The cover of Darkside’s debut album, “Psychic,” portrays something of a psychedelic snowglobe; this is obviously comfortable territory to the group’s electronics wizard, Nicolas Jaar. The Bolivian artist gained notoriety from an impressive five hour set in the geodesic Performance Dome at the Museum of Modern Art earlier this year, and his project’s freshman effort feels like it could easily be expanded into something much longer. In combination with multi-instrumentalist Dave Harrington, Jaar creates lush and compact soundscapes that reward repeated listening.
The duo’s first project, the EP “Darkside,” was released in late 2011 and represented a step in a new direction for both of its members. Haarington’s blues riffs and Jaar’s techno background meet in the middle to create something that the two offhandedly call “blue wave.” It’s a meticulous sort of music, which makes the group’s second project, a full remix of Daft Punk’s recent album “Random Access Memories,” seem less pretentious and more a natural outgrowth of their tendencies. “Psychic” follows the same attitude of careful layering of textures and sounds, and the critical world is taking notice: Pitchfork recently awarded the album a 9.0 review.
Although the group is currently touring Europe (part of Jaar’s hiatus from a program in comparative literature at Brown University), Darkside will return to the States in January. Chicago is the closest they’ll come to Cincinnati, but the trip might be worth it for a night of cerebral clubbing on the avant-garde.
-Daniel W.
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