AIR - The 10,000Hz Legend

04'02

Click on this cover and access the official 10,000 Hz Legend web site

AIR
Everybody Hertz
(CDV2956) Source Records 2002
10 Tracks. 45mins37secs.
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Everybody Hertz shows just how difficult putting a remix album together is. While Moon Safari captured the imagination of millions and reached a much wider audience than electronic records usually do, the follow up, 10,000 Hertz Legend, although reinforcing the band as a major force, failed to attract quite as many people. Air now come back with an incidental collection of disparate remixes.
For this project, Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunkel have asked a handful of artists to reshape tracks from 10,000 Hertz Legend in their own style. If the legendary On-U-Sound producer Adrian Sherwood or Modjo present impeccable versions of How Does It Make You Feel? and People In The City respectively, adapting their universe to remain true to the feel of the original, others don’t manage to pull through properly. Mr Oizo’s and The Hacker’s reworking of Don’t Be Light (the song appears no less than five times, none of which come close to matching the original) is somewhat pretty similar, as they give the track an electro twist which, in Mr Oizo’s case, soon becomes futile and dull. The Haker’s version, although let down by its stiff production, demonstrates a slightly more interesting approach, taking the chilled original to the dance floor. The best version of the song is found in the more upbeat Malibu Remix. The Jack Lahana remix of People In The City or Neptune’s reworking of Don’t Be Light do not unfortunately bring any remotely interesting new features to the originals. Apart from the Sherwood and Modjo remixes, the only convincing track included here, is Air’s brand new The Way You Look Tonight, with captures once more the more chilled and beautiful side of the duo’s music.
Despite the excellent quality of the original, this project in its majority, lacks of proper direction, and is desperately unimaginative and tedious. Everybody Hertz is not even indispensable to ultimate Air fans, and could well put some of them off for good. A real shame.

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TRACK LISTING

01	Don't Be Light Edit	06	Don't Be Light The Hacker Remix
02	Don't Be Light Mr Oizo Remix	07	How Does It Make You Feel? Edit
03	How Does It Make You Feel? Adrian Sherwood Version	08	Don't Be Light Malibu Remix
04	Don't Be Light Neptunes Remix	09	People In The City Jack Lahana Remix
05	People In The City Modjo Version	10	The Way You Look Tonight

06'01

AIR
10,000Hz Legend
(8103322) Source Lab 2001
11 Tracks. 60mins43-secs.
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Versailles, near Paris, has everything of a tranquil suburb. Nothing never really comes to disturb this rather wealthy town, and even the constant flow of tourists visiting the castle of the Sun King doesn’t manage to break the peace. It is in Versailles though, that the whole French electronic scene started in the mid nineties, with Daft Punk, Etienne De Crecy, Alex Gopher and Air rewriting the rules of dance music. Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunkel met at university there, and eventually joined forces to produce one of the most enduring records of the last decade. When Moon Safari was released, it was everywhere. The world was gasping for Air. Ask any of your friends, family or work colleagues around you, and you will be surprised how many of them own it. Moon Safari is a truly universal record.
10,000 Hz Legend is everything but the continuation of its predecessor. Air have replaced the polished sounds, breezy arrangements and gentle melodies they got us used to with a much more organic feel, and Radio #1, the first single to be lifted from the album, is probably as close to Moon Safari as it gets. It becomes obvious, from the first moments of Electric Performers, which opens the album, that Dunkel and Godin are now more into heavy beats, electric guitars and dark electronic. The duo creates murky polymorphic miniature epic soundtracks and naïve evolutive melodies, building-up around pianos, guitars, strings and electronic effects. They handle somewhat difficult songs with class. Tension is an integrant part of the album, as in the brilliantly disturbing How Does It Make You Feel, with its raw vocoder and progressive chorus, or the innocent Sex Born Poison, a sort of ballad for hippy computer and paranoid androids. Traces of influences from Serge Gainsbourg can be found on Wonder Milky Bitch, the duo nesting some intricate lyrics in a beautifully crafted, if somewhat perverse, melody. Beck also gives an interesting performance on The Vagabond and on the opening lines of Wonder Milky Bitch. Other highlights include Radio #1, Lucky And Unhappy and the magnificent Don’t Be Light.
After the high expectations of Moon Safari and the disappointment of The Virgin Suicides, 10,000 Hz Legend reaffirms Air as remarkable creators, and demonstrates how their first album was only a warm-up session.

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TRACK LISTING

01	Electronic Performers	07	Sex Born Poison
02	How Does It Make You Feel	08	People In The City
03	Radio Number 1	09	Wonder Milky Bitch
04	The Vagabon	10	Don't Be Light
05	Radian	11	Caramel Prisoner
06	Lucky & Unhappy

AIR DISCOGRAPHY

PREMIERS SYMPTOMES Source Lab 1997 Buy it on line now	Modular Mix Casanova 70 Les Professionnels J'ai Dormi Sous l'Eau Le Soleil Est Pres De Moi Californie Gordini Mix
MOON SAFARI Source Lab 1998 Buy it on line now	La Femme d'Argent Sexy Boy All I Need Kelly Watch The Stars Talisman Remember You Make It Easy Ce Matin La New Star In The Sky Le Voyage De Penelope
THE VIRGIN SUICIDES Source Lab 2000 Buy it on line now	Playground Love Clouds Up Bathroom Girl Cemetary Party Dark Messages The Word "Hurricane" Dirty Trip Highschool Lover Afternoon Sister Ghost Song Empty House Dead Bodies Suicide Underground
10,000HZ LEGEND Source Lab 2001 Buy it on line now	Electronic Performers How Does It Make You Feel Radio Number 1 The Vagabon Radian Lucky & Unhappy Sex Born Poison People In The City Wonder Milky Bitch Don't Be Light Caramel Prisoner
EVERYBODY HERTZ Source Lab 2002 Buy it on line now	Don't Be Light Edit Don't Be Light Mr Oizo Remix How Does It Make You Feel? Adrian Sherwood Version Don't Be Light Neptunes Remix People In The City Modjo Version Don't Be Light The Hacker Remix How Does It Make You Feel? Edit Don't Be Light Malibu Remix People In The City Jack Lahana Remix The Way You Look Tonight

THE SURFER'S GUIDE TO AIR

SOURCELAB
SourceLab is well and truly implanted on both sides of the Channel, with its French and English branches pursuing slightly different routes. The SourceLab web site is unfortunately quite difficult to navigate and its purpose is not always very clear.

36 15 AIR
Well informed fan site, include an Air FAQ, as well as a discography/trackography, a trading room and some links.

ASTRALWERK/AIR
The gigantic American label offers a nice page on the French band. Simple and effictive.

ASTRALWERK/SOURCE
French label source doesn't offer a web page, but its American distributor, Astralwerk, does. This page redirect you towards different artists sections of the gigantic Astralwerk site.