Nicolas Jaar: A Prodigy’s First Interview (2009)
Nicolas
Jaar
Live at The Marcy Hotel, Brooklyn
He was 18. He was studying music cognition and philosophy at Brown. He was already rewriting the rules. An intimate conversation from the night it started.
Wolf + Lamb · Clown & Sunset · Other People
ninunina.com
Brown University, Freshman
Wolf + Lamb Music, 2008
Founded by Jaar
& Philosophy
This past weekend at The Marcy Hotel, Wolf + Lamb hosted one of the most intimate electronic music experiences I had witnessed: a live set by Nicolas Jaar and the Shooters Club. From the first note, the room was electrified. No one could stop dancing — or whispering about this 18-year-old poised to reshape the music they loved.
Born in 1990, Jaar had begun crafting organic electronic compositions at 14. By 17, he had debuted with The Student EP on Wolf + Lamb Music, featuring remixes by Seth Troxler and Kasper. Now a freshman at Brown studying music cognition and philosophy, he was already preparing his next moves. What follows is the conversation we had that night.
How did you discover electronic music?
At 14, I was in Santiago during Christmas 2004, talking with a fashion photographer who gave me Tiga's DJ-Kicks. I loved it. Then my dad asked a record clerk for the most forward-thinking electronic album they had — and I got Ricardo Villalobos' Thé au harem d'Archimède. At first I played it out of frustration, but soon I was completely obsessed with its textures and groove.
And your first break?
In fall 2008, I made "The Student" as a high school senior. Gadi [Mizrahi] signed it, but told me: "Do the same thing — just add a kick drum." That was the start.
Greatest inspirations?
Nikita Quasim and Soul Keita are everything. Villalobos too. Other favourites: Kalabrese, Noze, Smirk, DOP, Guillaume. Recently I've been obsessed with Iva Gocheva — a band with only two songs, both completely unreal.
What defines your sound?
I listen to Ethiopian jazz before producing — imagining what Mulatu Astatke would do with an 808. I don't DJ, and I never make tracks just for dancefloors.
"I listen to Ethiopian jazz before producing, imagining what Mulatu Astatke would do with an 808."— Nicolas Jaar, Brooklyn, 2008
Most unforgettable performance?
Playing Portishead covers on accordion with my friend Mike Nelson on double bass in the Coney Island subway.
What's next for you, Nico?
Any collaborations?
Seth Troxler and I tried making music once. He cooked chicken instead.
FINAL WORD: Clown and Sunset's next release drops July 5th.
A freshman at Brown. One EP to his name. A label with one release. Plans scrawled on a list: bring his favourite musicians to Brooklyn, play European gigs, survive the semester. He didn't DJ. He didn't make tracks just for dancefloors. He was already somewhere else entirely.
Solo albums Sirens (2016) and Cenizas (2020). Two albums as Against All Logic. Nothing with Darkside (2025). He scored Jacques Audiard's Dheepan — winner of the 2015 Palme d'Or at Cannes. His label Other People has become a serious curatorial platform.
He created Piedras 1 and Piedras 2 — music for a radio play set in near-future Chile, proceeds to children's educational funds. He has led listening workshops at the Museo de la Memoria in Santiago, the Arab Image Foundation in Beirut, and Dar Jacir in Bethlehem. His debut short story collection, Isole, was published by Timeo in 2024.
The through-line is the same: a musician constitutionally incapable of staying still, for whom music has always been inseparable from memory, politics, and place.
Just For
Dancefloors — and never just music
He said it at 18 in a Brooklyn hotel room: he doesn't make tracks just for dancefloors. Seventeen years later the statement holds, expanded into film scores, radio plays, short fiction, workshops in Beirut and Bethlehem. Some artists reveal themselves early. Jaar revealed a philosophy.
