Nicolas Jaar

Early life

Jaar was born in New York to Chilean parents Evelyne Meynard, a dancer, and Alfredo Jaar, an artist and architect. His mother is ethnically French, while his father has Dutch and Palestinian ancestry; the surname Jaar is reported to originate from the Palestinian city of Bethlehem. After his parents' separation, Jaar moved with his mother to Santiago at the age of three, where he lived until moving back to New York at the age of nine when his parents reconciled. Jaar attended the Lycée Français de New York.

Jaar matriculated at Brown University in 2008; he graduated from Brown in 2012 with a degree in comparative literature.

Career

2007–2011: Beginnings and debut album

In 2007, Jaar met Gadi Mizrahi and Zev Eisenberg who ran the legendary "Marcy" parties in Brooklyn, New York. After hearing his early works, Mizrahi suggested 17 year-old Jaar put a 4/4 kick drum underneath his largely experimental compositions. This was Jaar's first foray into dance music, documented in his first release on Mizrahi's label Wolf + Lamb, entitled The Student. Mizrahi said of Jaar:

Jaar spent the next four years in the NY underground dance scene creating rough, hip hop influenced house music, releasing such singles as "Love You Gotta Lose Again" and "Don't Believe the Hype". During this time, Jaar made two songs featuring his vocals in Spanish, "Mi Mujer" and "El Bandido", which he did not originally intend to release as they were made as jokes to make his mother laugh and dance. However, he later chose to release them in 2010 in response to noticing a trend of non-Latin DJs sampling Latin American music without compensation.

He released his debut album, Space Is Only Noise, in January 2011 to critical acclaim and four stars from The Guardian. It was ranked number one album of the year by Resident Advisor, Mixmag, and Crack Mag. Jaar toured the album with his future bandmate Dave Harrington (later of Darkside) and Will Epstein, and was later voted number one Live Act on Resident Advisor for the three years he toured the record.

2012–2017: Darkside and ''Sirens''

In 2012, Jaar debuted a live concept called From Scratch, where, in front of a live audience, he sampled records he had bought that day. The first iteration happened in Queens, New York at MOMA PS1; it was a five-hour concert with collaboration from Will Epstein, videographer Ryan Staake, dancer Lizzie Feidelson and singer Sasha Spielberg. He has also performed From Scratch in Boulder, Colorado, and Montréal, Quebec.

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

On 4 October 2013, Psychic, 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. The band toured the record for the entirety of 2014.

In February 2015, Jaar released an ambient and noise record entitled Pomegranates, which was described as sounding "like broken Middle Eastern instruments half-playing a modal melody amid bursts of hiss". 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.

His second studio album, Sirens, was released in September 2016. Rolling Stone named it the number one Electronic Album of the year. A deluxe version was released in December 2017, containing three new tracks interspersed throughout the album.

2018–present: Against All Logic, return of Darkside

On 17 February 2018, Jaar released his first album under his new alias Against All Logic, titled 2012-2017. The album, released with little warning and no direct references to Jaar's name, received critical acclaim upon its release, including a score of 8.8 and "Best New Music" designation from Pitchfork.

Jaar co-produced most of FKA Twigs's second studio album, Magdalene, released in October 2019.

In 2019, Jaar created the soundtrack to the Chilean film Ema.

In 2020, Jaar released three albums; 2017-2019 in February (as Against All Logic), Cenizas in March, and Telas in July.

Nearly eight years after the release of their debut album, Darkside released their second studio album, Spiral, on 23 July 2021 via Matador Records. It received generally favorable reviews. In November 2023, Jaar signed an open letter calling for a ceasefire and an end to Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip. In July 2024, Jaar was one of the performers for the Artists for Aid Benefit Concert in London which raised funds for the Gaza Strip and Sudan. In 2025 the 3rd Darkside album Nothing was released.

Jaar officially released Piedras 1 and Piedras 2 on 25 October 2024. These albums are composed of tracks from his 17-episode radio play Archivos de Radio Piedras.

Other People

Jaar founded New York-based imprint Other People. It has published music from artists such as Lydia Lunch, John Wall, Pierre Bastien, Tomaga, DJ Slugo, William Basinski, VTGNIKE, Nikita Quasim, 12z, Sary Moussa and the Terepa collective, which consists of such artists as Kouhei Matsunaga, Laurel Halo, Lucrecia Dalt, Charlotte Collin, and Julia Holter. Other People has also featured the visual & audio work of artists Africanus Okokon and Maziyar Pahlevan.

In 2016, Other People launched THE NETWORK, a web of 111 fictional radio stations done in collaboration with visual artists Jena Myung and Maziyar Pahlevan. In 2017, THE NETWORK became a book, published by PRINTED MATTER in NY.

Discography

Main article: Nicolas Jaar discography

• Space Is Only Noise (2011)
• Pomegranates (2015)
• Nymphs (2016)
• Sirens (2016)
• Cenizas (2020)
• Telas (2020)
• Intiha (with Ali Sethi) (2023)
• Piedras 1 (2024)
• Piedras 2 (2024)

Against All Logic

• 2012–2017 (2018)
• 2017–2019 (2020)

Awards and nominations

References

1. Naylor, Tony. (1 September 2010). "Does Nicolas Jaar's music defy description?". The Guardian.
2. "Nicolas Jaar on Apple Music". [[Apple Music]].
3. "Against All Logic: 2017–2019".
4. (24 May 2015). "At Cannes Film Festival, 'Dheepan' Wins Palme d'Or". nytimes.com.
5. Hansen-Bundy, Benjy. "The Darkside of electronic-music producer Nicolas Jaar".
6. Dansby, Andrew. (2016-10-14). "Electronic musician Nicolas Jaar feels quiet, restless pull of 'Sirens' song".
7. (2021-02-03). "Cultural and Literary Dialogues Between Asia and Latin America". Springer Nature.
8. (2006-01-25). "Americas: The Changing Face of Latin America and the Caribbean". University of California Press.
9. "Create your own reality: The Palestinian scene".
10. "Why Nicolas Jaar Made A Grownup Album About The Impact Of History".
11. Rubin, Mike. (9 March 2012). "Between Semesters, Digital Innovation". The New York Times.
12. (2012-02-01). "34 minutes with … Nicolas Jaar".
13. "The Indy".
14. Ferguson, Wm.. (October 11, 2013). "Nicolas Jaar Tests the Limits of Dance Music". [[The New York Times Magazine]].
15. (17 February 2011). "Album Reviews: Nicolas Jaar: Space Is Only Noise".
16. Tony Naylor. (12 March 2011). "Nicolas Jaar is the renaissance man of electronic music | Music". The Guardian.
17. (11 December 2013). "RA Poll: Top 20 live acts of 2013". Resident Advisor.
18. (2012-01-31). "MoMA PS1, Pitchfork Present Nicolas Jaar in NYC".
19. "Nicolas Jaar presents From Scratch MAC Salle 2, Montreal QC, June 1 {{!}} Exclaim!".
20. Ravens, Chal. (21 May 2012). "Nicolas Jaar's BBC Essential Mix". Dummy Mag.
21. "BBC iPlayer – BBC Radio 1's Essential Mix: Radio 1's Essential Mix Of The Year 2012. Nicolas Jaar".
22. (7 October 2013). "Album Reviews: DARKSIDE – Psychic".
23. (13 January 2014). "Daniel Pinchbeck talks to Darkside's Nicolas Jaar and Dave Harrington". Electronic Beats.
24. Mark Richardson, [http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/20791-pomegranates/ ''Pomegranates'' review] [[Pitchfork Media]], 8 July 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
25. Evan Minsker, [http://pitchfork.com/news/60107-nicolas-jaar-releases-free-album-pomegranates/ "Nicolas Jaar Releases Free Album ''Pomegranates''"] [[Pitchfork Media]], 24 June 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
26. (16 December 2016). "20 Best EDM and Electronic Albums of 2016".
27. "Nicolas Jaar - Sirens (deluxe edition)".
28. People, Other. (17 February 2018). "Against All Logic - 2012 - 2017. Other People.".
29. "2012-2017 by A.A.L. (Against All Logic)".
30. "A.A.L (Against All Logic) - 2012 - 2017".
31. (2019-09-02). "FKA twigs' New Album Magdalene Features Nicolas Jaar, Future, More".
32. (2021-07-24). "Spiral by Darkside Matador Release Date: Jul 23, 2021".
33. (21 November 2023). "Pulp, Bikini Kill, Kid Cudi, Kali Uchis Among Thousands of Musicians Calling for Cease-Fire in Gaza".
34. (5 July 2024). "Inside The Star-Studded Artists For Aid Benefit Concert, Featuring Mustafa, Ramy, Twigs & More".
35. (2024-10-25). "Nicolás Jaar Releases New Piedras Albums: Listen".
36. Leinhart, Kat. (2015-05-27). "Laurel Halo, Rashad Becker, Julia Holter, and More Debut as Terepa on Other People".
37. "Other People introduce Terepa".
38. "Other People".
39. "The Kitchen: Other People Presents Two Shows".
40. (30 August 2013). "Music:Nicolas Jaar Announces Mysterious Online Radio Network".
41. "Nicolas Jaar Is Releasing A Book, Network".
42. "BBC Radio 1 - Radio 1's Essential Mix, Radio 1's Essential Mix Of The Year 2012. Nicolas Jaar".
43. "WMC - 34th Annual International Dance Music Awards".