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The isolation of the last 15 months must have been hard on Carlos Niño. For years, the L.A. percussionist, DJ, and arranger has gathered together a rotating cast of pals to create a series of records under the name Carlos Niño & Friends. The loose, improvisatory structures of their playing, and Niñoâs ingenious ability to stitch the best ideas together into blankets of comforting sounds, give these albums a charisma that smooths over the often difficult nature of the music, which borrows in equal measure from free jazz, new age, and hip-hop. In the same way that youâre able to follow your closest buds to conversational places you wouldnât dream of approaching with your coworkers, the warmth that permeates Niñoâs music disguises just how challenging some of it can be.