If you recall, a few weeks back, we posted the excellent “Fail Forever” from Denmark outfit When Saints Go Machines (and by we, I mean our wonderful contributer AtothaA). That track was pretty upbeat but undoubtedly dark, one of my favorite musical combinations. And as great as it was, someone commented that I should check out the Nicolas Jaar remix because it was even better. This sounded like a pretty good idea because I’ve been hearing lots of Nicolas Jaar buzz lately. He’s this college kid who’s been making music since he was 14 and has lived in Santiago and NYC, now in school at Brown University in Rhode Island. Had no idea what his sound was going to be like, but I was pleasantly surprised at what I heard. In this remix, he opts for the minimalist approach, starting with almost nothing outside of a faint drum beat, some sort of key/guitar instrument and what sounds likes steel drums with the occasional clash of cymbals, but eventually adding in lots of layers, mostly via some more strings. And even though the music and instrumentation is really pretty, it still makes this track seem really dark and creepy. But then, halfway through, he adds in the first true beats of the song, pulling it all together like magic. Pretty good first tune for me to listen to from someone who’s hype has been growing as of late.
