Air(French band) call it quits

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

It seems after two decades Air are breaking up!

http://www.sfweekly.com/music/allsho...iss-this-show/

[Ttaskmaster]

Sorry, who?

[peterb]

Sorry, who?

This!

(And the video won't play - it is restricted to YouTube player only)

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Sorry, who?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_(band)

Moon Safari is considered when one of the greatest modern electronica albums ever created. They also did work on films such as Lost in Translation - they are an Indie band,but a very well received one,so its sad to hear they are breaking up.

Edit!!

Its also like M83 - you hear their music being played in so many TV programmes,etc. M83's Midnight City for example never actually did that well in the charts but still went platinum in the US for example.

[ik9000]

This!

(And the video won't play - it is restricted to YouTube player only)

it's ok, let me fill you in. Distorted bass line dum dum du-du-du-du dum dum du-du-du-du, swirling flanger effect, with distorted semi-whispered vocals with muchos chorus and echo filtered to sound rather distant... "sexy boyyyyyyyyy" , Plinky plinky keyboard riff, tube OD and phaser guitar riff, some random french stuff (female vox) not sure what it says - but it could be something like "we want a hard brexit, stuff the English, I like Pierre's stripy top far better, I'll give him my brioche."

Repeat. Over and over again. Anyone who listened to the radio in the late 90s will know it. It made several popular compliation CDs at the time, and a few TV adverts too.

edit: try this link

or amazon snippet here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001J8LY...dm_ws_tlw_trk2

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

it's ok, let me fill you in. Distorted bass line dum dum du-du-du-du dum dum du-du-du-du, swirling flanger effect, with distorted semi-whispered vocals with muchos chorus and echo filtered to sound rather distant... "sexy boyyyyyyyyy" , Plinky plinky keyboard riff, tube OD and phaser guitar riff, some random french stuff (female vox) not sure what it says - but it could be something like "we want a hard brexit, stuff the English, I like Pierre's stripy top far better, I'll give him my brioche."

Repeat. Over and over again. Anyone who listened to the radio in the late 90s will know it. It made several popular compliation CDs at the time, and a few TV adverts too.

edit: try this link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_ulZiob5I0
or amazon snippet here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001J8LY...dm_ws_tlw_trk2

Some of their later stuff also turned up in films like Lost in Translation too.

[Unique]

hopefully they will go solo for a bit and get back together and do something in the future when they got the solo stuff out their system. it's scary to think moon safari and ok computer were 20 years ago. 20 years before that, 20 years ago sounded like eons away

[peterb]

it's ok, let me fill you in. Distorted bass line dum dum du-du-du-du dum dum du-du-du-du, swirling flanger effect, with distorted semi-whispered vocals with muchos chorus and echo filtered to sound rather distant... "sexy boyyyyyyyyy" , Plinky plinky keyboard riff, tube OD and phaser guitar riff, some random french stuff (female vox) not sure what it says - but it could be something like "we want a hard brexit, stuff the English, I like Pierre's stripy top far better, I'll give him my brioche."

Repeat. Over and over again. Anyone who listened to the radio in the late 90s will know it. It made several popular compliation CDs at the time, and a few TV adverts too.

edit: try this link

or amazon snippet here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001J8LY...dm_ws_tlw_trk2

Ah, so it's not Francoise Hardy then....



(Waits for chorus of 'Who?' )

[Ttaskmaster]

one of the greatest modern electronica albums ever created.

Sorry, my interest in electronica starts, and kinda ends, with Gary Numan!

[Saracen]

Sorry, my interest in electronica starts, and kinda ends, with Gary Numan!

Mine never really extended to Gary Numan, who was a bit to commercial for me. But if you go to Isao Tomita (sadly died last year) or Andreas Vollenweider, then I'm with you. Love 'em both.

As for Air .... who?

Maybe I missed out. I was probably busy bending my eardrums with Rick Wakeman.

[peterb]

Mine never really extended to Gary Numan, who was a bit to commercial for me. But if you go to Isao Tomita (sadly died last year) or Andreas Vollenweider, then I'm with you. Love 'em both.

As for Air .... who?

Maybe I missed out. I was probably busy bending my eardrums with Rick Wakeman.

More Vangelis, Jean Michelle Jarre, ELO and Emerson Lake and Palmer myself.

[Ttaskmaster]

More Vangelis, Jean Michelle Jarre, ELO and Emerson Lake and Palmer myself.

I'd have pegged ELP as more ProgRock than Electronica...
That said, I'll still happily launch into a rendition of Benny The Bouncer at only the slightest provocation!!

[peterb]

I'd have pegged ELP as more ProgRock than Electronica...
That said, I'll still happily launch into a rendition of Benny The Bouncer at only the slightest provocation!!

Yes, its on the (very) blurry line between Genres - but the "Lucky Man" is (IMHO) on the early electronica side

(We really need a connoisseur to help us out here... )

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Sorry, my interest in electronica starts, and kinda ends, with Gary Numan!

Mine never really extended to Gary Numan, who was a bit to commercial for me. But if you go to Isao Tomita (sadly died last year) or Andreas Vollenweider, then I'm with you. Love 'em both.

As for Air .... who?

Maybe I missed out. I was probably busy bending my eardrums with Rick Wakeman.

More Vangelis, Jean Michelle Jarre, ELO and Emerson Lake and Palmer myself.

If you are into any electronica from the last 25 years you would have heard of Air,and as a few other have hinted at Moon Safari is considered one of the more important albums from that genre in recent history. The other thing is that you often hear their music played on TV,adverts,etc too so even if you have not heard of them as a band,it is quite possible you have heard their music.

Air and Daft Punk were among the biggest two names in more mainstream French electronica in the 1990s - Daft Punk tended to be more towards a harder dance style(or should I say music which could be played in clubs),with a bit of experimental edge,whereas Air were more towards a more organic ambient style which is more typical of JMJ,but also influenced by the space rock genre in the 1970s.

Regarding Gary Numan - he started to move away from his electronic roots after he left the Tubeway Army and his first few solo albums,so its those first few albums which are probably the ones which I like the most. I still like The Pleasure Principal the most of all of his albums - also the whole dark "robots rule the roost" backstory to the album was quite interesting.

He did do an album called Hybrid in the early 2000s,so he rejigged some of his older songs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFy9ym380G0

hopefully they will go solo for a bit and get back together and do something in the future when they got the solo stuff out their system. it's scary to think moon safari and ok computer were 20 years ago. 20 years before that, 20 years ago sounded like eons away

It is,as what they were doing is a bit different from what say Daft Punk and Justice are doing. Having said I do think M83 is a bit of a spiritual successor to them in a way.

Also OK Computer being 20 years old too!!

Yes, its on the (very) blurry line between Genres - but the "Luck Man" is (IMHO) on the early electronica side

(We really need a connoisseur to help us out here... )

I am a fan of early electronica too - I have almost all the JMJ and Kraftwerk albums,stuff from Wendy(or Walter as she used to be known) Carlos(Switched on Bach) and I even have heard "Music for Supermarkets" by JMJ(it was only once played on the radio).

I even have a few YMO albums - I assumed you have heard of YMO??

If you haven't they are basically the reason 1980s Japanese computer games,had that "sound" as they were hugely popular in Japan.



That is one of their songs from the late 70s - AFAIK one of the first bands to make use of polyphonic synthesizers(hence the sort of layered approach).

[cptwhite_uk]

Air were definitely on my radar. Very relaxing and enjoyable when you're in the right frame of mind. Here's a couple of good ones:

[cptwhite_uk]