by Andrew Sacher

Nicolas Jaar

Nicolas Jaar has a few dates scheduled in the UK for early 2012, and upon returning to the US he will play a live set as part of a Clown & Sunset showcase (Jaar's own label) at Music Hall of Williamsburg on February 3 with special guests. Tickets go on sale today (12/23) at noon.

His last NYC show was the sold out live debut of his Darkside project with Dave Harrington at MHOW earlier this month. Capital New York was at the show and talked to Nico about how despite his presence in the electronic scene, he was brought up on rock (Darkside covered Bauhaus during their encore). CMJ was there too and said:

Watching Jaar perform alongside Harrington--a music nerd-looking guy shaking his head of curls and picking out sooty, smoldering notes on the guitar and bass--makes it hard to contrive a difference between their creative processes. Jaar, like James Blake, has a way of being involved in making his music that is at once undeniable and hard to come by. He might be using a MacBook Pro as part of his music-making setup, but Jaar's work is pulsing with human life, just as fleshy as the guitarist looking him in the face.

Check out some videos from this show, and a stream of the Darkside EP below. There's a sort of Pink Floydian feel to Harrington's guitar playing and Nico's voice is way more in the forefront than on his own LP. But from the live videos, you can tell that he's keeping the repetitive deep house interludes in tact, despite the forays outside of the realm of dance music.

Dave Harrington is playing again on New Year's Eve in NYC as El Topo, when he opens for Nosaj Thing at Glasslands. TIckets are still on sale.

Nicolas also has a few UK dates coming up. All dates, videos, and stream, below...

Continue reading "Nicolas Jaar headlining Clown & Sunset showcase @ Music Hall (where Darkside recently played)"

DOWNLOAD: Nicolas Jaar - "Keep Me There" (MP3)

"Nicolas Jaar was born the 10th of January 1990 in New York but spent most of his childhood in Santiago de chile. Haunted by Mulato Astatke and Erik Satie, he started making electronic music in 2004. At the age of 17, he made his debut on Wolf + Lamb records. Now 21 years old, Nico runs his own label clown & sunset and just released his debut album 'space is only noise" [nicolasaar.net]

Pitchfork gave the album Best New Music. Download a track above. Clash says that, "Using a full band set up, Nicolas Jaar played a sold out show in London earlier this year. The results were breathtaking, sitting somewhere between free jazz, out there electronics and straight ahead techno." Nicolas plays again with a live band at Le Poisson Rouge in NYC on May 27. It's their only US show at before heading out on a European tour that includes performances at Glastonbury, Melt, and Sonar Festival.

The LPR show is being opened by Valentin Stip, who just released an EP on Jaar's Clown & Sunset label. According to a facebook status on Nicolas' page, it's his last US show until the fall. Tickets are still on sale now.

Nicolas recently recorded a cover of Abdullah Ibrahim's "Ishmael" live at Maida Vale BBC Studios in London. Listen to that, with all dates below...

Continue reading "Nicolas Jaar released 'Space Is Only Noise', covered Abdullah Ibrahim, has a label, can legally drink @ his US live band show"