For the first time in four years, we have a proper Nicolas Jaar album: Cenizas. The latest entry from the Chilean-American composer neé DJ is both the end of a drought and the capstone on an incredible run.
As an album, Cenizas wanders, floats, drifts. Jaar’s work has always been experimental, but this record is without a doubt his most “challenging,” rife with exercises in drone, ambient, and noise, often at the same time. In many cases the only punctuation in these songs is the smooth arrival of Jaar’s lilting baritone, a soothing voice hovering in the abyss. Historically, Jaar’s most exciting songs have often featured some moment of lift-off, where an unexpected instrument arrives, the drum kicks in, or a beat picks up…
Sirens, the third album from Nicolas Jaar, falls somewhere between the contemplative microhouse of first album Space Is Only Noise (2011) and the glossier follow-up Pomegranates (2015). Introduced with the haunting 11-minute track "Killing Time," Jaar integrates new elements into his sound, from the synth pop of "Three Sides of Nazareth" to the jungle of "The Governor." The continuous presence of vocals makes it Jaar's most emotional work yet, opening the door to a wider audience.
The last experience that this writer had of Nicolas Jaar’s glitchy soundscapes was through his 2011 debut album Space Is Only Noise. Nine years and five discs on, as well as other releases under the Against All Logic alias, not much has changed. However, Jaar’s work remains distinctly strange yet compelling on Telas and rarely lurches into formless noodling. This disc, his second in 2020 after this spring’s Cenizas, is divided into four tracks, each about a quarter of an hour long, incorporating minimalist and abstract sounds, woven and entangled to produce a laidback conceptual soundtrack that won’t have anyone working up a hip-swinging sweat but that is far more than atmospheric aural wallpaper.
A lounge electronica compilation series by french DJ Stéphane Pompougnac.
Hotel Costes is one of France's most famous hot spots, and regularly attracts stars of the film and fashion world. Pompougnac released his first CD in 1999, titled Café Costes. Pompougnac's second CD, Costes, La Suite, met with more success and the song "Sympatique" was used for a car ad in France sending record sales over 100,000. His first two albums were released in France through Barclay Universal; his increased success, however, saw a deal with MSI for his third compilation, Etage 3, released in October 2000. His first three compilations together sold nearly half a million copies.
As Darkside, electronic composer Nicolas Jaar and multi-instrumentalist Dave Harrington unite their individual strengths, but also take their combined powers to new places neither could travel to on their own. The band's 2013 debut full-length Psychic was a sprawling exploration of contrasts, moving through winding paths of genre experiments and production twists that should have clashed but instead gelled into a massive, undulating entity somewhere between sci-fi soundtrack and a full-tilt experimental rock record. Second album Spiral was made after the duo took a lengthy break to pursue their solo outlets, much of it coming together during a week-long marathon writing session. It's every bit as shapeshifting and epic as Psychic was, but less reliant on moments of softer ambience or drawn-out atmospherics…