Music Banter - View Single Post - Air

4ZZZ · 11-07-2008, 12:25 AM

I agree with the OP in that Air are indeed a wonderful band though I am not sure I agree there are Led Zeppelin influences of any kind. I maybe understand a touch of Floyd but I think that they are more influenced by synth pop of the 80’s with vocal harmonies that are reminiscent at times, believe or not, of The Beach Boys.

Air are IMO the premier soft synth pop band of the last 10+ years. I have all their albums except City Reading. I had the pleasure of seeing Air live this year at the Tivoli in Brisbane on Monday 31st of March as a side show for the V Festival that was then touring Australia. They put on a great gig and the very enthusiastic reaction of the 1,600 strong crowd agreed with me in that they were truly outstanding.

IMO the best are in release order Premiers Symptômes, Moon Safari and Talkie Walkie. All three are very different from each other and show definite changes in style. I do like 10,000khz and that too is also different again though a few of the songs do not have the staying power of the other 3 albums. Virgin Suicides comes over as just a soundtrack, as it is, and is fairly disposable. Pocket Symphony is a clone attempt to Talkie Walkie and is sadly a complete failure.

If anyone compares Talkie Walkie to Moon Safari in style they are doing both an injustice. If push came to shove I would go for Talkie Walkie over Moon Safari. I had no expectations of Talkie Walkie when I first purchased it but was very pleasantly surprised and am still able to play it a few years later and enjoy it immensely without feeling any boredom at all. A few years back I was meeting work some colleagues in a coffee shop. Talkie Walkie was playing, in fact the instrumental Mike Mills, and as I ordered my coffee I congratulated them on their music selection. They were so impressed that I knew the track, let alone the album, I got the coffee on the house

.

Premiers Symptômes is a very interesting album/EP. It is essentially muzak, as has been suggested, but it is a lot better than that. I have found that if I have visitors I can put this on as background music but invariably I am asked what it is and can they have a copy. My thinking is that they are catchy tunes that are better than just background music and catch the attention.

Great band.

11-07-2008, 12:25 AM	#7 (permalink)
4ZZZ Forever young Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Brisbane Posts: 608	I agree with the OP in that Air are indeed a wonderful band though I am not sure I agree there are Led Zeppelin influences of any kind. I maybe understand a touch of Floyd but I think that they are more influenced by synth pop of the 80’s with vocal harmonies that are reminiscent at times, believe or not, of The Beach Boys. Air are IMO the premier soft synth pop band of the last 10+ years. I have all their albums except City Reading. I had the pleasure of seeing Air live this year at the Tivoli in Brisbane on Monday 31st of March as a side show for the V Festival that was then touring Australia. They put on a great gig and the very enthusiastic reaction of the 1,600 strong crowd agreed with me in that they were truly outstanding. IMO the best are in release order Premiers Symptômes, Moon Safari and Talkie Walkie. All three are very different from each other and show definite changes in style. I do like 10,000khz and that too is also different again though a few of the songs do not have the staying power of the other 3 albums. Virgin Suicides comes over as just a soundtrack, as it is, and is fairly disposable. Pocket Symphony is a clone attempt to Talkie Walkie and is sadly a complete failure. If anyone compares Talkie Walkie to Moon Safari in style they are doing both an injustice. If push came to shove I would go for Talkie Walkie over Moon Safari. I had no expectations of Talkie Walkie when I first purchased it but was very pleasantly surprised and am still able to play it a few years later and enjoy it immensely without feeling any boredom at all. A few years back I was meeting work some colleagues in a coffee shop. Talkie Walkie was playing, in fact the instrumental Mike Mills, and as I ordered my coffee I congratulated them on their music selection. They were so impressed that I knew the track, let alone the album, I got the coffee on the house . Premiers Symptômes is a very interesting album/EP. It is essentially muzak, as has been suggested, but it is a lot better than that. I have found that if I have visitors I can put this on as background music but invariably I am asked what it is and can they have a copy. My thinking is that they are catchy tunes that are better than just background music and catch the attention. Great band.