Artists Profile

Current Location :: New York, USA 

Music Genres :: Electronica, House

Alias/Collaboration: :: Darkside

Nicolas Jaar was born in NY but quickly relocated to Santiago de Chile in the 90s only to come back to his birth place as a teenager. Haunted by Mulatu Astatke and Erik Satie, Nico started to make organic electronic music in 2004 at the age of 14. At 17, he made his debut with “The Student EP” on Wolf and Lamb Music with a remix by Seth Troxler who called him " one of the most talented minds dance music is about to see develop".

At 18, he continued producing and played live at Club Der Visionaire and Arena in Berlin, at the Marcy in Brooklyn, at Communikey in Colorado and at Mutek in Mexico City. Now 19, studying at Brown University in Rhode Island, Nico has releases coming up on Circus Company, Wolf + Lamb and on his own label, Clown and Sunset (www.clownandsunset.com) of which he is the owner and founder.

Jaar’s music is ruminative and emotional (he calls it “blue-wave”), drawing inspiration from fellow-Chilean Ricardo Villalobos and minimal techno. Most of Jaar’s compositions reside at 100 BPM or lower, far lower than the techno/house standards of 120-130 BPM. “I’m going to keep taking the beats even slower,” he says in an interview with Resident Advisor, “More unintentional things happen between the beats.” He released his debut album, Space Is Only Noise in January 2011 to critical acclaim, receiving a score of 8.4 “Best New Music” from Pitchfork and four stars from The Guardian.

It was ranked #1 album of the year by Resident Advisor, Mixmag, Crack Mag, #2 by DJ Mag and #20 by Pitchfork. His track "Don't Break My Love" also received the title of "Best New Music" by Pitchfork in late 2011. Jaar toured the album with a full band, combining sounds from his laptop with a guitarist, drummer, and saxophonist.

On May 18, 2012 Nicolas Jaar made his BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix debut, which was voted 'Radio 1's Essential Mix Of The Year 2012'