Live at Bar25
Nicolas Jaar started 30 mins late, due to technical difficulties in what appeared to be his live gear setup; a classic microphone, a trigger pad, and a keyboard. By this time the Bar was full, too full for comfort, not only because of the all the people, but because of all the hype. It seemed like everyone and their dog had just become superfans of Jaar to the point where every conversation you heard was about him being 19 or a genius or sexy or the best in the world or whatever. I sluffed it off and tried to focus in on the excitement in the sticky wood room. I was now positioned halfway back with a minimal view for I was forced from my front row spot by the hyped up, over-enthused bandwagon jumpers stampeding forward when Jaar stepped behind the decks, 5 Soul Clap tracks before he would play.
I wont recap tracks played, as there weren't tracks played per se, just samples. You see, Jaar never dj's, so all of his sets are live, in the sense that he uses abelton and triggers loops he has made or taken from other tracks (the degree to which it is actually 'live' is an interesting current debate discussed briefly here, for as one seasoned dj said to me after the show, if one stands at the back of the room one could not be able to tell if it was someone playing abelton live or a savvy dj with a bag of pre-edited tracks). If you have heard any of his live recorded sets that are floating around the internet then you will have an idea of the kind of samples he uses. They vary from hip-hop to break beats, latin to electric guitars, classical to modern orchestras, and funk to jazz grooves. He is an eclectic music lover, as we all claim to be, except he has a formal education in music and a multi-continental (and multi-cultural) upbringing. His live sets are special and now famous because he ties all of these various sounds and sources together with a narrating vibe, that of emotional, sometimes techy, minimal house. And make no mistake that the kid is gifted and genius-like and that his sets are special, important and unique, but my contribution will not be pump his already inflated tire more with platitudes; my two cents will read more like a cautionary note about the blindingness of hype. For in this case, he sadly, but unsurprisingly, did not live up to my expectations. I say unsurprisingly because with Jaar it could be said that his legend has grown so big that it can only disappoint. However, I quickly realized that my opinion of disappoint was a minority one after surveying randoms post show. However, this conclusion of disappointment might be reached in a more logical argument that is based on some of the facts of his enterprise.
Firstly, it was of the opinion of a few respected people, whose names needn't be mentioned, that his set was far too choppy, in the sense that he slowed down and sped up the tempo to the point where holding on to a dance groove for more than 2 minutes became a rare thing. For example, he would have the crowd bopping along at say, 120 then slide in the next sample (albeit masterfully) that cut the rhythm down by a third for a minute before changing the beat and melody altogether. As he is in fact attempting to market his music to a dance population, he seems to have a fair amount of disregard for the basic needs of his clientele, an unwise business strategy for even the most innovative of products.
The second point is also major and relates to the first - the energetic builds he generated through breaking down a beat to its essentials or effect layering, simply never piqued. They died or fizzled out. This is huge and it happens all the time. An obviously talented artist will work the crowd up to such a point that it can be rightly said that he has the room in his or her hands. But this point should never be the end goal of an artist, it should always be the journey; having us in your hands is just a necessity of a great musical Sherpa. But it is always a means to an end. For Jaar it seemed like an end itself, for he seemed satisfied with the build that he was unconcerned that it built up to merely the next loop. When you have us in your hands in a beautiful build (and make no mistake that his builds were beautiful, sometimes utilizing an amazing surround sound dynamic with swooshes or clackers) we are excited for what we are building towards. We naturally generate expectations, based on the vibe, loops and samples used in the build, as to how the crescendo will be. And with a talent like Jaar at the helm, our expectations may tend to teeter into the unrealistic, but so be it, expectations are murky things at best. The basic point is that Jaar did not bring us up to a new level with his builds, he merely worked us up and let us down, again and again and again - with the tempo and the builds. And as he is in the business of getting crowds dancing and he is interested in this, which he says he is, he should understand that if he is building the energy, he better build something out of it, something danceable for sure, but also satisfying and releasing, for that is what we are all expecting. The fact that most dancers weren't bothered by this, I would only forecast that they will in time, when the hype of a 19 year old making dance music out of mostly acoustic eclectic sources fades.
But this brings us to the larger point about Jaar and advanced talent in any domain: greatness generates its own unique standard. That is to say, that when it is known and obvious that someone has great talent, it becomes almost impossible to compare them to others. We immediately slip into a frame of reference whereby we are comparing the talent to our sense of what they could be, our expectation. With Jaar this is undoubtedly the case. From his original work or recorded sets we all understand that he has great talent, so when the time comes to see him live, we expect greatness however we so conceive it. But we do not know that he might, for example, be trying to get away from the automatic expectation that a build will build and break in the normal, releasing and satisfying way. He may also being trying to fight or make a statement against the mono-tempo norm adhered to by most clubs, dj's and electronic dance music artists. That's fine if that's what he is doing, and it seems like it is. I am down with changing norms and re-examining unconscious and conscious assumptions and expectations. But at the end of the day there are just people who want to dance and release some of the tensions of the modern world. As an artist who plays in clubs, for dancers, this should be Jaar's driving goal unless otherwise stated. Coming from a classical background, perhaps he is caught between the two musical worlds of dance and seated (i.e. jazz and classical) music, and this identity crisis results in a choppy live set. I cant be sure. But what is for sure, is that he has great taste in music, and will continue to produce great music, and will only refine his live show. And as long as his live show is in front of dancers lets hope he refines in favor of the basic needs of dancers or make clear that we need to rethink our expectations as dancers.
In closing, it sounds contradictory to say that Nicolas Jaar is raising the bar in dance music with builds that let down and choppy tempos - but somehow he is. However, he is not doing it by dropping the average tempo in his sets although he is contributing to the average-tempo-dropping movement. And he is not doing it with choppy tempo lurches or builds without release, those will get tiring and unfulfilling respectively, when the hype dies. He is instead doing it by not adhering to the standard dance music forms and expectations, whether it be tempo ebb and flow or build-release exchange. And it is this that makes his music so interesting and hype-worthy. But the way he disregards this form is so stylish and engaging (for his samples, synths and chord progressions are on super point and targeting your emotions) that he will spawn followers that will both stray further from and stay closer to convention. And it is the latter of these groups that I feel are where dance music is going - those that will work more closely with the basic needs and expectations of dancers while pushing the limits of form and tempo, 'live'.
I wont recap tracks played, as there weren't tracks played per se, just samples. You see, Jaar never dj's, so all of his sets are live, in the sense that he uses abelton and triggers loops he has made or taken from other tracks (the degree to which it is actually 'live' is an interesting current debate discussed briefly here, for as one seasoned dj said to me after the show, if one stands at the back of the room one could not be able to tell if it was someone playing abelton live or a savvy dj with a bag of pre-edited tracks). If you have heard any of his live recorded sets that are floating around the internet then you will have an idea of the kind of samples he uses. They vary from hip-hop to break beats, latin to electric guitars, classical to modern orchestras, and funk to jazz grooves. He is an eclectic music lover, as we all claim to be, except he has a formal education in music and a multi-continental (and multi-cultural) upbringing. His live sets are special and now famous because he ties all of these various sounds and sources together with a narrating vibe, that of emotional, sometimes techy, minimal house. And make no mistake that the kid is gifted and genius-like and that his sets are special, important and unique, but my contribution will not be pump his already inflated tire more with platitudes; my two cents will read more like a cautionary note about the blindingness of hype. For in this case, he sadly, but unsurprisingly, did not live up to my expectations. I say unsurprisingly because with Jaar it could be said that his legend has grown so big that it can only disappoint. However, I quickly realized that my opinion of disappoint was a minority one after surveying randoms post show. However, this conclusion of disappointment might be reached in a more logical argument that is based on some of the facts of his enterprise.
Firstly, it was of the opinion of a few respected people, whose names needn't be mentioned, that his set was far too choppy, in the sense that he slowed down and sped up the tempo to the point where holding on to a dance groove for more than 2 minutes became a rare thing. For example, he would have the crowd bopping along at say, 120 then slide in the next sample (albeit masterfully) that cut the rhythm down by a third for a minute before changing the beat and melody altogether. As he is in fact attempting to market his music to a dance population, he seems to have a fair amount of disregard for the basic needs of his clientele, an unwise business strategy for even the most innovative of products.
The second point is also major and relates to the first - the energetic builds he generated through breaking down a beat to its essentials or effect layering, simply never piqued. They died or fizzled out. This is huge and it happens all the time. An obviously talented artist will work the crowd up to such a point that it can be rightly said that he has the room in his or her hands. But this point should never be the end goal of an artist, it should always be the journey; having us in your hands is just a necessity of a great musical Sherpa. But it is always a means to an end. For Jaar it seemed like an end itself, for he seemed satisfied with the build that he was unconcerned that it built up to merely the next loop. When you have us in your hands in a beautiful build (and make no mistake that his builds were beautiful, sometimes utilizing an amazing surround sound dynamic with swooshes or clackers) we are excited for what we are building towards. We naturally generate expectations, based on the vibe, loops and samples used in the build, as to how the crescendo will be. And with a talent like Jaar at the helm, our expectations may tend to teeter into the unrealistic, but so be it, expectations are murky things at best. The basic point is that Jaar did not bring us up to a new level with his builds, he merely worked us up and let us down, again and again and again - with the tempo and the builds. And as he is in the business of getting crowds dancing and he is interested in this, which he says he is, he should understand that if he is building the energy, he better build something out of it, something danceable for sure, but also satisfying and releasing, for that is what we are all expecting. The fact that most dancers weren't bothered by this, I would only forecast that they will in time, when the hype of a 19 year old making dance music out of mostly acoustic eclectic sources fades.
But this brings us to the larger point about Jaar and advanced talent in any domain: greatness generates its own unique standard. That is to say, that when it is known and obvious that someone has great talent, it becomes almost impossible to compare them to others. We immediately slip into a frame of reference whereby we are comparing the talent to our sense of what they could be, our expectation. With Jaar this is undoubtedly the case. From his original work or recorded sets we all understand that he has great talent, so when the time comes to see him live, we expect greatness however we so conceive it. But we do not know that he might, for example, be trying to get away from the automatic expectation that a build will build and break in the normal, releasing and satisfying way. He may also being trying to fight or make a statement against the mono-tempo norm adhered to by most clubs, dj's and electronic dance music artists. That's fine if that's what he is doing, and it seems like it is. I am down with changing norms and re-examining unconscious and conscious assumptions and expectations. But at the end of the day there are just people who want to dance and release some of the tensions of the modern world. As an artist who plays in clubs, for dancers, this should be Jaar's driving goal unless otherwise stated. Coming from a classical background, perhaps he is caught between the two musical worlds of dance and seated (i.e. jazz and classical) music, and this identity crisis results in a choppy live set. I cant be sure. But what is for sure, is that he has great taste in music, and will continue to produce great music, and will only refine his live show. And as long as his live show is in front of dancers lets hope he refines in favor of the basic needs of dancers or make clear that we need to rethink our expectations as dancers.
In closing, it sounds contradictory to say that Nicolas Jaar is raising the bar in dance music with builds that let down and choppy tempos - but somehow he is. However, he is not doing it by dropping the average tempo in his sets although he is contributing to the average-tempo-dropping movement. And he is not doing it with choppy tempo lurches or builds without release, those will get tiring and unfulfilling respectively, when the hype dies. He is instead doing it by not adhering to the standard dance music forms and expectations, whether it be tempo ebb and flow or build-release exchange. And it is this that makes his music so interesting and hype-worthy. But the way he disregards this form is so stylish and engaging (for his samples, synths and chord progressions are on super point and targeting your emotions) that he will spawn followers that will both stray further from and stay closer to convention. And it is the latter of these groups that I feel are where dance music is going - those that will work more closely with the basic needs and expectations of dancers while pushing the limits of form and tempo, 'live'.
Post-Script
Nicolas Jaar - Resident Advisor Podcast 211, June 2010 (Hotfile)
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