Preview: Nicolas Jaar 'Don't Break My Love' tour @ Sound Control

John Thorp looks forward to Nicolas Jaar's Manchester debut at Sound Control on January 28th, and explains why you should too.

Few artists have gained as much broad acclaim over the past few years as Nicolas Jaar, or Nico, as he is increasingly known.

Although rooted in house music, Jaar’s individualistic productions draw on such broad influences as classical, electronica and even folk, and are laced with an intelligent and experimental streak that’s arguably beyond his 22 years.

His UK debut performance outside of Fabric in London, Jaar’s enigmatic live show is an exciting prospect for his rapidly expanding fan base. And the addition to the line up of one of the UK’s most well respected and exciting producers, Scuba, makes this the first touchstone evening of dance music in 2012.

Although he was born in the USA, Jaar spent much of his life in Chile, before returning to New York prior to his teenage years. Whilst it’s impossible to pinpoint what in Chilean musical culture buried itself in Jaar’s mind in those early formative years, it’s certain that whatever he has produced as of late, sounds far from American. Nonetheless, DJs such as Seth Troxler largely consider Jaar to be one of the greatest musical talents of recent times and Resident Advisor’s readers recently honoured him with both the #1 album and live show of the year.

Clue to his success so far may be in his youthful exuberance. Jaar is no punk, but his music often feels like it works in a different space and time to many other producers, doing away with the already strangely complicit rulebooks of ‘post dubstep’ or ‘chillwave’; two of the recent and dubious genres Jaar could arguably categorised under.

Thoughtful and erudite, Jaar explained to Resident Advisor last year that he prefers to make his beats as slow as possible, “as the interesting stuff happens in between.”

Certainly, 'Don’t Break My Love', his most recent release on his label Clown and Sunset, is musical poetry in motion within his own remit. Starting off hesitantly, even ponderously, it soon blossoms into one of the most striking and engaging tracks he’s written yet, showcasing both his penchant for a strange groove and an emotional honesty that underpins some of the best electronic music of our generation. It’s an effect that’s often literal.

On last year’s debut LP Space Is Only Noise, Jaar’s memorable voice is occasionally used to unique effect, such as on the album’s title track. Elsewhere, it’s lost in a sea of melancholy machines and poignant samples – including Gil Scot Heron - emerging on standout track ‘I Got A Woman’.

Engaged with the worlds of both the club and experimental alternative music in general, Jaar is the sort of musician unlikely to be interpreted the same way twice. As such, we can’t recommend his Manchester debut highly enough.

Support comes from Jaar’s label mates and personal signings on Clown and Sunset, Acid Pauli and Soul Keita, who both deliver a comparable brand of melody driven techno to their all encompassing boss.

Scuba

Very much a night with two faces, January 28th will see the basement at Sound Control be gripped for three hours by Scuba. Or is that SCB? It’s both in fact, with the Hotflush recordings head honcho set to play a three hour set that encompasses all his guises, showcasing material from his new album, Personality, due February 27th. And ‘hotly-anticipated’ is a term that for once, resonates with fans of house, techno and dubstep.

An outstanding 2011 saw Scuba curate an acclaimed DJ Kicks mix CD, and mixing both his Scuba and SCB aliases, release three of the finest club records in recent memory: the throbbing, Berlin indebted ‘Mace’, the surprisingly heart wrenching ‘Loss’ and best of all, ‘Adrenalin’; a shamelessly uplifting techno banger that’s still keeping hands in the air and arms around friends in the club, and one which overcame some odd controversy about its trance influences to become one of the most pivotal singles in recent memory.

Expect all this and more from one of the finest, most forward thinking house and techno DJs in the world today.

Able support comes from some of Manchester’s finest, with both Drop The Mustard and Chow Down regulars warming up, as well as a special set from Manchester’s upcoming barman turned dancefloor hero, the versatile and extremely talented Damu.

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