Nazar

When he began uploading atmospheric, beat-heavy club distortions to his SoundCloud page in the late 2010s, Netherlands-based Angolan producer Nazar coined a new genre - rough kuduro - to describe his politicized interpretation of the popular Angolan style. And after reflecting on his father's experiences of civil war on 2020's powerful 'Guerrilla', he returned this year with another creative rebirth, considering the romance and brush with mortality that followed his ordeal on the dreamy 'Demilitarize'. Inspired by 'Ghost in the Shell', Frank Ocean and Cocteau Twins' Elizabeth Fraser, it's humid, psychedelic and unexpectedly beautiful music that channels his unique energy into completely new places.