10 000 Hz Legend

by

Air

Edit

Well this is interesting. They said it themselves: it's not Moon Safari. If you want music references then it leans a lot more towards The Virgin Suicides, but it's not that either. Basically we're looking at a more "up and at `em" album here. It's full of tight drums and good rhythms, with the usual complement of computer voices, vocoders, and this time some really nice vocals too. The usual groove comes back in now and again, but if you ever saw Air live you should recognise some of their on-stage music in this release.

There are some downsides to this record, and I couldn't help but pull out the excellent Moog Cookbook, Logan's Sanctuary, some Beck, and then start comparing names in the credits. I don't know how much of Manning, Kehew, Reitzel and Meldal-Johnsen's blood is in these tracks, but I'd sure like to find out.

Summary: You might as well buy it. Chances are you're over twenty-two and can afford it anyway. But if you don't own any other Air albums, then buy Moon Safari first. everything else will make more sense after that...........and make sure you own Midnight Vultures by Beck, just 'cause it's great.

AIR is 1/2 of a good band. The other (non-existent) half would be a band that can write songs and not rely on expensive gimmicks to fill an entire album. AIR, like so many of today's best bands, is like the Beatles post-Revolver without the songs: all you're left with is "Revolution # 9" and the sound effects track from "Tomorrow Never Knows". Another analogy would be Pink Floyd, if all they ever did was that proto-techno song on "Dark Side of the Moon", the samples of people laughing in "Time" and the intro to "Money"... Cool things, one and all, but really just a fraction of what I look for in a "band".

This album is a perfect example of what I'm talking about:

It's like the frosting, but not the cake.

It's like the sizzle, but not the steak (thank you, Tom Waits!)...

I don't know why, but it seems as though no one has really done much better at combining electronics with solid songwriting than the early pioneers like Pink FLoyd, The Beatles, The WHo, or, well, Jimi Hendrix, for that matter! I will make exceptions for Beck, Super Furry Animals, Ween, and the Flaming Lips, though.

Basically, the songs on 10,000 Hz never seem to go anywhere, though not for lack of trying. You can almost hear where the ideas end and the over-reliance on electro-studio trickery begins: it's usually about a minute into the track! AIR would be well advised to stick to doing movie soundtracks and the occasional laser light show.