It seems pretty fitting that Nicolas Jaar’s Essential Mix begins not with Angelo Badalamenti's Twin Peaks score, but with Badalamenti talking about the score, while the key dramatic bit plays in the background. It feels like the process that goes into making a song is very important to Jaar. Not that it's not important to like every artist ever, but with Jaar, making that process visible is integral to the final versions of the music he makes. It's about taking the visible seams of a song and molding them into something beautiful and low-key. It's no surprise, then, that much of the music on this mix follows that same blueprint. If it initially seems scattershot, keep going, by the time Charles Mingus somehow segues perfectly into Bill Callahan, this starts to feel less like a mix, and more like a bizarre trip into the mind of one of the most exciting producers around.
Download: Nicolas Jaar's Essential Mix
