The idea is to die young as late as possible. — Ashley Montagu — Saturday December 28th — —

I love listening. It is one of the only spaces where you can be still and moved at the same time. — Nayyirah Waheed — Saturday December 28th — —

“What art does — maybe what it does most completely — is tell us, make us feel that what we think we know, we don’t. There are whole worlds around us that we’ve never glimpsed.” Greil Marcus — Saturday December 28th — —

Music in 2013: Yorke & Jaar

Looking back at the music that was released this year, two of our all time favorites: Thom Yorke and Nicolas Jaar, both treated us and the world splendidly. They both released an extraordinary album this year, in which they both show new depths in the music they create, sound wise and in musical partnerships; proving evermore that they are some of the very best artists making music now a days. Next to the albums the artists also released music videos, additional mixes and live recordings of the highest quality, which made them the undisputed rulers of our sound system this year.

Yorke

Thom Yorke was the first one to release a record in 2013. With a new (all-star) lineup called Atoms for Peace; AMOK was released on the 25th of February. The record got mixed to positive reviews, but we have been listening the record from the moment we got our hands on it. Very quickly after the album was published, Yorke and producer Nigel Godrich were invited to create an Essential Mix for BBC1 which perfectly catches the mood of the new album, takes it to the club and back, and features some great until then unreleased remixes.

https://soundcloud.com/digibeta/atoms-for-peace-bbc-radio-1

In July of this year we were lucky enough to finally see Atoms for Peace perform live in Amsterdam, which would go into our memory as one of the greatest concerts we ever visited and as the perfect hybrid of the album and the vibe we got off the Essential Mix which had more club influences. Between the album release and the live show we saw Atoms for Peace also drop some cuts that didn’t make it to the album and above all Yorke and co. released two of the most interesting video’s of this year for the songs “Ingenue” and “Before your very Eyes”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=941U10Vio6o

Jaar

At this point in the year, early summer, Nicolas Jaar had only shared a couple of songs through his Other People (subscription) label. He really kicked in the door when he, together with partner Dave Harrington and under the Darkside eponym, although in this case named aptly Daftside, released a-better-then-the-original-edit of the full Daft Punk album. Since its release we have been listening to this epic album-long edit throughout the year.

A month later he shared the first 11 minutes of the Darkside album, Psychic, that eventually would be released on the 7th of October. The album shows Jaar’s interest in more than just electronic music and was named Best New Music by Pitchfork. Soon after, Darkside performed on a rooftop in New York City which was recorded by Boiler Room and right at the end of this year Nicolas was even kind enough to share the full set of their performance on the Pitchfork Festival in Paris, proving that the music is even more enthralling live.

https://soundcloud.com/otherpeoplerecords/darkside-live-pitchfork

And it didn’t just stop there, as on the 33th anniversary of John Lennon’s death, Jaar also released a mix named OUR WORLD, which is a tremendous ode to the late pop star grabbing us by the throat every time we play it. Stretching over an hour long, the mix opens with the famous announcement sportscaster Howard Cosell made during Monday Night Football on the night of Lennon’s death, and closes with Lennon’s own “Oh My Love”. The perfect and slightly melancholic way to end a fascinating year.

Although other artists have released beautiful music in 2013, throughout this year the Another Something & Co. studio was sonically dominated by the great Thom Yorke and Nicolas Jaar.