At 17, he debuted with "The Student EP" on Wolf + Lamb Music, with remixes by Seth Troxler and Kasper. At 18 he continued producing and played live at Club der Visionäre and Arena in Berlin, at the Marcy in Brooklyn and at Mutek in Mexico City, alongside Deadbeat, Flying Lotus and Guillaume & the Coutu Dumonts, amongst others. At 19 he studied at Brown University in Rhode Island. Nico has many releases coming up, including some on Circus Company, Wolf + Lamb (with remixes by Ryan Crosson) and on his own label, Clown and Sunset, of which he is the owner and founder.
Jaar then spent four years in underground dance circles, crafting rough, hip hop influenced house music (examples include "Love you gotta lose again", "Angles"). Initially made as jokes to make his mother laugh and dance, Jaar made two songs where he sang in his native Spanish ("Mi Mujer" and "El Bandido"). Jaar did not intend for them to come out. He changed his mind in 2010, as he felt the songs were his way of answering to what he deemed as exploitative sampling of Latin American culture by white European DJs.
He released his debut album, Space Is Only Noise, in January 2011 to critical acclaim, receiving a score of 8.4 and the title of Best New Music from Pitchfork [5] and four stars from the Guardian.[6] It was ranked #1 album of the year by Resident Advisor, Mixmag, and Crack Mag.
Jaar toured the album for three years with guitarist Dave Harrington (later of Darkside) and keyboardist Will Epstein. Jaar was voted # 1 Live Act on Resident Advisor for the 3 years he toured the record.[7]
In 2012, he debuted a live concept called From Scratch, where, in front of a live audience, he samples records he bought that day. The first iteration happened in Queens, NY at MOMA PS1; it was a 5-hour concert with collaborator Will Epstein, videographer Ryan Staake, dancer Lizzie Feidelson and singer Sasha Spielberg. He has also performed From Scratch at the Museum of Modern Art in Denver, Colorado and Montreal.
On May 18, 2012 Nicolas Jaar made his BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix' debut,[8] which was voted Radio 1's Essential Mix Of The Year of 2012.[9]
On October 4, 2013, the debut album from Darkside, Jaar's project with longtime collaborator Dave Harrington, was released to critical acclaim and a 9.0 score on Pitchfork.[10] The band toured the record for the entirety of 2014.[11]
In February 2015, Jaar released a largely ambient record entitled Pomegranates, which he intended as an alternate soundtrack to The Color of Pomegranates.[12][13]
Later that year, Jaar scored the soundtrack to Dheepan, a thriller by French filmmaker Jacques Audiard about a family of Sri Lankan refugees living in the suburbs of Paris. It was the winner of the Palme d'Or at Cannes 2015.[2]
In 2019, Jaar assembled a group of 12 researchers (Shock Forest Group) in order to explore the history and future of a military complex-turned art institution in the Netherlands. The resulting exhibition, entitled "No Camouflage' (het Hem, 2019) uncovered the myriad layers of accumulated colonial, ecological and institutional violence that interlink on the site through archival media findings, data gathering, performances and sound installations.
Jaar is part of the team at Dar Yusuf Nasri Jacir for Art and Research, a grass-roots independent artist–run initiative founded in 2014 located in Bethlehem, Palestine. Jaar transformed Dar Jacir’s food shack into a sound studio where he has held sound workshops with kids from Aida and Dheisheh refugee camps. These sound workshops introduced the children to the practice of electronic music creation, experimenting with instruments and recording techniques available in the new studio. A residency program for international artists has been curated by Jaar since 2019, with Sebastián Jatz Rawicz (Chile) and Rolando Hernández (Mexico) as guests so far. Jaar has also held workshops at RCA Architecture Program (2021), Werkplaats Typografie, NL (2019, alongside research group SFG), 4x4 festival (Chiapas), Sonar Barcelona (2012) and Berklee College of Music, US (2015).
From 2017-2019, Jaar worked as producer / writer with FKA Twigs on her lauded album 'Magdalene'. He has recently collaborated with artist Somnath Bhatt (2018-2020), artist/designer/coder Abeera Kamran (2020-2021), composer Patrick Higgins (2019-Ongoing), artist Lydia Ourahmane (2018), installation artist Vincent De Belleval (2016-Ongoing), saxophone player Mette Henriette (2014-Ongoing) and fado singer Carminho (2011) among others. As a producer, he's been comissioned remixes by Brian Eno (2013), Cat Power (2012), Florence + The Machine (2015) and more. His song "Killing Time" was sampled on "Call Out My Name", a 2018 song by The Weeknd. He is also a current member of performance ensemble ¡miércoles! alongside dancer and choreographer Stéphanie Janaina, and part of the band DARKSIDE alongside multi-instrumentalist Dave Harrington.
Jaar is the owner and founder of the New York-based imprint Other People. Notable releases include works by Lydia Lunch, DJ Slugo, William Basinski, Valentin Stip, VTGNIKE, Lucretia Dalt and 12z. Although the label predominantly releases vinyl, it also offers a membership where fans can download new releases and gain access to the entire Other People archive for $4 a month. Other People only publishes creator-owned content and splits all profits made from records sales 50/50 with artists.
Cenizas
Nicolas Jaar Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Vamos amar
No saber nada
Es mejor
Ya no cabe nada
Pero estamos juntos
Sin noticias
Y cada día
Nuestro mundo
Se achica
O se derrumba
Y lo único que
Me han dicho sobre el tema
Es que es el sentido común de una flecha
Y lo único que
Me han dicho
Es que es el sentido común de una flecha
Y porque no responde
El sentido común
No puedo utilizar su lenguaje
Su lenguaje, su lenguaje, su lenguaje
In the opening lines of “Cenizas,” Nicolas Jaar explores a concept of love and togetherness that transcends conventional societal norms. “In the ashes, we will love/To know nothing is better” suggests acceptance of the present moment and finding beauty in what others may perceive as destruction. Jaar speaks of unity in the face of chaos, where there is no separation between individuals. The following lines, “There is no room left/But we are together/Without news/From the other world,” point to a sense of battle or struggle that is being fought together, but also without contact with what the rest of the world may be experiencing.
The third verse seems to contrast the serene tone of the previous verses, as Jaar speaks of the world getting smaller or falling apart. The line “And the only thing they’ve told me about the subject/Is that it's common sense for an arrow” seems to suggest that destruction and disintegration is an inevitable part of the world, but we can remain together amidst the chaos. The final lines of the song pose a rhetorical question, asking why common sense does not answer anything and suggesting that it may not be a language that Jaar can use. Overall, the lyrics of “Cenizas” create an atmosphere of acceptance and unity amidst uncertainty and destruction.
Line by Line Meaning
En las cenizas
In the aftermath of destruction and chaos,
Vamos amar
We will love each other,
No saber nada
Despite knowing nothing,
Es mejor
It's better this way.
Ya no cabe nada
We can no longer hold onto anything else,
Pero estamos juntos
But at least we are together,
Sin noticias
Without any news,
Del otro mundo
From the outside world.
Y cada día
And every day,
Nuestro mundo
Our world,
Se achica
Shrinks,
O se derrumba
Or falls apart.
Y lo único que
And the only thing
Me han dicho sobre el tema
I have been told about this topic
Es que es el sentido común de una flecha
Is that it's the common sense of an arrow.
Y lo único que
And the only thing
Me han dicho
I have been told
Es que es el sentido común de una flecha
Is that it's the common sense of an arrow.
Y porque no responde
And because it does not respond,
El sentido común
Common sense
No puedo utilizar su lenguaje
I cannot use its language.
Su lenguaje, su lenguaje, su lenguaje
Its language, its language, its language.
Lyrics © WORDS & MUSIC A DIV OF BIG DEAL MUSIC LLC
Written by: Nicolas Jaar
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Alberto
Track List:
1) Vanish @00:00
2) Menysid @03:11
3) Cenizas @07:09
4) Agosto @11:49
5) Gocce @14:37
6) Mud @18:33
7) Vacíar @25:47
8) Sunder @28:00
9) Hello, Chain @31:09
10) Rubble @36:36
11) Garden @39:36
12) Xerox @45:01
13) Faith Made of Silk @48:22
mininome musicants
Да не, отличный у Джара альбом, я второй раз сейчас слушаю, поймал именно это меланхоличное настроение.
Пятница, вечер, иду через лес, вокруг все шашлыки жарят, несет помесью жижки и жженой листвы.
Вышел из леса, шумит подмосковный проспект, в переходе дети играют в мяч, люди шуршат с работы по магазинам.
А я иду предельно медленно, для своего обычного ритма. Всматриваюсь в лица прохожих, в них все та же будничная суета, кто-то смеётся в компании, кто-то просто думает о своем.
Этот альбом отличается от других избытком такой меланхоличности и отстраненности от общества, вдумчивости и эмоциональной скованности.
Интроверта альбом.
Очень классный. Спасибо!
Alberto
Track List:
1) Vanish @00:00
2) Menysid @03:11
3) Cenizas @07:09
4) Agosto @11:49
5) Gocce @14:37
6) Mud @18:33
7) Vacíar @25:47
8) Sunder @28:00
9) Hello, Chain @31:09
10) Rubble @36:36
11) Garden @39:36
12) Xerox @45:01
13) Faith Made of Silk @48:22
pethol
Thanks! There's a typo in the Garden time stamp, though - it's 39:36 :)
Alberto
@pethol Thanks for that . FIXED :)
Roark66
Thanks for taking the time out to make this time/playlist.
shigful
i remember really getting into this album when it came out, and I really feel like it opened up pandora's box as to what I thought music could be or evoke
this is one of the most impactful works of art I've had the pleasure to experience in my lifetime
Pier Heisenberg
Nico goes deeper and deeper into the abyss of sound consious. This music is like obscure thoughts floating in the infinite cosmos looking to find their cause. Nico is art. I don't know much about art. But I can listen to this for hours. I am still really curious about his source of inspiration when he is producing this music.
cash money
you can find it pinned in the comment section, words from nico himself :)
Montserrat Bahena
You're right, i have the best mind blowing in the middle of the deadline in my work with this... everyone should listen this <3
Roark66
I am hearing a lot of Mark Hollis and his transcendent beauty and sheer genius he called Spirit of Eden, an album he made in 1988 with his band Talk Talk. Mark Hollis was extremely frustrated with the ugly money-ridden music industry. He absolutely hated being told what kind of music to play. I definitely hear Jaar, perhaps subconsciously or not, sprinkling hints of Spirit of Eden in this work for sure. Mark Hollis was a musical genius, and his ten year span of music through the band Talk Talk started off with a sound more on the pop side of things, although his lyrics have stayed true to his heart. With each album Mark Hollis and Talk Talk became more and more spiritual, you can hear the subtle changes on each new album they recorded. A disciplined musician, and it also would seem he may have taken up deep meditation and self-healing practices to experience a more organic and simplistic way of making music...his music...from his heart, where his focus was only on the music, and not the business side of things, which was ruining the whole experience of making music in the first place. So, he closed himself off to the stress caused by a few record label executives, who are basically non-artistic control freak business men, whose sole purpose is to make money, and so, the music needs to be commercially viable as a result. If you haven't heard the mastery of Talk Talk's last two albums, Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock go and find yourself a listen, they are life changing works of beauty. Like Jaar here on this set of music, Hollis was doing with those timeless masterpieces. Sadly Mark Hollis died in Feb of 2019. I am just now being introduced to this work in art and spirit coming from Nicholas Jaar, and it is absolutely reticent of what Jaar was doing in the not so long ago past, but it speaks so loud and clear of what he is truly all about...stripping away the "dreamspell" of this wicked world we are currently living in. We need a new image to wake to, and this aural sensation is precisely that. So, as we take this music in. we need to breathe out this beautiful experience with others as he is doing here...and it will spread like a spoonful of honey coating a soar throat...soothing, transcending, and healing all in its path.
Pier Heisenberg
@Roark66 thank you so much for this it's so sick. I am listening to Spirit of Eden now while I am putting together my 2021 book list. I think I just wanna live on this vibe forever. LIke surround myself only with this kind of beauty