Nicolas Jaar: Marks & Angles Vinyl 12″

Repress of Nicolas Jaar’s 2010 Circus Company EP. Marks & Angles found the young producer expanding on his experimental take on house and techno. As he moved further away from convention, his beats got slower and more abstract. Marks & Angles serves as a middle ground, a space where things were still more rhythmically attuned to the dancefloor, but the textures were moving far away from it. Piano features heavily here, dissonant chords rising up from the heavy sub bass. You hear Jaar playing with his voice, however it is still far from where he would go. Much more traditional in a sense. His drum programming is laser focused, to the point that you can hear how much he must listen to Ricardo Villalobos. Marks & Angles is a significant signpost in Jaar’s young, but flourishing career.

• music label: Circus Company 2010 / 2014

reviewed by Michu Meszaros 05/2014