Nicolas Jaar Publishes Limited-Edition Essay Collection, “Network”

Feted electronic producer Nicolas Jaar has followed up on the success of last year’s Sirens LP with the publication of an experimental collection of essays, entitled Network. As with Sirens, Jaar’s own label (Other People) will play a role in the production of the book.

Network began life in a very different guise. Its seed was planted when Jaar was invited to participate in a 6-month radio residency at the BBC. Instead of creating DJ sets during his time there, Jaar tried to pitch them something else: a radio play starring a fictional DJ at odds with a “fake BBC-style radio world”.

Producers at the BBC baulked at this idea, but that did not stop Jaar from developing it with programmer Cole Brown, creating more than 300 ‘fake’ radio news programs with the help of voice actors.

The final result of this project is Network, an experimental collection of essays and “textual contributions” that, according to Jaar, “gives theoretical consideration to the inherent political possibilities of radio broadcast.”

With current global political discourse mired in partisan concepts of ‘fake news’ and ‘alternative facts’, Jaar’s book could be an interesting contribution to the entire ‘post-truth’ debate. Fans will have to act fast, however, as only 1,100 copies will be printed in its first publication run.

You can listen to Jaar’s ethereal, thought-provoking track “No”, below: