Nicolas Jaar
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Nicolas Jaar, MTV Hive
A few decades is a short time in the history of instruments. But something magical is happening: the electronic instrument, the computer, is finally easily shifting into performance scenarios, into improvisation, and into bands. (The performance features Livid’s Ohm64 and Ableton Live, with sax, guitar, and drums, at New York’s Le Poisson Rouge. See a note on the rig at Livid’s blog.)
Look no further than Nicolas Jaar. In an insightful performance and conversation for MTV Hive, he reveals how he thinks about music – and puts his chops where his mouth is. Excerpt:
“I think honesty and electronic music weren’t really tied together for a while … it was more about forgetting and partying. And now everything is coming together.”
That notion of “honesty” appears to cover finding his voice, finding a performance technique, and finding musical ideas.
In my dream world, this is what MTV looks like when you turn on your television, before reality killed the video star.
We’ve had some reports of difficulty playing the video. We will hopefully get to do our own interview with Mr. Jaar soon, which we’ll make available to all.
And yes, while I enjoy watching the video, I’m very unclear what Nico means by “honesty.” It seems to be a personal take on what he’s doing in his own work, and I’d like to know more, as to me, it’s unclear. Some reader comments, rather than wanting to know more or questioning what he’s saying, instead decide to say that so much as posting this video on CDM takes away from the site’s integrity or suggest that he’s a bad person or that I don’t know that people have used sequencers in live bands before 2011. So, yes, that’s a … perspective. Carry on. I’ll continue trying to do actual research. Nico’s on tour; we’re waiting for him to get back to the US to do a proper interview, for those with more open-minded attitudes.