I’ve never seen Music Hall of Williamsburg as crowded as it was last night. For the first half hour of Nicolas Jaar’s hour and a half long set, nobody could move, and dancing was an intimate experience to be shared with strangers. With no other option, we danced and eventually the crowd loosened up, but never did it thin out.
I’m still in awe and bliss that will probably never go away.
Or so I’d like to think. For me, Nicolas Jaar was able to channel such a level of music that the show was incomparable to anything I’ve ever seen. What sets him apart is his ability to weld the genres, producing house with a twist of classic sampled flavor. I couldn’t help but notice that all of his drops were remarkably placed and timed so that they weren’t long but rather short, offering us only a glimpse of what the build-up led to. Let’s face it, it’s hard not to indulge in the drop, especially if you’re the one doing the dropping. But his focus was not on the drop, more so, the build-up and everything that came before, as well as after.
I think that focus can be transmitted to life. There are certain things we choose to focus on, because they are either right in front of us or going on in our heads, absent from the world that others see us in. I think that the things we choose to focus on can be represented by the drop of a song, particularly, in that we tend to focus on the moments of our lives that make us most happy. And that is fine, it’s okay to wait for the drop. It’s natural. It’s just that all of our emotions deserve our undying trust and 100% effort, which encompasses not only the ones that make us feel good, but the ones that make us feel bad, too. Your sadness deserves just as much attention as your happiness, and if anything, it deserves even more awareness. Take notes, be conscious of how you got there and what you’re doing. That isn’t to say that we should dwell on sadness, or remain content with eternal sadness. We are constantly in flux, and that’s why happiness exists. If we weren’t, then maybe we’d be aliens or something.
So much has happened in the past 24-hours for me, and I think the only thing I can do is have a Sunday. So I’m going to meet up with two people that I love very much, and on my walk over there, this song will continue playing on in my headphones. I hope this gives you as much pleasure and insight as it has for me.
*BONUS*