a core band featuring several of the original musicians, kicked off the North American leg of its "Adios" tour, including a performance at The White House for President Barack Obama in October. Also in October, the original Buena Vista Social Club album, produced by Ry Cooder, was reissued on vinyl as a double-LP from World Circuit, distributed in the US by Nonesuch Records.
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The Staves, three sisters originally from Watford, England, made their Nonesuch debut with the release of If I Was on March 31. The Justin Vernon–produced album was recorded at Vernon's studio near Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where he recorded his 2012 self-titled Bon Iver album. "The voices are still silken, the sibling harmonies still graceful," says the Guardian of the new album, but with "the music taking thrilling leaps in character and complexity. The Watford sisters' decision to work with Justin Vernon ... as producer was inspired." The New York Times says the trio brings "angelic harmonies" to the "consistently daring" album. Stereogum calls it "essential listening."
If I Was is nominated for a UK Americana Award for UK Album of the Year and Song of the Year for the album track "Black & White." The album has made Stereogum's list of the 50 Best Albums of 2015 and is the No. 1 Folk Album of 2015 according to Brooklyn magazine. NPR Music included the song "No Me, No You, No More" among its Favorite Songs of 2015.
APRIL
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Robert Plant made his Nonesuch Records debut with the release of his album, lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar, in 2014. For Record Store Day 2015, on April 18, he released the EP More Roar, which features three tracks on black 10" vinyl recorded live during his 2014 world tour with his band the Sensational Space Shifters. Side A is "Turn It Up" / "Arbaden," and side B is "Poor Howard" and "Whole Lotta Love (Medley)."
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Steve Reich
Music for 18 Musicians [LP]
Also on Record Store Day, Nonesuch reissued the 1998 Grammy Award–winning recording of Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians on two 180-gram vinyl LPs. The recording features several players who had been with Reich's ensemble since the landmark piece debuted in the mid-'70s. "It would be hard to think of any American music more important than this," said the New York Times.
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Olivia Chaney
The Longest River
Singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Olivia Chaney made her album debut with the release of The Longest River on April 28. On the album, Chaney balances her original compositions with a broad array of covers she has newly arranged, from jazz to Purcell to folk. "Her voice holds the purity, tension, dignity and sorrow of a heritage full of songs about lost love and cruel fate," says the New York Times. "Chaney is thoroughly grounded in the past, from medieval music to [Joni] Mitchell. But in her quiet way, she's radical." The Observer calls the album "an enchanting, stately creation." PopMatters exclaims: "It's pretty much perfect."
The Longest River is featured on Best of the Year lists from All Music, fRoots, the Independent ("the most absorbing folk album of the year"), MOJO, and Uncut.
MAY
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The Arcs—Dan Auerbach, Leon Michels, Richard Swift, Homer Steinweiss, and Nick Movshon—released its first song, "Stay in My Corner," ahead of the release of its debut album, Yours, Dreamily, in the form of a 7" vinyl single with the non-album track "Tomato Can" on the flip side. The single, which was inspired by the Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao boxing match, was released on May 2, the day of the fight.
The song features "the most romantic extended boxing motif you'll ever hear to express commitment during the hard times," says NPR Music in including "Stay in My Corner" among its Favorite Songs of 2015.
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Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell
The Traveling Kind
Though friends for decades, Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell released only their second duo album, The Traveling Kind, on May 12. The album, which followed their Grammy Award–winning first duet album, 2013's Old Yellow Moon, was produced by Joe Henry and comprises 11 duet tracks, including six new songs written by Harris and Crowell with co-writing by Mary Carr, Cory Chisel, Will Jennings, and Larry Klein. "Here, they consciously embrace the full breadth of their expression," says NPR. "This is what it sounds like when true equals, both deep into their journeys, draw out the best in each other." Rolling Stone says: "Their creative partnership sounds stronger than ever."
Harris and Crowell have been nominated for two Grammy nominations this year: Best Americana Album for The Traveling Kind and Best American Roots Song for the title track, which they co-wrote with Cory Chisel. The song is included among NPR Music's Favorite Songs of 2015. The album was named Best Roots Album by the Irish Times and is included on the Los Angeles Times list of the 10 Best Albums of 2015, which calls it "a gorgeous reflection on life, hard-won wisdom and celebration from two longtime friends and musical collaborators."
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Tyondai Braxton made his Nonesuch debut with the release of HIVE1, also on May 12. Braxton comprises eight pieces originally conceived for a performance work called HIVE that debuted at New York's Guggenheim Museum in 2013 and evolved into HIVE1. Q calls the album "a sonically absorbing experience." NPR says: "[W]hat sets this album apart is its playfulness—the feeling that experimenting with sound is a joyful game."
HIVE1 is included among All Music's Favorite Electronic Albums of 2015, calling it "delightfully mercurial ... some of [Braxton's] most playful and audacious music yet." Matthew Herbert picks the album track "Gracka" for the Independent's list of the Best Songs of 2015.
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Congolese seven-piece band Mbongwana Star released its debut full-length album, From Kinshasa, on World Circuit Records, distributed in the US on May 19. The album features members of a new generation of Kinshasa musicians embodying the concept of "mbongwana," or "change." Along with Parisian producer Doctor L, the band fuses traditional Congolese rhythms with European post-punk bass and busted electronics from recycled and reconstructed instruments miked and distorted in unexpected ways. It's a "wonderful kind of collaboration," says NPR. "The sound is out of this world." Chicago Reader says the "album is a blast ... stunning." Says Noisey: "It's time to press play and immerse yourself in another world."
From Kinshasa is featured on Best of the Year lists from fRoots, the Independent ("infectious, polyrhythmic space-rock ... a triumph of imagination"), MOJO, NPR Music ("don't hesitate to hitch your wagon to Mbongwana Star"), Q, SPIN, Tidal, and Uncut, and the album track "Malukayi," featuring Konono No. 1, is one of NPR Music's Favorite Songs of 2015.
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The Bad Plus Joshua Redman
The Bad Plus Joshua Redman
The Bad Plus Joshua Redman released its debut album on May 26, having performed together live in 2011 and 2014. Seven of the album's nine tracks are new compositions by quartet members: Redman and The Bad Plus pianist Ethan Iverson, bassist Reid Anderson, and drummer David King. "The album is a knockout," exclaims the New York Times. "It is impressive how much vital presence [Redman] brings to the Bad Plus without altering the band's dynamic." It's "a roaring and beautiful summit meeting," says NPR. "The ideas are impressive by themselves, but become more powerful as Redman and the rhythm section go about developing them ... [T]he real triumph of The Bad Plus Joshua Redman: It exhibits genuinely fresh thinking."
Joshua Redman has been nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Improvised Jazz Solo for his performance of his tune "Friend or Foe" off the album, which was named the No. 1 Best Jazz Album of 2015 by PopMatters and has made year's best lists from the Boston Globe, MOJO, NextBop, and NPR Music's Jazz Critics Poll.
JUNE
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Kronos Quartet
One Earth, One People, One Love: Kronos Plays Terry Riley
Kronos Quartet marked the 80th birthday of composer Terry Riley with the release, on June 23, of One Earth, One People, One Love: Kronos Plays Terry Riley, a five-disc box set of albums of his work composed for, and performed by Kronos, his longtime friends and champions, including three albums previously released by Nonesuch—Salome Dances for Peace (two discs), Requiem for Adam, and The Cusp of Magic—as well as a new disc called Sunrise of the Planetary Dream Collector. All of the pieces, says the Independent, "are, typically, timeless."
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Kronos Quartet
Sunrise of the Planetary Dream Collector
Sunrise of the Planetary Dream Collector: Music of Terry Riley includes a new recording of the title piece, one of Kronos Quartet and Riley's first collaborations, as well as a previously unreleased recording of Lacrymosa – Remembering Kevin and Cry of a Lady (originally released on A Thousand Thoughts) and G Song and Cadenza on the Night Plain (both originally released on 25 Years). Pitchfork says the album is "a necessary addition to the catalog," calling the new recording of the title track "a marvel."
"One Earth, One People, One Love," from Sun Rings, which is included on both the new album and the box set, is among NPR Music's Favorite Songs of 2015. "This rapturous and tender movement," says NPR, "with the cello at its fore, is mystical, magical and haunting."
Continuing the celebration for Riley's birthday, Kronos presented its first festival, at SFJAZZ Center, which Mercury News included among the Best Bay Area Performances of the year. The group's next festival, Kronos Explorer Series, will take place in February.
JULY
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The Arcs
Outta My Mind / My Mind 7"
The Arcs released the second 7" vinyl single off their still-forthcoming album, Yours, Dreamily, with "Outta My Mind," out on July 10. The single was backed with the non-album track "My Mind."
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Lianne La Havas returned with her second album, Blood, on July 31. The album was inspired by her Jamaican and Greek family heritage and by Jamaica's love of grooves, rhythms, and syncopation. "The album demands, and rewards, all the attention you can give it," raved Rolling Stone. It's "a seductive blend of poetic lyricism, sultry vocals, and strong yet understated musicianship," said the Daily Beast. "La Havas is a powerhouse with a full heart," said NPR, "creating music that's sweeping, inspiring and downright fun."
Blood has been nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Urban Contemporary Album. It's been featured on several Best of the Year lists, including those of NPR Listeners, the Oregonian ("a collection of richly sung groovers that leaps between and beyond genres with balletic ease"), PopMatters, and Tidal. The album track "What You Don't Do" is included among NPR Music's Favorite Songs of 2015.
SEPTEMBER
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The Arcs' debut album, Yours, Dreamily, was released on September 4. It features 13 tracks written and recorded collaboratively by the band—Dan Auerbach, Leon Michels, Richard Swift, Homer Steinweiss, and Nick Movshon—with the musicians playing a large array of roles both vocally and instrumentally; also on the album are Kenny Vaughan and Mariachi Flor de Toloache. "Right from the drop, Yours, Dreamily, ignites like a cigarette flicked on a stream of gasoline," says NPR. It's "one of Auerbach's most ambitious and fully realized albums." MOJO exclaims: "This one, for sure, is a keeper."
Yours, Dreamily, has made several Best of the Year lists, including those of the Boston Globe ("keeps toes tapping the ground with this captivating collection of garage rock and soul"), Independent on Sunday, NPR's World Cafe, Rolling Stone, Sun ("psychedelic tour-de-force"), and NPR Listeners. The album track "Stay in My Corner" is among NPR Music's Favorite Songs of 2015.
OCTOBER
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St Germain, whose albums Boulevard and Tourist originated a genre of French electronic music, returned with his first album in 15 years on October 9, and it was "well worth the wait," said the Independent. The self-titled record marries percussive grooves, which have always been central to his sound, with a new element: traditional Malian music. "The result," said NPR: "a timeless African sound reconfigured ever so slightly for the electronic age." A "remarkable album," exclaimed All About Jazz. "It is really a rare occurrence that an electronic music is crafted with so much style and substance." It "deftly balances tradition and modernity and begs repeated listening," said Jazzwise. St Germain "continues to revolutionize electronic music."
The album is included among the Best Albums of 2015 per Mixmag, which also includes the album track "Real Blues" among the year's Top Tune. Another album track, "Sittin' Here," is among NPR Music's Favorite Songs of 2015.
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Brad Mehldau
10 Years Solo Live
Brad Mehldau's 10 Years Solo Live, culled from live recordings made over a decade of the pianist's European solo concerts, was released as an eight-LP vinyl box set on October 16 and as a four-CD set and digitally the following month. The collection "contains some of the most impressive pianism he has captured on record," said the New York Times. He is "a player with a stunning virtuosity and daring ability to mine far reaches of improvisation," raved All About Jazz. This is "a beautiful release/box from a unique pianist who continually shows what the piano can do." "Brad Mehldau is a magician," exclaimed Record Collector. "Hearing the pianist in full flow during a live performance is ... nothing less than an awe-inspiring experience."
The set was named the Best Jazz Album of 2015 by the Irish Times, one of the best by the Daily Telegraph, and has made NPR Music and Jazz Journal's Critics Polls of the year's best.
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Laurie Anderson
Heart of a Dog
Laurie Anderson's first feature film in 30 years, Heart of a Dog, was shown at film festivals around the world and hit theaters in the US this fall. The full audio recording of the film, including all music and spoken text, was released on Nonesuch on October 23. It's a personal essay on joy and heartbreak and remembering and forgetting, at the heart of which is a lament for her late beloved dog Lolabelle. The New York Times called it "dreamy, drifty, and altogether lovely." New York says it's "one of the most moving and provocative films you'll see this year."
The film has been nominated for a Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary and is featured on the Best Movies of 2015 lists from the New York Times and New York magazine ("gorgeous"). Echoes includes the soundtrack among the Best Albums of 2015.
Laurie Anderson will present her own two-hour special on BBC Radio 6 Music on Friday, Christmas Day, at 7 PM GMT as part of the station's annual Wise Women strand.
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Buena Vista Social Club
Buena Vista Social Club
As noted above, the original Buena Vista Social Club album was reissued on vinyl by World Circuit on October 30, not long after Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club performed at The White House while on its Adios tour. This worldwide cultural phenomenon, a 1997 Grammy winner, co-produced by Ry Cooder, helped to introduce Cuba's rich musical heritage and pre-revolutionary past to the world. For this vinyl reissue, the studio recordings were cut from the original analogue half-inch tapes and mastered by Bernie Grundman (engineer of the original release), and pressed on 180-gram heavyweight vinyl. Housed in a gatefold sleeve, the LPs are presented alongside a 20-page booklet and include a digital download.
NOVEMBER
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Natalie Merchant
Paradise Is There
Natalie Merchant revisited her multi-platinum solo debut, Tigerlily, with the release of Paradise Is There: The New Tigerlily Recordings, on November 6. The album features new recordings of the beloved songs of Tigerlily as they have evolved over two decades of live performance. The new release is accompanied by a documentary DVD: a memoir-style film containing live performances, archival footage, and interviews with musicians, friends, and fans about the influence these songs have had over 20 years. MOJO, in a four-star review, says: "Time has only amplified the power of Merchant's music."
The film Paradise Is There was screened at theaters throughout North America this fall, and screenings continue at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago through December 26. Merchant will perform songs from the album at select cities in the US and Europe in March.
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There was more music from the Punch Brothers as they released the five-song EP The Wireless on November 20. Recorded during the T Bone Burnett–produced sessions for their album The Phosphorescent Blues, the EP comprises four original compositions, including a song with words by Gabriel Kahane entitled "Sleek White Baby," plus a cover of Elliott Smith's "Clementine"; four of the tracks are featured on the vinyl edition of The Phosphorescent Blues.
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Shye Ben Tzur, Jonny Greenwood, and the Rajasthan Express
Junun
Junun—an album from composer/musician Shye Ben Tzur, guitarist Jonny Greenwood, and the Rajasthan Express, a group of Indian musicians—was released on November 20. It was recorded in a makeshift studio inside the 15th-century Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur, India, with Radiohead's producer Nigel Godrich earlier in the year. The album comprises Ben Tzur's compositions, which feature devotional Sufi qawwal musicians who sing in Urdu as well as in his native Hebrew. "One of the most inspired releases of the year," says the Times of London, which includes it among the Best Records of the Year. "Intriguing, sinuous, and essential listening."
The filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson, a friend and frequent collaborator of Greenwood, came along to document the recording sessions as well as daily life and the close camaraderie of artistic collaboration. Anderson's resulting impressionistic film, also entitled Junun, debuted at the New York Film Festival on October 8 and is available on iTunes.
Anderson's 2014 film Inherent Vice, for which Greenwood wrote a score and Nonesuch released the soundtrack in 2014, landed on a number of lists of the Best Movie of the Year in the UK, where the film was released this year, including those of the Guardian and the Independent.
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The Arcs
The Arcs vs. The Inventors Vol. I EP
There was still more new music to come from The Arcs even after the release of their debut album, with the release of The Arcs vs. The Inventors Vol. I. First released as a limited-edition 10" for Record Store Day's Black Friday event on November 27 and later released digitally, the six-song recording by The Arcs, featuring Dr. John and David Hidalgo, is the first in a series of collaborative "Inventors" recordings to come. "Sometimes the best way to see into the future is to study the past," says Dan Auerbach. "In this series we do both, collaborating with folks who have been in the game a long time but instead of rehashing old material, we collaborate on new works, explore new ideas and introduce each other to a different generational perspective." NME included the EP on its list of the Best Limited-Edition Vinyl Releases for Black Friday.
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Rhiannon Giddens
Factory Girl EP
There was also more music to come from Rhiannon Giddens following the release of her solo debut album, with the release of Factory Girl. First released as a vinyl 10" for Record Store Day's Black Friday event on November 27 and later released digitally, the five-song EP was recorded during the T Bone Burnett–produced sessions for Tomorrow Is My Turn. It includes songs written or made famous by musical heroes Ethel Waters and Sister Rosetta Tharp; a song co-written by Giddens; a traditional Gaelic mouth music tune; and the title track, a traditional Irish song for which Giddens wrote additional lyrics. "It's a clutch of tunes that work together like the cards in a winning poker hand," says the New York Times. "Her accompaniment … points to an ageless gold standard for American roots music." "Deftly curated, gorgeously sung," says NPR, "this EP is America."
Rhiannon Giddens will help ring in the New Year with a performance on Jools Holland's Annual Hootenanny on BBC Two at 11 PM on New Year's Eve.
AND MORE ...
There is, of course, more great music to come in 2016. Pre-orders are already available for Lake Street Dive's Nonesuch Records debut album, Side Pony; guitarist Michael Daves's Nonesuch solo debut, Orchids and Violence; Rokia Traoré's sixth album, Né So; and a trio of releases of composer Henryk Górecki's music, including the vinyl reissue of his beloved Symphony No. 3, the first recording of his Symphony No. 4, and a seven-CD retrospective of his Nonesuch recordings.
All of the 2015 albums above can be purchased in the Nonesuch Store, where all currently released albums (pre-orders excluded)—on CD, LP, MP3, and FLAC—are 15% off the everyday low prices listed on the site through New Year's Day in celebration of the store's eighth anniversary; final discount is shown at checkout.
Happy Holidays from everyone at Nonesuch Records!
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