Nicole Raymond
With Ireti, Nicole Raymond redefines turntablism as Afrofuturist storytelling, weaving ancestry, and speculative futures into a distinctive sound. A trailblazing musical polymath performing as NikNak, she has carved out a unique space in experimental electronic music through her immersive compositions and captivating improvised performances. Her critically acclaimed debut Bashi established her as one to watch, while her fourth studio album Ireti—released on Matthew Herbert’s Accidental Records in 2024—was celebrated by Mixmag and Bandcamp as one of the year’s best albums, affirming her position as a transformative artist of international resonance.
The jury recognizes her work as both culturally vital and artistically groundbreaking. In awarding her the Giga-Hertz PopExperimental Production Award, we support her vision to evolve turntablism into a multidisciplinary exploration of Afrofuturism and sound. Her proposal to merge live turntablism with modular synthesis, locally gathered field recordings, and audio-reactive visuals expands the practice into a radical, time-bending medium—reframing sound as both memory and future myth.
Inspired by the Afrofuturist literature of Octavia Butler, Samuel R. Delany, and Toni Morrison, Raymond seeks to blur the line between storytelling and sound design, creating immersive soundscapes that are both speculative and deeply rooted in the history of the diaspora. Collaborations with artists such as Cassie Kinoshi and Richard Akingbehin will play a central role in shaping these shared sound narratives, designing a shared future that is as collective as it is visionary.
