Nicolas Jaar - Work It (Bluewave edit) [stream]

OK, Nicolas Jaar, we all know you’re a fantastic producer with talent to burn, and we’re all deservedly hanging on your every musical movement, waiting for what happens after your debut album ‘Space Is Only Noise’ in January. Turns out, an EP entitled ‘Nico’s Bluewave Edits’ is what happens, a set of three pop songs given the Jaar treatment. The first track is now up for streaming on the Nicolas Jaar soundcloud page, an edit of Missy Elliott’s Work It.

I wasn’t sure I wanted to like this. It seems like such an obvious cash-in of an idea – Nicolas Jaar takes R&B track, slows it and strips it down as you would expect him to, the internet cheers – but he’s too good at doing just that for one not to be impressed. The floor shaking, Timbaland-produced, club boom of the the original stretched, stripped, and folded into a slick sensual swing. Light drums fluttering, loose claps, pitched vocal, sparse but precise arrangement. Despite the under-stated tone it’s also catchy as can be. Jaar’s still not missed a beat then.

Nicolas Jaar – Work It Bluewave EDIT by Clown and Sunset

Wolf + Lamb released Nicolas Jaar’s ‘Nico’s Bluewave Edits’ on 10th July 2011