Air - 10,000 Hz Legend

Previously Air's Jean-Benoit Dunckel and Nicolas Godin made softcore collages of Pink Floyd-ish synth tones and droning French lounge pop. 10,000 Hz Legend goes further out, attaining new heights of cheesy, Space Odyssey-like computer music. Like Kraftwerk skinny-dipping with French nymphet Jane Birkin and Star Wars's R2D2, Legend swells with mad robo-love, following a computer romance amid droll tributes to vacant pop culture. Beck's appearance on "The Vagabond" proves the Loser only works well solo, making Air disappear on their own album. The absurd "Radio #1" and the sappy chorus in "How Does It Make You Feel?" could snuggle beside Celine Dion's latest yawner. But there is magic: "Radian" is a Cluster-like orb of cooing flutes, gentle rhythms, and a ghostly vocal. "Electric Performers" offers clunky electronic beats and the lines "We are the synchronizers / Machines give me some freedom." The catchy "People in the City" sounds like Mirwais producing Serge Gainsbourg, while "Don't Be Light" recalls electro Krautrockers Neu! Feeding us Moog merengue and Reese's Pieces rhythms, Air remain sweet computer boys to the core. --Ken Micallef Amazon.com

A must

When people get over moon safari they may get to appreciate this great set of songs.Why anyone would want another moon safari bewilders me.Buy this record and enjoy it for what it is,a fantastic journey someplace new.I love it. Lets hope Air keep reinventing. May 4, 2008

Enjoyable avantgarde

I don't think I've ever heard anything quite like this album. It's a strange blend of spaced out dreamy sequences and egging, throbbing rhythms, electronic blips and old and proven run of the mill studio instruments.

If I were a musician I wish had the imagination to make this album. March 17, 2008

Air hissing out

Despite songs like "Sexy Boy" and "Remember," "Moon Safari"'s greatest strength seemed to be its commitment to the retro-futrism of doing an electronic album that sounded dated by a good twenty years. Aside from those songs, it all flowed wonderfully, a tightly cohesive effort that drifted through the subconscious.

On "10,000 Hz Legend," the duo decides, "Screw that, let's make a mess!" And so it is. A mess, I mean. They try too hard, succeed too little. They bring in Beck to little avail (hell, the early part of his track is just, well, Beck); they rip-off Radiohead for no good reason; and they miss the mark by 10,000 miles on "Radian," an overwrought, treacly little piece of refuse begging to be stuffed into a B-side collection that only hardcore fans could admire.

That Air emerges on the other side with almost half a listenable album is a miracle in itself. That the listener is left with this as the follow-up to "Moon Safari" (not counting the very good soundtrack for "The Virgin Suicides") is a gyp. This is what's convenient about the digital age: not only can anyone produce sub-par electro like this any time they want, but the consumer can illegally download it, ween the four or five tracks worth keeping, and chuck the rest into the Recycle Bin.

Best cuts: "People in the City," "Wonder Milky Bitch," "Radio #1," "Don't Be Light" February 12, 2008

Overindulgent artists stuck in-between

2 1/2

Make no mistake, there are a couple beautiful songs on here (or at least several which have beautiful parts inside the experimental electronic confusion), but for the most part people who slap the ol' sophomore slump label upon Air's much anticipated follow up to Moon Safari would be in the clear. In labored, pretentious, but shallow structural dabblings the French duo strain for an artsy depth merely hinted at with their spacey, more intuitive debut. Between the often stilted compositions and a few awkward genre leaps, 10,000 Hz becomes clouded by it's own self-absorption. One hardly notices then, quite a few contrastingly solid ideas inserted into the bloated disc, hinting at the more complex, melodically driven approach that would usher in Talkie Walkie's warmer reception. October 2, 2007

AIR's BEST ALBUM!!!!!

Critics didn't like this album at first. This is not one of, but Air's best album! April 26, 2007

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