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Darkside

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Darkside

 Darkside

Although this New York-based duo, consisting of producer Nicolas Jaar and guitarist and bassist Dave Harrington, have only released one album and are currently on hiatus, they made enough of a lasting impression on me to land on my favorite bands list. Their band-name is a tribute to Pink Floyd. The prismatic, black-lit aura of their fascinating, endlessly explorable music. Rarely has a band had such an appeal for the high-minded while welcoming the simply high-minded. An extension of the jam-band-in-space psychedelic sound first heard on their 2011 Darkside EP, the first Darkside album, and so far only album, 2013's Psychic dropped in October of 2013, nearly two years after the duo’s tasty 3-track EP. The band does a great job of combining Jaar’s solo production preferences (lots of space, lots of bass) and Harrington’s rather experimental guitar tastes, it places a whole bunch of things rock (cosmic to classic) in a shape-shifting club framework and makes you want to lock that door from the inside (and swallow the keys). Their lone album Psychic is a darkly funky album that incorporates elements of electronic music and live instrumentation. An ambitious record that marries Harrington’s smoky, Angelo Badalamenti-vibe blues guitar with Jaar’s slow motion house rhythms and production know-how. Jaar and Harrington have a history together – Harrington played guitar in Nicolas Jaar’s touring band, and their first release was an eponymous 3 track EP in 2011. In August of 2014, the group announced their hiatus via their Facebook page. ‘Gone Too Soon’ and ‘What They Say’ were released after this announcement, so a reunion is surely in the cards somewhere down the road. What makes this band so beautiful is how Dave and Nico use each other as mediums, working on primal instinct and summoning a hybrid of electronic music and psychedelic rock with the kind of artistic depth and breadth for which the term “progressive” was coined for. Slow, hypnotic, and untitled grooves featuring slivers of Jaar's falsetto and Harrington's slightly bluesy flecks of guitar. Darkside first formed during a Berlin stop on Jaar’s first solo tour. Jaar and Harrington (who had originally met at Brown University) were writing in their hotel room together when their converter plug popped, filling their room with smoke and forcing them to finish the song in the hallway on a laptop. Upon returning to New York, they continued to write together, developing their sound in their Brooklyn studio. The duo made their live debut in December of 2011 at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Their music functions like an entrance, a gateway, a door, wide open, leading to something unexpected (and creepy, you’ll see), so the listeners can experience new and different (and dark) sonic landscapes and sensations. A good place to start would be "Golden Arrow" and explore from there. There really isn't a bad track from this band.
It's
Darkside


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