Video: Nicolas Jaar, “Materials”

February 02, 2012



Nicolas Jaar was born in 1990, which officially means he and I are far enough apart in age that I can remember what I was doing pretty vividly the year he was born. That's a weird feeling, and it's one you never really anticipate feeling until it hits you out of the blue. It's like a (not so) secret adult rite of passage. Last year, Jaar released an album, two EPs, and a few edits. All the material showed an intense amount of restraint, like he was trying to mold pop songs from ambient pieces and dissonant vinyl clicks. It's a testament to his skill, that he figured out how to do that at a young age. This weekend is a pretty big one for Jaar. On Friday he's playing a sold out show at Music Hall of Williamsburg and on Sunday, he's playing for five hours inside a geodesic dome at PS1 (maybe you can run back and forth between that and the Super Bowl?). The sold out show is an achievement in itself, but the PS1 thing feels more indicative of his apparent love of doing shows conceptually. Making an event an actual event.

There's now a fan video for "Materials" directed by Pondr. It follows a child-version of Jaar as he finds a piano, messes around with it and goes through a weird door that—SPOILER ALERT (just kidding, when you're watching the video it's pretty clear where its headed)—ends up with the child-version of Jaar in awe of the adult version playing music. There's also a vaguely creepy clown. If you want to look away every time he shows up, that's okay.

Video: Nicolas Jaar, “Materials”