Nicolas Jaar

Nicolas Jaar was born on January 10, 1990, in New York City to Chilean parents, Evelyne Meynard, a dancer, and Alfredo Jaar, an artist and architect. After his parents separated, Jaar lived in Santiago, Chile, until age nine, when he returned to New York. He attended Lycée Français de New York and later matriculated at Brown University in 2008, graduating in 2012 with a degree in comparative literature.

Jaar began his career in 2007, meeting Gadi Mizrahi and Zev Eisenberg, who encouraged him to incorporate dance music elements into his experimental compositions. This led to his debut release, “The Student,” on the Wolf + Lamb label. He quickly became active in the New York underground dance scene, releasing hip-hop-influenced house music. His debut album, “Space Is Only Noise,” released in January 2011, received critical acclaim and was ranked as the number one album of the year by Resident Advisor, Mixmag, and Crack Mag. Jaar toured this album for three years and was voted the number one Live Act on Resident Advisor. In 2012, he debuted his live concept “From Scratch,” where he sampled records bought on the same day in front of an audience.

His career further evolved with the formation of Darkside, a collaborative project with Dave Harrington, releasing their debut album “Psychic” in 2013 to critical acclaim. Jaar also expanded his work into film scoring, composing for “Dheepan” (2015), which won the Palme d’Or, and “Ema” (2019), for which he received a “Best Score” award. He continued releasing solo albums such as “Sirens” (2016), which was named the number one Electronic Album of the year by Rolling Stone, “Cenizas” (2020), and “Telas” (2020). Under his alias Against All Logic, he released “2012-2017” (2018) and “2017-2019” (2020). In 2013, he founded the record label Other People, which has released experimental recordings from a diverse range of artists.

His contributions to music have been recognized with awards, including BBC Radio 1’s Essential Mix Of The Year in 2012. Jaar continues to release new music, including “Piedras 1” and “Piedras 2” in 2024, derived from his radio play “Archivos de Radio Piedras.” He co-produced FKA Twigs’ album “Magdalene” in 2019 and continues to collaborate with various artists. In 2023, he released “Intiha” with Ali Sethi, merging ghazal poetry with improvisation.