Over the last three years Resident Advisor have firmly asserted their involvement in music related video production along with other online visual music entities such as Pitchfork and FACT. They cemented their presence with the Real Scenes debut back in 2011, which began by exploring the scene at the time in the trend-setting city of Bristol. Since then they have extended the series to further explore the musical hubs of the world travelling to locations such as Paris, Berlin and Detroit, as well as establishing the popular Between The Beats and Three Cuts series.
Last week saw RA announce a new run of short films in conjunction with Nicolas Jaar and Dave Harrington’s Darkside endeavor, titled ‘RA Sessions’, the venture looks to document a series of live sessions direct from their London HQ. The skillfully composed video captures both the artists’ unique styles in an astute fashion, as they perform an extended version of Paper Trails from their new album Psychic. The album is truly a great listen, it progresses with blissful electronic layers and textures, polished melodies, whilst also priding an admirably pure flow between tracks. Harrington’s bluesy, yet sometimes-harsh guitar licks stylishly compliment Jaar’s sonic wizardry and preference for psychedelic sounds.
The album expresses the tight musical connection and passion shared between the pair, to see this union visually with their delicate improvisation of an already sublime song makes for an entirely different auditory delight. The performance is indicative of an album that wasn’t just put together for personal listening pleasures but as a concept that could be fully transformed into an emotion driven live performance.
Darkside is a noteworthy project to say the least with a solid first EP released back in 2011, their progressive transformation of Daft Punk’s RAM and this first live session fuelling the deserved hype behind it all. Really looking forward to catching the next one in the series, big thanks to Resident Advisor, stream the first one below……