It's always a treat to pick the brain of a creative who's as articulate about their work as much as they are innovative, like the electronic artist Nicolas Jaar. Since starting out at the age of 17, he's amassed the following that most bands and artists could only dream of, touring all over the world and even running his own record label Clown & Sunset. His sound––deep and ambient, where time and space feel warped and basslines hit you like someone dribbling a basketball on your chest in slow-motion––is fascinatingly unqualifiable. I visited his Tribeca studio along with OC photographer Brayden and OCNY's Kyle to get the 411.
Sofia Cavallo: Let's start by talking about your Comp Lit undergraduate studies at Brown. You've talked about how your schoolwork inspired a lot of your music. But that almost sounds too good, too academic to be true.
Nicolas Jaar: Well I guess if I worked it in reverse: now that I'm not at school, the feeling that I miss is having to write a paper and not really wanting to write it. I would finish it, and then all I would want to do is something fun. That would usually mean making music. So schoolwork would give me this very strong desire to make music. It’s not like I was reading Derrida and it inspired me, but more like I had to write a paper on Derrida, it was annoying––though I still enjoyed it because it's what I was studying––but the music still ended up being influenced by the thing I had done right before.
SC: Now that you're no longer in school, has making music become the tedious thing that makes you crave an intellectual outlet?
NJ: That’s interesting. Making music isn't tedious for me, thank god it isn't. I’m still obsessed with it. I am in a very good and happy phase of wow, I can make music every single day for ten hours a day. Maybe at some point I will get sick of it. But I'm definitely not bored of it now.
Kyle Wukasch: When did you realize that music was more than a passion, and that it was going in the direction of a career?
NJ: I never really realized it because I was in school for so long. I was so hidden away in Providence and doing my thing, that even when I was away from school touring for two months, I was like, oh it’s just the summer. I guess now that I am out of school, it does feel like I've woken up.
SC: You did send a demo to the label Wolf + Lamb when you were 17. Was there a specific intention behind that?
NJ: I saw the Marcy [Hotel, where Wolf + Lamb held parties] as a place where people only drank champagne, and listened to music that I only thought existed in Europe. [Laughs] So I sent my music more as a, hey I'm doing this too––not as a hey sign me up, publish my music.
SC: You were still in high school at that time. The first time I saw you play was actually at one of our school talent shows, when you took over the stage with a bunch of synthesizers. I remember the sound just tripping everyone out. In what ways has your music changed since then?
NJ: I’ve always been drawn to certain things. Looking back, they were executed in a very intuitive but simple way. It was like, I’m really into Middle Eastern music so I’m gonna sample this Middle Eastern loop and put it on top of a beat. That's all it was. But the way it has evolved is that I'm finding ways to say what I want without being referential. That’s the main thing. Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of more experimental stuff, it's just what comes naturally now.
SC: When you're cr
Sofia Cavallo: Let's start by talking about your Comp Lit undergraduate studies at Brown. You've talked about how your schoolwork inspired a lot of your music. But that almost sounds too good, too academic to be true.
Nicolas Jaar: Well I guess if I worked it in reverse: now that I'm not at school, the feeling that I miss is having to write a paper and not really wanting to write it. I would finish it, and then all I would want to do is something fun. That would usually mean making music. So schoolwork would give me this very strong desire to make music. It’s not like I was reading Derrida and it inspired me, but more like I had to write a paper on Derrida, it was annoying––though I still enjoyed it because it's what I was studying––but the music still ended up being influenced by the thing I had done right before.
SC: Now that you're no longer in school, has making music become the tedious thing that makes you crave an intellectual outlet?
NJ: That’s interesting. Making music isn't tedious for me, thank god it isn't. I’m still obsessed with it. I am in a very good and happy phase of wow, I can make music every single day for ten hours a day. Maybe at some point I will get sick of it. But I'm definitely not bored of it now.
Kyle Wukasch: When did you realize that music was more than a passion, and that it was going in the direction of a career?
NJ: I never really realized it because I was in school for so long. I was so hidden away in Providence and doing my thing, that even when I was away from school touring for two months, I was like, oh it’s just the summer. I guess now that I am out of school, it does feel like I've woken up.
SC: You did send a demo to the label Wolf + Lamb when you were 17. Was there a specific intention behind that?
NJ: I saw the Marcy [Hotel, where Wolf + Lamb held parties] as a place where people only drank champagne, and listened to music that I only thought existed in Europe. [Laughs] So I sent my music more as a, hey I'm doing this too––not as a hey sign me up, publish my music.
SC: You were still in high school at that time. The first time I saw you play was actually at one of our school talent shows, when you took over the stage with a bunch of synthesizers. I remember the sound just tripping everyone out. In what ways has your music changed since then?
NJ: I’ve always been drawn to certain things. Looking back, they were executed in a very intuitive but simple way. It was like, I’m really into Middle Eastern music so I’m gonna sample this Middle Eastern loop and put it on top of a beat. That's all it was. But the way it has evolved is that I'm finding ways to say what I want without being referential. That’s the main thing. Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of more experimental stuff, it's just what comes naturally now.
SC: When you're cr