For this New Sounds, John Schaefer presents his annual highly-opinionated top 10 list of notable new music releases from 2022 which includes Haitian-American musician Leyla McCalla, new music band Wild Up playing Julius Eastman, wordsmith/artist Kae Tempest, and banjo/fiddler Jake Blount.

Listen to music about memory from a five-pointed collaborative song cycle between composers Rachel Grimes, Angélica Negrón, Shara Nova, Caroline Shaw, Sarah Kirkland Snider, called The Blue Hour, setting text from the epic poem, On Earth by Carolyn Forché. The work was commissioned by, and is performed with, the Boston–based chamber group A Far Cry and features Shara Nova as vocal soloist. Then, listen to Montréal's Black Ox Orkestar and their poignant music of the Jewish diaspora taking on hues of indie rock, experimental folk and avant-jazz. 

These five gifted composers speak to a circle of stories – shared influences, revelatory experiences- all riffing off of and taking inspiration from one another, as they respond collectively to a flood of memories from a woman traveling the space between life and death as laid out in the poem. The work was commissioned by, and is performed with, the Boston–based chamber group A Far Cry and features Shara Nova as vocal soloist, with additional sound design by the five composers and Michael Hammond.

Polymathic composer, producer, and video artist Emily Wells is a multi-instrumentalist who comes from a classical background in violin. Hear something from her release Regards to the End. Also, listen to the Los Angeles-based music collective Wild Up and their second album in a seven-volume anthology celebrating the work of 20th century American composer, Julius Eastman.

Then there’s a collaborative work, “Reich/Richter” between artist Gerhard Richter and Steve Reich, with the filmmaker Corinna Belz, and is the first time that Reich has ever written music to a pre-existing film. London-based Japanese vocal performer Hatis Noit’s 2022 release, Aura, combines laments, (which sound like professional mourners’ cries from Southeastern Europe), Japanese gagaku, western operatic styles, bird song, and Gregorian chanting. Listen to a sample track from that as well.

Also hear Haitian-American musician Leyla McCalla and her work, Breaking The Thermometer, which combines archival clips from Radio Haiti with new arrangements of traditional Haitian music. At the top of Schaefer’s list is a release by the multi-faceted London-based wordsmith, musician, and poet Kae Tempest, A Line is a Curve;  and the Afrofuturist dystopian concept record, The New Faith, by the award-winning banjoist, fiddler, and scholar of old time American music, Jake Blount. – Caryn Havlik

10. ARTIST: Black Ox Orkestar
WORK: Skotshne [4:06]
RECORDING: Everything Returns
SOURCE: Constellation
INFO: blackoxorkestar.bandcamp.com

9. ARTIST: Rachel Grimes, Angélica Negrón, Shara Nova, Caroline Shaw, Sarah Kirkland Snider, A Far Cry 
WORK: Ghost swift [1:21]
RECORDING: The Blue Hour
SOURCE: New Amsterdam Records / Nonesuch Records
INFO: newamsterdamrecords.bandcamp.com

8. ARTIST: Emily Wells
WORK: I'm Numbers [4:38]
RECORDING: Regards to the End
SOURCE: This is Meru
INFO: https://emilywells.lnk.to/RegardsToTheEnd

7. ARTIST: Ensemble Intercontemporain, led by George Jackson
WORK: Steve Reich: Reich/Richter, conclusion [4:35]
RECORDING: Reich/Richter
SOURCE: Nonesuch Records
INFO: hhttps://stevereich.lnk.to/ReichRichter

6. ARTIST: Hatis Noit
WORK: Jomon [4:48]
RECORDING: Aura
SOURCE: Erased Tapes
INFO: https://hatisnoit.bandcamp.com/album/aura

5. ARTIST: Vieux Farka Toure
WORK: Les Racines [4:02]
RECORDING: Les Racines
SOURCE: World Circuit
INFO: https://worldcircuit.lnk.to/VFTRacines

4. ARTIST: Wild Up
WORK: Stay On It [5:30]
RECORDING: Julius Eastman Vol. 2: Joy Boy
SOURCE: New Amsterdam Records
INFO: wildup.bandcamp.com  

3. ARTIST: Leyla McCalla
WORK: Fort Dimanche [3:09]
RECORDING: Breaking The Thermometer
SOURCE/INFO: https://leylamccalla.bandcamp.com/album/breaking-the-thermometer 

2. ARTIST: Kae Tempest
WORK: Salt Coast [5:53]
RECORDING: The Line is a Curve
SOURCE: Fiction 
INFO: https://KaeTempest.lnk.to/TLIACID

1. ARTIST: Jake Blount
WORK: Once There Was No Sun [4:22]
RECORDING: The New Faith
SOURCE: Smithsonian Folkways
INFO: https://jakeblount.com/the-new-faith