SHAZAM

Nicolas Jaar, one of the least predictable and most experimental dance music producers of the late 2000s and early 2010s, was born in New York but spent much of his early childhood in Santiago de Chile -- the birthplace of his father, Alfredo Jaar, an artist and filmmaker -- until he moved back to New York before his teens. In 2004, while under the spell of Ethiopian jazz and Erik Satie, Jaar began to feel his way through music production and made something of a breakthrough after his father bought him copies of Ricardo Villalobos' Thé au Harem d'Archimède and Luomo’s Vocal City. While incorporating his obsessions and recent discoveries into his music, he came into contact with Wolf + Lamb's Gadi Mizrahi and ended up making his debut for the label in 2008. Titled The Student, the five-track digital release made it apparent that Jaar owed something to the roiling, elongated, percussion-heavy productions of Villalobos. Vinyl releases for Wolf + Lamb and Circus Company followed across 2009 and 2010. The varied Space Is Only Noise, Jaar’s first album, was released on Circus in 2011. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi