Nicolas Jaar Live at Fabric Review – 30/03/2011

I've barely ever been in such an expectant crowd waiting for an artist. The dark, atmospheric room 1 of Fabric was visibly agitated by anticipation, and when Nicolas Jaar came on the room exploded with whistles and applause.

Jaar played a full length set without any interludes or pauses, it sounded more like a fully fledged DJ set and there was no clear indication where one song ended and the next began. The music itself was superb, but he didn't play that many recognisable tracks, the gig was more a wash of his sound stretched into an hour long piece that contorted and twisted back on itself with remarkable control. It was a little disappointing to not get more known material, but when he did slowly move into the glitchy beats of Variations, the dancey El Bandido or the fantastic encore of Space Is Only Noise If You Can See, the effect was powerful; crowd went wild and the new arrangements of the tracks were stellar.

Interestingly, Jaar chose to sit tweaking on his laptop whilst a live band played the majority of the music that he had arranged. A live band is not something frequently seen for an electronic artist, but it more than worked. The players were very skilled and each had their own moment to shine, the standout saxophonist receiving massive appreciation for his shrill, punctuating notes throughout the set.

For an artist who is at home DJing in clubs and has released a fair amount of more dancey tracks himself, the crowd was surprisingly and irritatingly static (at one point I was asked to stop swaying), and unfortunately this dampened the gig a fair amount as the music and atmosphere were begging to be moved to.

All in all, though, the music was never less than brilliant and there was a great air of being present at something unique and exciting. Jaar was happy to come down and chat with us after he'd finished packing up, and I'll definitely be looking out for him next time he's around. 

4/5