When you start a blog following a GrandTour of your
music collection, you have to do two things.
1) Listen to your music collection in alpha/chrono
order.
2) Blog it.
I did the first. A good 1140 cd's worth.
In the mean time, I found while catching up that I
had blogged about A Fire Inside.
Twice.
Twice, man. I mean, I like them, not quite that
much.
Why you work the program. WHY YOU WORK THE PROGRAM!
Ok. So game on.
Let's talk about: Air.
First off, Air is the French Pink Floyd.
True, they didn’t name themselves after American
bluesmen. They don’t have a lost member trolling around a French university
town, running from fans seeking out his mad genius. And neither of them are the
arrogant sumbitches Water or Gilmour are.
But yeah, French Pink Floyd. Long form music, ties
with cinematic artistes (Sofia Coppola, you may not have made a good movie
since ‘Lost in Translation’ but you gave us Air) and even though they are
largely known for one pop music genre - dance - they pretty much do whatever
they want.
So yeah, Gallic Pink Floyd.
That’s not a bad thing. Floyd, even if they became
the spark that launched a thousand punk bands, was part of the expansion of
rock’s possibilities. And Air likewise expanded the possibilities of 90’s to
Aught’s dance and electronic/dance/chill. They seem to come out of an
alternative-Euro 70’s that never ended, and avoided all the really bad drugs.
Plus, let’s face it.. in the early 21st century,
when we were getting used to the true wired frenzy of the internet non-stop
world, starting off on endless war, and realizing how truly fucked as a species
we might be, Air had a place. We needed intelligent chill. We needed people who
could calm us without knocking us out.
Thanks, Air. Well done on that.
Across the board, I give Air 4 out of 5 stars. As
great as they are, they seem to miss a final, transcendent spark that pushes
them up to that final notch. Their music, by design, isn’t about hooks or
grabbing you. In fact, it demands a little more attention than you might be
ready to give. But buy, listen, ideally on a long trip, somewhere you can look
out the window, and let the words and music full your headspace.
Like a good Floyd album. With sexier vocoder.
The essential buys are Moon Safari and Talkie
Walkie. You like those two, fill in the rest. The quick reviews I did while
writing this reinforced the band’s consistency. Grab the two, grab the rest.
Artist:
Air
Album:
Moon Safari
Year: 1998
Date Listened in Tour: 7/17/08
Rating: ****
Best Songs: All I Need, Kelly Watch The Stars, Ce Matin La
Album:
The Virgin Suicides - Score
Year: 2000
Date Listened in Tour: 7/19/08
Rating: ****
Best Songs: Playground Love/Highschool Lover
Album:
Talkie Walkie
Year: 2004
Date Listened in Tour: 7/17/09
Rating: ****
Best Songs: Cherry Blossom Girl, Run, Alone In Kyoto
Album:
Late Night Tales
Year: 2006
Date Listened in Tour: 7/19/08
Rating: ****
Best Songs: Lovin’ You- Minnie Ripperton, Let’s Get Lost- Elliot Smith, The Old
Man’s Back Again- Scott Walker
Late
Night Tales is compilation series featuring mixes by different artists, which I
recommend tracking down the series when you get the chance.
Album:
Pocket Symphonies
Year: 2007
Date Listened in Tour: 7/19/08
Rating: ****
Best Songs: Left Bank, Photograph, Somewhere Between Waking and Sleeping
Album:
Love 2
Year:
2009
Date Listened in Tour: 9/20/09
Rating: ****
Best Songs: So Light is Her Footfall. African Velvet.
Vocoder
Heaven. I imagine them partying with Daft Punk at some point, and ‘Love 2’
being the goody bag.
And now.. ONWARDS WITH THE BLOGGING!
