| Product Summary | | Label: Astralwerks | | UPC: 00724381033227 | | Release Date: 5/29/2001 | | Buy.com Sku: 60480624 | | Item#: MF4Y6H | | Buy.com Sales Rank: 25050 | Format:  CD |
|
|
|
|
| Song Listing |  |
Disc 1
| | Song Title | Sample | | 1. Electronic Performers ~ Air (Pop) |  | | 2. How Does It Make You Feel? ~ Air (Pop) | | | 3. Radio #1 ~ Air (Pop) | | | 4. Vagabond, The - (featuring Beck) ~ Air (Pop) | | | 5. Radian ~ Air (Pop) | | | 6. Lucky & Unhappy ~ Air (Pop) | | | 7. Sex Born Poison - (featuring Buffalo Daughter) ~ Air (Pop) | | | 8. People In The City ~ Air (Pop) | | | 9. Wonder Milky Bitch ~ Air (Pop) | | | 10. Don't Be Light - (featuring Beck) ~ Air (Pop) | | | 11. Caramel Prisoner ~ Air (Pop) | |
|
| | Album Notes and Credits |
Notes & Personnel Info |  | Air: Nicolas Godin, JB Dunckel. | | Additional personnel includes: Beck (vocals, harmonica, keyboards); Justin Meldal-Johnsen (vocals, bass); Sugar, Yumiko, Lisa Papineau, Jean Croc, Corky Hale, Jason Falkner, Ken Andrews, Barbara Cohen (vocals); Julia Sarr, Olyza (harp); Elin Carlson (whistle); Brian Reitzell (drums, programming); Roger Joseph Manning Jr (programming). | | Recorded in Paris, France and Los Angeles, California. | | Personnel: Beck (vocals, harmonica); Lisa Papineau, Jason Falkner, Ken Andrews, Buffalo Daughter (vocals); Elin Carlson (soprano); Corky Hale (harp); Brian Reitzell (drums); Julia Saar (background vocals). | | Audio Mixer: Tony Hoffer. | | Recording information: Appolo; Bomb Factory; Capital Studios; Hollywood Sound. | | Editors: Tony Hoffer; Bruce Keen. | | Arrangers: Roger Neill; Air . | | Eager to prove their songwriting smarts and knowledge of traditionalist pop on their sophomore work, French band Air pulled back slightly from the milky synth pop of their 1998 debut, Moon Safari. 10,000 Hz Legend is a darker work, just as contemplative and unhurried as its predecessor, but part of a gradual move from drifting, almost pastoral melancholia to a downright post-modern helplessness in league with Radiohead. Air are still tremendously effective producers, and have actually expanded their palate with a surprising array of pop instrumentation (acoustic guitars, flutes, pianos, a harmonica, harps, and many strings) to file alongside the countless trilling synthesizers and machine sequencers. The two lead-off tracks, "Electronic Performers" and "How Does It Make You Feel," are breathtaking productions that exploit the same robot-weariness tendencies that made "Sexy Boy" (from Moon Safari) an alternative hit. Still, those detached retro-vocoder treatments sound so much more pass? in 2001 than when the duo first tried them out in 1996. Jason Falkner and Beck, a pair of equally hardworking slacker-pop icons, appear (respectively) on the next two tracks, the tongue-in-cheek single "Radio #1" and an excellent morning-after jam named "The Vagabond." Again, the production is stellar, but these find Air stranded between art rock and pop, caught in the trap of trying to make great pop music yet never sounding particularly studied or concerned about it. Falkner pops up again on "Lucky and Unhappy" and "People in the City," a pair of album standouts that subvert any pop inclinations with a raft of bridges and breakdowns among the layers of production. "Wonder Milky Bitch" is another precisely studied track, a haze of lunar-desert synth pop directly evocative of country-pop classicist Lee Hazlewood, and "Radian" brings Air back to the instrumental textures of their early work. Fans and involved listeners are definitely rewarded with increased dividends after multiple listens, but even they may wish for an album that harked back to the simpler days of the Premiers Symptomes EP and Moon Safari. ~ John Bush | | Before this album, the last full-length offering from French duo Air was the soundtrack to the Virgin Suicides. That effort marked so much expansion on and progression from its predecessor (Air's debut MOON SAFARI) that a further push up the mountain seemed a logical expectation for 10,000 HZ. Instead, Air chose to jump off the mountain into a strange, forbidding ravine. You'll find neither the pure electro-pop hooks of MOON SAFARI nor the elegant, surreal majesty of VIRGIN SUICIDES here. Instead, the Air boys offer an insular record thick with ironic self-regard and tongue-in-cheek humor. | | Beck is a guest here, and his voice and pomo-slacker sensibility blend right in, but for the most part, Air lets the synthesizers and vocoders take center stage. Listening to 10,000 HZ LEGEND is somewhat akin to sitting in a bar and getting hit on by an android; in fact there's actually some Barry White-style bedroom talk filtered through electronic processing early on in the album. How far you're willing to go with these Gallic pop-bots probably depends on how far they've taken you in the past. |
Producer: Air; Tony Hoffer |
Engineer: Air; Brian Kehew; Bruce Keen |
Musical Guests | | Beck | | Jason Falkner | | Buffalo Daughter |
| | Compilation Appearances |
| | Associated Artists and Works |
| | Technical Info | | Release Date : 05/29/2001 | | Original Release Date : 2001 | | Catalog ID : 10332 | | Label : Astralwerks | | Number of Discs : 1 | | Studio/Live : Studio | | Mono/Stereo : Stereo | | SPAR Code : n/a | | UPC : 00724381033227 |
|
| | Professional Reviews | | Spin (7/01, pp.126-7)
- 7 out of 10 - "...Their very own KID A....offering heavier arrangements, starker contrasts between soft folky orchestrations and hard prog-rock noise, more guest stars, fewer pretty tunes, and several gigabytes of robo-speak....absurd, uncanny and touching..."Q (7/01, p.106)
- 3 stars out of 5 - "...A bold, chaotic departure from MOON SAFARI's smooth lines, packed with experiments and sonic jokes..." Alternative Press (2/02, p.64)
- Ranked #8 in AP's "25 Best Albums of 2001". Alternative Press (7/01, pp.58-9)
- 8 out of 10 - "...Funny and ingenious..." Magnet (12-1/02, p.56)
- Included in Magnet's "20 Best Albums of 2001". CMJ (5/28/01, p.5)
- "...Made of the strict artisan molecules as previous releases....LEGENDS lives for shadows...the depth and variety of the darkness beautifies the album... Mojo (Publisher)
(1/02, p.71)
- Ranked #26 in Mojo's "Best [40] Albums of 2001". Mojo (Publisher)
(6/01, p.94)
- "...This is rich, deep-pile music reliant on texture rather than pop smarts..." NME (Magazine)
(12/29/01, p.59)
- Ranked #14 in NME's 50 "Albums Of the Year 2001". |
|
| |
|
|
