Nicolas Jaar has now released the latest instalment in his Nymph series with the trance-like Fight (Nymphs IV). Choosing to release the track over Twitter, the 8 and a half minute track is what I like to call “peak Jaar”. Slow and steady, meticulous and just so well thought out, Fight (Nymphs IV) should come as a very pleasant surprise for those who consider themselves a Nicolas Jaar enthusiast.

Said enthusiasts have had a bit of a hard run following this producer. He’s hard to pin down, even harder to figure out, and just when he gets you really hooked on whatever he’s doing, he calls it quits. This writer is still recovering from the announcement that Darkside is over (the dark and mysterious project he had with Dave Harrington which saw the duo tour the world with their brooding sounds). The output of solo material also dried up over the last few years as well, until this year. Now, in October, Fight (Nymphs IV) is actually his fourth release of the year following his free album of the 1969 film The Colour of Pomegranates soundtrack, as well as Nymphs II and III and an outstanding remix of Florence + The Machine. Absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder, and it seems now Jaar is rewarding those who have still stuck around for their patience.

This groove driven experimental track was posted by Jaar on Twitter along with the caption “This nymph swam to gent.” Whatever that means, it’s a mellow, glitchy dream that shows that Jaar’s still got “it”, and will probably never lose it. Fight (Nymphs IV) is out now via R&S Records.

Our favourite American-Chilean producer Nicolas Jaar is back again with more music with the release of Nymphs III, a sequel to, you guessed it, Nymphs II 12”. It comes out on June 29 via his Other People imprint and you can stream it here, via his Other People page.

Just like Nymphs II, Jaar’s latest work is composed of just two tracks, Swim and Mistress. Jaar displays his usual psychedelic, otherworldly blend of pulsating synths and ambient vibes; something for you to chill out to or lose yourself to out on the dance floor.

It’s been a busy few couple of months for Jaar, with the release Nymphs II 12″ being his first solo release in four years. On top of that, he composed a new alternative score for the 1969 experimental film The Color Of Pomegranates by Sergei Parajanov.

Despite copyright complaints filed in reaction to Jaar’s unauthorised composition for the movie, the video for The Color Of Pomegranates still appears to be up on YouTube.

However, Jaar is now offering up his work as a free standalone album under the shortened title Pomegranates. According to Jaar, this version of the composition will not sync up with the original film.

As well as the free album, the download contains some art and a message from Jaar explaining the motivations for creating such a project. The album is an amalgamation of previous works that were never released by Jaar. Here is the lengthy statement below:

At the beginning of 2015 my friend Milo heard some of these songs and told me about the film. I watched it and was dumbfounded. I felt the aesthetic made complete sense with the strange themes I had been obsessed with over the past couple of years..I was curious to see what my songs sounded like when synced with the images, which turned into a 2-day bender where I soundtracked the entire film, creating a weird collage of the ambient music I had made over the last 2 years.

The film gave me a structure to follow and themes to stick to.It gave clarity to this music that was made mostly out of and through chaos. It also gave me the balls to put it out… I wanted to do some screenings but the guy who owns the rights to the film only wants the original version of the movie out there. I can’t blame him, I’m sure Paradjanov wouldn’t want some kid in NY pissing all over his masterpiece and calling it a soundtrack! I’ve listened to it a couple of times without watching the movie and I think it stands on its own. Or at least I hope it can!

Check out Jaar’s previous release, Nymphs II, below:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGeNUgizTaM&w=560&h=315]

Nicolas Jaar and Weasel Walter have released a remix of the singer and poet Lydia Lunch’s 1990 spoken word piece Why, Why Was I born an American.

Lunch is an American singer, poet, writer, actress and self-empowerment speaker whose career was spawned by the New York No Wave Scene. She rose to prominence in the 80’s and early 90’s for her outspoken and provocative noise music. 

Renamed American Invasion, the track will be reissued on vinyl along with the entirety of Lunch’s spoken world album Conspiracy of Women by Jaar’s very own imprint Other People.

Tracklist

Conspiracy of Women:

  1. i Just Got Back From Los Angeles
  2. Why, Why Was I Born an American
  3. American Invasion (Weasel Walter and Nicolas Jaar Remix)

Listen to it here on Other People’s website.

It was just last week that Jaar unveiled his first solo release in four years since his debut album Space is Only Noise. Called Nymphs II, the 12-inch, 15-minute record is comprised of two tracks, The Three Sides of Audrey and Why She’s All Alone and No One is Looking at U.

You can hear then entire record on YouTube below.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGeNUgizTaM]

American-Chilean musician and former Darkside member Nicolas Jaar is back with his first solo release in four years. Called Nymphs II, the 12-inch, 15-minute record is comprised of two tracks, rather longwindedly titled The Three Sides of Audrey and Why She’s All Alone and No One is Looking at U. So mean!

Recorded between 2011 and 2015, Nymphs II will be available through Jaar’s own subscription-based imprint Other People.

First track Three Sides of Audrey sounds classically Jaar-esque – an exotic, otherworldly blend of ghostly-cosmic ambience, back by a hypnotic, fragmented backbeat. In the beginning, it sounds like a warped and distorted, strung-out sound; an auditory version of a acid trip or one of the slow-motion, fucked montages you see sometimes in cartoons like Spongebob. Slowly, but surely, it fades off into an existential haze, ending ever so softly before segueing into No one is looking at U.

This song starts with Jaar’s voice echoing into the lofty and echoey confines of space. More monotonous in composition, No one is looking at U continues in this vein, slowly building up to be something more, until nearer the the end, where a female voice oscillates spasmodically, almost tauntingly, into your eardrums. Ending like it started, No one is looking at U petters out quietly, fading off into great blank space of nothingness.

Check our Jaar’s awesome, magical eargasms below:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGeNUgizTaM]

The long awaited follow up to Nicolas Jaar‘s 2011 solo release Space Is Only Noise has finally been announced! Said to be dropping May 11 via Jaar’s label, Other People, the prolific producer will be released a solo 12″ titled Nymphs II according to Resident Advisor. It was recorded between 2011 and 2015 in New York City, in between all the other things he’s been up to in that time.

This news falls on gracious ears as fans everywhere still mourn the end of Jaar’s Darkside project with Dave Harrington (or is it just me still mourning?). Check the tracklisting below, as well as immersing yourself in his most recent release of Florence & The Machine‘s What Kind of Man.

Nymphs II:

01 The Three Sides of Audrey and Why She’s All Alone Now
02 No One is Looking at U

Not satisfied with simply scoring an entire soundtrack to an old Russian film, Nicolas Jaar is back with more new music today, having just dropped an incredible remix of Florence + the Machine’s new track What Kind of Man.

Oh, and it’s twelve minutes long.

The original track only came out a couple weeks ago, sending us all into a flurry of excitement over F+TM’s forthcoming album How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, out on June 1.

The original track is soars and roars atop a huge riff, trumpets and a massive chorus. But Nicolas Jaar, being Nicolas Jaar, has injected his own deep house darkness and murky jungle beats. It’s warped almost beyond recognition, but it’s SO damn good. A definite highlight are the sections that use Welch’s vocals, having warbled and muffled them into something dazzling and psychedelic.

Here’s the remix:

And here’s the original:

 

American-Chilean musician and producer Nicolas Jaar has shared a score that he composed for the 1969 film The Color of Pomegranates. Jaar posted the entire movie on Youtube with new instrumentals overlaying the film. The Color of Pomegranates (or just Pomegranates), is an experimental Armenian film directed by Sergei Parajanov. The movie is a biography of the Armenian ashug Sayat-Nova (King of Song) that attempts to reveal the poet’s life visually and poetically rather than literally, and Jaar’s fractured instrumentals do nothing if to more to amplify this effect.

Check out film and its accompanying 20 tracks below. It’s well worth a listen.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHZGDDE8n4E]

Tracklist:
01 Garden Of Eden
02 Construction
03 Pass The Time
04 Survival
05 The Fool And His Harem
06 Being And Nothingness
07 Near Death
08 Beasts Of This Earth
09 Fall Into Time
10 Folie à Deux
11 Screams At The Edge Of Dawn
12 Divorce
13 Three Windows
14 Touristas
15 Shame
16 Tower Of Sin
17 Kapital
18 Volver
19 Spirit
20 Muse

Nicolas Jaar is a mysterious man. It’s been more than a year since his last release – Psychic, the one and only release from DARKSIDE, his immense, short-lived collaboration with Dave Harrington. But while he’s not releasing his own music right now, he has recently signed a very exciting new artist to his label Other People: 19-year-old John Bence.

Disquiet is Bence’s debut EP and was released for streaming on Tuesday morning. It’s made up of three tracks; Disquiet Movement I, II, and III. The titles are most likely Jaar’s influence – the tracks on Darkside’s first EP were blandly titled A1, A2, and A3.

Each track begins with very eerie tones. The mood is gloomy yet enticing. As if we’ve been placed inside the set of an apocalyptic film, Bence is peeking around each corner, anticipating what sound may appear next.

All three tracks stir emotion within the listener. In particular, it evoked an enormous sense of uncertainty – the kind I felt watching a bleak post-World War II film in a German museum once upon a time.

Bence has “scored all tracks multiple times,” according to Jaar. After scoring it once he cuts and pastes some sounds, while he re-scores and re-records others. All in all, it amounts to an extremely intriguing EP.

Stream Disquiet below.

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DJ Slugo’s new track Ghetto has just dropped. Produced by none other than collaborator Nicolas Jaar, it’s an interesting, minimalist blend of hip hop and house. It’s one of those tracks where the music is primarily a support for an extended rap monologue, but rather than taking a backseat, each musical moment is as captivating as the next.

Released on Jaar’s own label Other People, there’s something raw and personable about the lyrics, gracefully carried by the subtle electronic backing layers. Slugo is a veteran of the Chicago house scene and overall, this is a really nice little collaboration for the both of them.

Well, it happened.

Darkside are over.

Last month, the duo of Dave Harrington and Nicolas Jaar announced that they were “coming to an end, for now.” Ever-so-slightly numbing the pain, they released two final tracks: ‘What They Say’ and the cruelly titled ‘Gone Too Soon’.

Last night, at Brooklyn Masonic Temple, we farewelled Darkside.

And like the desperate fools we are, clinging to every last drop, here’s a couple of iPhone-recorded snippets (the only time ever that I’ve been grateful for someone holding their phone up for minutes on end at a live gig):

Originally posted to Scenewave.com