Nite Jewel is an L.A. lady who plays disco songs with the music and the energy turned all the way down. The resulting half-yawned clap-track slacker jams have the sound and feel of summer without any of the heat.
It's like, you know how nice the mall is when it's hot out? It's like this alternate universe because it totally dismantles all the rules of the outside world, replacing oppressive humidity with comfortable air conditioning and stressed out summer street noise with dulcet tones and ventilator hum.
Nite Jewel's songs are kinda like that. Disorienting in the way that they totally reject all of the mainstream rules to the point that they're not immediately recognizable as music. They're all homemade -- cobbled together on junky keyboards and 4-track recorders. But they're disorienting in this way that's totally, undeniably pleasant. And I don't mean pleasant like, "OK." I mean pleasant like, "really good." Like a really mellow Kylie Minogue.
Nite Jewel's far-out ways are rooted in a Los Angeles art collective called Human Ear. Home to fellow experimentalists like Ariel Pink and Geneva Jacuzzi, Human Ear is single-handedly making L.A. a more interesting place to live. Here's Nite Jewel performing live at an event thrown by The FADER. Watch it after a jog and see if it doesn't cool you off.