Bear in Heaven @ MHOW, May 2012 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

"World of Freakout" is one of the strongest cuts off Bear in Heaven's I Love You, It's Cool which came out earlier this year, with throbbing bass and synths ripe for the dancefloor. The band has handed the track over to Nicolas Jaar's Darkside collaborator Dave Harrington who strips it down a bit, making it more of a sleek night drive kind of track. We've got the premiere of this remix which is streamable below.

As mentioned previously, Bear in Heaven are playing Music Hall of Williamsburg on December 5 with Small Black and Eraas. Tickets are still available but if you'd like to go for free we're also giving a pair away. Details on how to enter are below. Bear in Heaven are donating $1 for every ticket sold to Hurricane Sandy relief via Rockaways based Smallwater relief fund.

There's an afterparty for the show happening next door at Public Assembly (doors 11:30 PM) which is free but is also a Smallwater relief fund benefit, and 10% of the bar will go to the fund, so if you go, drink up and order the good stuff. Dave Harrington, Small Black and Bear in Heaven will be DJing.

The Dave Harrington remix of "World of Freakout" is below.

Continue reading "Bear in Heaven released new remix (stream); upcoming MHOW show and afterparty aid Sandy relief (win tix)"

DOWNLOAD: Nicolas Jaar - "And I Say" (feat. Scout LaRue and Will Epstein) (MP3)

Nicolas Jaar is currently on tour in Europe, and will return home to NYC on February 3 to play a MHOW show, which is now sold out. Two days later, he'll play a Pitchfork-presented event called "From Scratch" at MoMA PS1 (2/5) in Long Island City. Pitchfork writes:

"From Scratch" will premiere a new five-hour, multidisciplinary performance from Jaar, with musical collaborators Will Epstein, Dave Harrington (Jaar's partner in Darkside), and Sasha Spielberg. It will include a movement piece by Lizzie Feidelson, and sound-derived video art from CSA's filmmaker-in-residence, Ryan Staake of Pomp & Clout.

The event is free with admission to MoMA PS1, and it looks like this:

SUNDAY SESSIONS
Five-hour, continuous performance by
Nicolas Jarr and collaborators

Sunday, February 05, 2012
12:00 PM to 6:00 PM
1-6 PM Performance by Nicholas Jaar and collaborators
All Day M. Wells Outdoor Grilling Station

Nico recently dropped the track, "And I Say," which features saxophone from Will Epstein (who performs at the MoMA event) and vocals from Scout LaRue, the daughter of Demi Moore and Bruce Willis. Grab that above and stream it below.

Updated dates are listed below too...

Continue reading "Nicolas Jaar premiering 5-hour piece @ PS1 (two days after sold out MHOW show)"

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)"

by Andrew Sacher

DOWNLOAD: Nicolas Jaar - "Don't Break My Love" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Nicolas Jaar - "Why Didn't You Save Me" (MP3)

On his own, Nicolas Jaar brings together organic and synthetic sounds to create minimal soundscapes. Now he's prepping the debut EP of a new joint project, Darkside, a collaboration with guitarist Dave Harrington, who plays in his live band. They'll release the EP on December 7 on Jaar's own Clown and Sunset label. The EP's artwork is above.

Nicolas and Dave are presenting the world debut of Darkside at Music Hall of Williamsburg on December 1. Tickets for the show go on sale Friday (11/11) at noon. The Darkside show is the last US appearance Nicolas will make before he tours South America and Europe. All dates are listed below.

Nicolas Jaar also released a free 2-song EP, Don't Break My Love, on the Clown and Sunset website on November 1. The title track is a crackly ambient piece similar to much of his debut, which came out earlier this year. But he changes things up on the second track, "Why Didn't You Save Me," which is driven by polyrhythms and a wordless vocal loop. You can download both tracks from that EP above.

All dates below...

Continue reading "Nicolas Jaar released a free EP, formed Darkside -- live debut announced (MP3 & dates)"