NINA NASTASIA

she was trying to warn us :(

I miss anticipating her next record a lot, but after all these years, there's also an appeal to the tidiness of six albums so good I cant choose among them, evenly spaced over a specific decade, produced with the same raw sheen, as though there was a Felt-like manifesto she completed.

i think she's got a new album coming out this year?

She posted on her bandcamp in October that she was working on something and would try to get it out in the "next few months" but nothing has been announced yet.

Per what I said in 2018

I'm excited but until I see a release date I'm not exactly holding my breath. I mean I saw her playing new songs in 2012.

― chr1sb3singer, Friday, February 23, 2018 1:49 PM (two years ago) bookmarkflaglink

There's a big Brecht/Weill thing going on with Outlaster.

― Heavy Messages (jed_), Monday, 1 February 2021 17:44 (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

yes and a real one, not a plinky plonky campy pastiche where everyone has smeared kohl around their eyes, big knickers and a bowler hat! there's a great sense of theatricality, dark narratives richly colorful and the songs on outlaster in particular are so integrated with the arrangements im obsessed. Outlaster and you follow me are the two i like the most i think

she's also an interesting guitar player and her playing is v important to you follow me, more than i expected as i feel like she's promoted so much as a 'songwriter'

six albums so good I cant choose among them

I definitely have favorites among them, but they are all pretty great, and I love how each album really has its own identity. She has worked within the same basic indie-folk construct but done very different things with it sonically.

We polled them a year ago and there were a handful of clear favourites but her level of consistency is indeed remarkable:

Nina Nastasia: We Never POLLed

I've been really loving "Outlaster" recently, which I got when it came out and liked but it never really stuck with me and it has been the NN record I reach for the least, I probably haven't spun in 5 yrs or longer.

Anyway, it sounds great to me now.

i only recently got into her albums recently (having heard and liked dogs when it came out but none since) and with them all lined up to choose from outlaster and you follow me were the ones that have grabbed me most

she's one of the few artists where at various times every one of her records has been my favorite at one point in time

Listening to Run to Ruin right now for the first time in a bit, she's so good.

not sure if these have been posted, but they're awesome

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcsVKelBOuw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgXwl2Sjqnk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6M6x_QYrPo

I haven't ever seen these available anywhere else - so I made a playlist of a few unreleased and rare songs. They're pretty incredible, especially "World of Dirt"

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVL0o0rTY5ypolWuNYMqPDEEnLzoPXZGb

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dyptWKLd8Y

old stuff reissued on bandcamp!
signed to Temporary Residence!
touring with Mogwai!

https://pitchfork.com/news/nina-nastasia-digitally-reissues-3-out-of-print-albums/

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great news! Those are my 3 favorite albums of hers (love the first 3 too, of course).

i fell out of listening to her after dogs which i liked a lot at the time. i ended up listening to all of them recently and outlaster and you follow me are the two standouts in my opinion

Agreed those are my top picks also blackened air

Fantastic!!! Run to Ruin also great.

new album july 22

https://www.clashmusic.com/news/nina-nastasia-announces-new-album-riderless-horse

it says there that this kennan gudjonsson produced all her albums but I and wikipedia thought it was steve albini?

Kennan was the producer, Steve recorded/engineered everything

i mean that's how i would have guessed it based on what i know of albini but wikipedia lists him as the only producer on every single record. on discogs, gudjonsson is listed as producer on two of them (on leaving and you follow me) but most don't list a producer at all. He's listed in various capacities on all of them (e.g. musical director on outlaster)

The text of that announcement was … not what I was expecting. Were the darker elements widely known? I remember a lot of grief and loss at the time of Kennan’s death over at the Electrical forum, but no hint of this stuff.

Good news on the album (and "Just Stay in Bed" is lovely). Quite blindsided too by the details in the announcement.

Longer description in the press release

https://ourculturemag.com/2022/04/04/nina-nastasia-announces-new-album-riderless-horse-shares-new-single-just-stay-in-bed/

I don't want to comment on her personal life (though I hope her return to music is a sign that she's isn't in such a dark place these days), but this daytrotter writeup has haunted/irked me for years. the writer spends the first paragraph and a half introducing us to the concept of the Svengali before insisting that Kennan and Nina definitely don't (really, they don't!) have a Svengali-Trilby relationship

Gudjonsson does not perform with Nastasia live, but acts as her manager and best friend, contributing to her art after the lights have cooled and the crowds have dissipated. Serving her songwriting this way makes it difficult to know where everyone starts and ends and what we're left with is Nastasia earning the distinction and reaping all of the credit. So we'll give it to her -- happily. It's that voice anyway that has us riveted.

don't most singer-songwriters reap most or all the credit for a creative process that owes a lot to the support/input of their loved ones and collaborators? and is it really fair to claim that Nina takes "all the credit" when she has publicly acknowledged Kennan's efforts (but hasn't gone so far as to give him songwriting credits)? Nina's case is really only noteworthy if one has previously operated under the assumption that she was a solitary, 100% self-made genius, or if one is loathe to celebrate the achievements of a female artist unless it's abundantly clear that she doesn't owe the bulk of her success to the men in her life. tbf it's probably unhealthy and spiritually destructive to waste so much energy on bad faith readings of terrible music writing

I'm currently debating whether to see her open for Mogwai in Boston in a few days. I've never even heard Mogwai and idk if it's worth it to attend a concert chiefly for the opening act

I don't care about Mogwai, but for her I'd go.

Last time I saw Mogwai I ended up a bit bored, but their newest record is a bit of a latter peak and they are very good at building giant sounds (wear hearing protection!). If you know you'll enjoy NN I don't think Mogwai will wreck it for you.

i don't think there's anything to be gained by trying to divine kennan's influence out of a press release

hmm, lumbering shoegaze-not-shoegaze post-rock isn't really my bag, but their new album sounds alright based on the 5 minutes or so I sampled, so I could see myself enjoying their set well enough. and it's doubtful that Nina will perform as a headliner in my area anytime soon. still not totally sold on the idea, but leaning toward it now

(xpost)

i don't think there's anything to be gained by trying to divine kennan's influence out of a press release

fair point

In that situation, I'd rather hear her whole set, then leave if I didn't get into Mogwai pretty fast----and not have to listen to them (or go to the bathroom and then walk the hall) until she fuckin finally appeared (if I were even allowed to leave and come back)(sorry Mogwai, hope your new album and show are indeed better).

Not likely, of course, esp. as long as she's been away, that they'd be opening for her, so let's take advantage of that!

ha, I take it that you had a bad experience at one of their shows? Nina's definitely opening for them at this show, so my best bet is to leave early if Mogwai don't do much for me. I really just wish I had a better handle on post-rock concertgoing etiquette. is it acceptable to walk out of their show in mid crescendo, or should I leave prior to the crescendo (if I can anticipate it) or just wait it out until the next quiet bit? they look like very sensitive lads, so I'd hate to hurt their feelings in any way

https://i.imgur.com/K86Oj5s.jpg

Better to leave while it's loud, then: they might notice when everything's so quiet you can hearboots shuffling away. I haven't had a bad experience at their show, and they might be better live, as many are; I just liked one of their albums, then when I came back, around ballot time, the thrill was gone and then some. It happens.

I've never seen 'em at all, to be clear.

What I take from the press release: her return is even more remarkable than previously thought, and we should see her while we can. Now, maybe she'll turn out to be a regular Willie Dylan with the touring, but maybe not.

hey on an ilm hiatus until i learn how to not argue about music on the internet but i did want to stop by and say that i saw nina open for mogwai last night and it's one of the greatest things i've ever experienced, was riveting - she held the crowd in silence, reminded me a bit of leonard cohen at the isle of wight.

was very emotional and triumphant, she seemed so happy and none of the sometimes unstable, uneasy stage banter she's had in the past. she even brought her new dog out onstage. she thanked the (surprisingly attentive and quiet) crowd and mogwai several times, she really seemed to be enjoying it.

she mostly played the new album, with some older favorites, notably "superstar" off run to ruin and "why don't you stay home?" from on leaving.

so many of the songs now take on a different meaning, the shadow of his suicide was felt all throughout the set and in the new songs. her voice and guitar playing were incredible, this might have been the best time i've seen her.

was a magical night, i caught about a half hour of mogwai - who were actually good and better than i remembered - but after what was almost a religious experience for me i just wasn't im the mood for a rock band.

if you have the chance, you should go see her on this tour. though, based on last night, i'm much more hopeful she will be more regularly active in the future.

also a good reminder that i don't know if any artist really touches me emotionally the way she can, she's such a distinctive writer, from both a musical and lyrical perspective, to me she's up there with any great songwriter you can name.

i didn't want to spend the set with a phone in my hand, but filmed the first song, an acapella i'm assuming from the new album, was awestruck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gYeK2VyFs8

Wow, she sounds amazing. Was the whole set solo or did she have other musicians for parts of it?

Fucking hell, guess she already played NYC.

Just her and a guitar, had the whole room in the palm of her hand

Do you know what that song is called?

No she didn't say any song titles before she played, wish I would have thought to try go take a pic of the setlist

guess I gotta wait until july. I'm such a sucker for that type of Irish/American plains type sad unaccompanied ballad

Hope she's going to tour again after the release, seems weird to tour in support of a new album three months before it's available

she mentioned that mogwai just asked her and she said yes, seemed like maybe more of a life thing than a marketing thing given where she's coming from, but like i said i'm more much more hopeful that this won't be the last chance i had to see her which is sort of how i went into it

Thanks for popping in to share that. Glad to hear it!