Nicolas Jaar in California

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    Dec 7, 2010
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  • A tough door policy and limited capacity left a lot of disappointed folks, including headliner Nicolas Jaar, outside a suspicious downtown block trying to hustle to get in the invite-only loft party on a surprisingly frigid Friday night in Los Angeles. The twenty year old was eventually granted entry, of course, but many were turned away, as the Voodoo party has strict rules about entrance times in order to maintain its privacy and ability to run late, a rare bonus in LA. Those who did make it into the intimate loft were treated to a lineup that matched the glut of the holiday weekend. Andrei Osyka from Droog and host Eduardo Castillo played some excellent deep tracks before Jaar took over. Jaar played his live set, having a synth, a controller, his laptop and his live vocals as tools. Photo credit: Christopher Soltis He weaved through over an hour of his own material, leaning mostly on the more downtempo cuts while every once in a while making sizable tempo changes during transitions. The crowd was definitely going for it, despite reports that his more lethargic tracks sometimes don't get any reaction on the dance floor. He ended with his breakout, "Time for Us," whose final act tempo change was the perfect coda. After Jaar's set, an unannounced Jesse Rose, opting not to take a night off from his five year Made To Play tour, made a surprise appearance, tag-teaming with Castillo. His party-addled style of funky, often funny, house was a nice release after the restraint and tease of Jaar's intimate neuroses. The small, rather jammed loft felt intimate and almost sceney, as Michel Gondry and Damian Lazarus were spotted bouncing around the tiny floor, amongst the deeper leaning, adult-oriented house and techno heads. All in all, a night that delivered a nice full course; I just feel bad for those who didn't get the invite to the table.
RA