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.
Too Many Kids Finding Rain in the Dust
Nicolas Jaar Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Too many kids finding rain in the dust
Too many . saying house of the glory
I break downtown too show you around
But you work for the tunnel to kiss kiss kiss.
Too many fathers finding rain in the dust
But you work for the tunnel to kiss kiss kiss.
The lyrics of Nicolas Jaar's song Too Many Kids Finding Rain in the Dust tell a story of a society that is struggling to find its footing. The first two lines speak to the plight of the working class who are asking too much of their fathers, expecting them to bend over backwards for them, even when they themselves are struggling. The line "Too many kids finding rain in the dust" is a metaphor that speaks to the perpetual state of hopelessness that many young people are experiencing. It is a nod to the extreme poverty that exists in the world and how it is affecting the younger generation.
The next line "Too many . saying house of glory" is a reference to the false hope that many people cling on to, believing that the afterlife will offer them a redemption that they cannot find on this earth. The phrase "break downtown" means to leave the poverty behind and find success in the big city. However, the phrase "work for the tunnel to kiss kiss kiss" suggests the futility of this pursuit, as no matter how hard someone works, they will never truly escape the poverty that they have known all their lives.
In summary, the lyrics of Too Many Kids Finding Rain in the Dust speak to the harsh realities of life for the working class. The song is a commentary on the desperation that many people feel and their struggles to find hope for a better future.
Line by Line Meaning
Too many fathers asking too many favors
There are a lot of men who are seeking a lot of assistance from others.
Too many kids finding rain in the dust
There are numerous youngsters who are experiencing difficult and harsh times in life despite their youthfulness.
Too many saying house of the glory
A lot of people are making claims about living in luxurious and wealthy lifestyles.
I break downtown too show you around
I will take you on a tour of the urban area.
But you work for the tunnel to kiss kiss kiss.
However, you need to be tunneling through to find the intimacy and connection that you are searching for.
Contributed by Micah C. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@mhtbfecsq1
middle eastern instruments always been some of my favourite sounding instruments. Love the way Jaar blends them with synth sounds effectively.
@brunolopes4469
this song is so deep. love it
@saturnsoul
Too many fathers asking too many favors Too many kids finding rain in the dust
Too many lords saying house in the club I'll bring you downtown to show you around but you won't find the time to kiss kiss kiss
Too many fathers finding rain in the dust I'll bring you downtown to show you around But you won't find the time to kiss kiss kiss kiss
@XITerra
J'en ai des frissons.
@elfornicador11
Is it only me or this sounds A LOT like it could be red dead redemption soundtrack?
@Ka_A_A
Agreed
@llRoBoBinHoll
The fact that it has those organ stabs doesn't immediately make it like Red Right Hand.
@birh
always felt this was too short, the last minute should have been stretched another 2-3 or 100 minutes.
@tinfoilhat1947
I think I know what song made him think of Nick Cave.. Red Right Hand by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. The riff starting around 00:15 in "Nicolas Jaar - Too Many Kids Finding Rain In The Dust" is very similar to the main riff found in that song.
@juliangrant8358
always in love with Nico