When I interviewed Nicolas Jaar, he professed an unapologetic love of Pink Floyd and psychedelic music. In retrospect, it should seem unsurprising. You can hear the woozy patience of Meddle in the moody builds and abstruse sounds he incorporates into his songs. He also named his project with Tim Harrington after the British stoners’ most iconic album.
There are few things more dull than bands that try to pull from prog-rock and psych and end up with some lava lamp rehash that feels as tired as a black light poster in a dorm room. Darkside are effective not only because of their sense of restraint, but also because of the way they fold old ideas into Chilean techno, Warp Records IDM, trip-hop and other random strands of inspiration. I’ve exhausted myself trying to describe Jaar’s music because it disintegrates into a dust cloud of odd grooves and esoteric adjectives. I already used the word abstruse once in this piece, so you feel me. Darkside just dropped an 11 minute gentle jam, which is the first part of their imminently forthcoming LP. Like all of Jaar’s music, it is both murky and neon-fringed. He makes music the way Andre 3000 dresses, blending a bunch of ostensibly asymmetrical ideas into something memorable that somehow makes sense.
The stream and download are below the jump and come with a free laser disc of The Wall.
Download;
MP3: Darkside – 11 Minute Intro (Left-Click)
