Nicole Raymonnd (NikNak)
Biography
NikNak (Nicole Raymond) is a pioneering Leeds-based turntablist, composer, and sound artist who explores the boundaries between DJing, immersive sound, and storytelling. Their work has earned them the Oram Award, and they blend turntablism with electronic textures and field recordings to create expansive, genre-defying soundscapes.
Their acclaimed 2024 album Ireti — the Yoruba word for “hope” — is an Afrofuturist sonic odyssey that examines the fractured relationships between humanity, nature, and artificial intelligence. Through immersive cinematic soundscapes, modular synthesis, and layered beats, Ireti unfolds a narrative of resistance, resilience, and renewal. Inspired by solarpunk, dystopian fiction, and experimental jazz, the album guides listeners through a four-part journey that is simultaneously political and personal, ancestral and futuristic.
From thunderous low-end bursts to delicate ambient textures, Ireti showcases NikNak’s distinctive approach to spatial sound and narrative composition. The track “12000RPM” received an AIM Award nomination. NikNak has held residencies with 4DSOUND (Amsterdam) and Stone Nest (London) and works across performance, installation, and spatial audio — with recent highlights including the We Out Here Festival, the Leeds Jazz Festival, and a commission with the Chineke! Orchestra.
At the Giga Hertz Festival 2025, NikNak will be honoured both for their work on Ireti and for a newly developed project proposal that received the Giga Hertz Production Prize 2025 and will be realised in 2026.