Short description
Their trans-Atlantic notoriety may have come amidst compilations of French house and electronic scenes, but Nicolas Godin and JB Dunckel are not just another pair of Gallic beat-miners. Like DJs and studio wizards, the duo known as Air does construct their records pastiche-style; but instead of unleashing dancefloor-friendly "tracks", they come up with mellow abstractions for retro-minded chill-out rooms, flaunting their analog instrumentation and love for make-out melodies every step of the way.
MOON SAFARI, Air's full-length debut, is like a fuzzy, blissful daydream in which a glowing ambiance pervades over a crossroads of '60s French pop, '70s Philly soul and '80s Eurodisco. Rarely does the tempo reach mid, and when it does ("Kelly Watch The Stars" and "Le Voyage de Penelope"), it's on the strength of funky synth-pop grooves. Overall, their sounds are rarely less than kaleidoscopic, enveloping the listener in happy, high-IQ muzak. If it sounds somewhat disposable, it's because all good pop should. It is the fact that one can't leave Air's aural confections behind that makes MOON SAFARI great.
Review
Entertainment Weekly - "...this French duo works the territory between sleazy blaxploitation grooves, naive rave-culture idealism, and pop songcraft. Though the melodies occasionally threaten to become saccharine,...Air leaven it with a welcome dash of Gallic irony."
- Rating: A-
Rolling Stone - 3.5 Stars (out of 5) - "...a truly obsessive hommage to easy listening, a sublime Eurocheese omelet....fits in with European confreres like the High Llamas and the Divine Comedy: orchestral pop that mixes the acoustic with the synthetic..."
Spin - 7 (out of 10) - "...this French duo offers up a sort of weightless trip-hop exoticism. But rather than pillage the usual African or Brazilian sources, Nicolas Godin and Jean Benoit Dunckel--tubas and Moogs in hand--travel deep into the cheesy heart of whiteness, cannibalizing Muzak, Italian soundtracks, and lounge..."
Q - Ranked #31 in Q's "Best 50 Albums of Q's Lifetime"
NME - 8 (out of 10) - "...neo-symphonic bliss-outs for the next Generation Next. For the Jazz Club in space...a floaty, widescreen and spiritual music that updates The Beach Boys' instrumental odysseys..."
Mixmag - Included in Mixmag's "Ten Best Albums Of 98" - "...beautiful easy listening with 70s synths [and] vocoders....The chill-out sound of nine-eight."
Spin - Ranked #5 on Spin's list of "Top 20 Albums of '98."
Spin - Ranked #50 in Spin Magazine's "90 Greatest Albums of the '90s."
Melody Maker - "...MOON SAFARI is their lush, joyous, oxygen-filled voyage to a thrillingly non-specific destination....a dream of a record."
Q - Included in Q Magazine's "90 Best Albums Of The 1990s."
Q - 4 stars out of 5 - "...[This] glitters like diamonds....its twisted dreaminess confirms a triumph pf music over strategy."
Mojo - Ranked #27 in Mojo's "100 Modern Classics" -- "[A] perfectly realised melange of electronica, filmic expanse and autumnal folkisms."
Q - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[It's] proved remarkably enduring, still dreamlike and wistfully evocative..."
Record Collector - 5 stars out of 5 -- "[MOON SAFARI] remains exquisite, a pure, glacial pop moment....Utterly faultless and untouchable."
Rolling Stone (1/22/98, pp.54-56) - 3.5 Stars (out of 5) - "...a truly obsessive hommage to easy listening, a sublime Eurocheese omelet....fits in with European confreres like the High Llamas and the Divine Comedy: orchestral pop that mixes the acoustic with the synthetic..."
Spin (9/99, p.144) - Ranked #50 in Spin Magazine's "90 Greatest Albums of the '90s."
Spin (1/99, p.91) - Ranked #5 on Spin's list of "Top 20 Albums of '98."
Spin (2/98, p.108) - 7 (out of 10) - "...this French duo offers up a sort of weightless trip-hop exoticism. But rather than pillage the usual African or Brazilian sources, Nicolas Godin and Jean Benoit Dunckel--tubas and Moogs in hand--travel deep into the cheesy heart of whiteness, cannibalizing Muzak, Italian soundtracks, and lounge..."
Entertainment Weekly (2/6/98, p.62) - "...this French duo works the territory between sleazy blaxploitation grooves, naive rave-culture idealism, and pop songcraft. Though the melodies occasionally threaten to become saccharine,...Air leaven it with a welcome dash of Gallic irony."
- Rating: A-
Q (10/01, p.56) - Ranked #31 in Q's "Best 50 Albums of Q's Lifetime"
Q (12/99, p.100) - Included in Q Magazine's "90 Best Albums Of The 1990s."
Mixmag (1/99, p.49) - Included in Mixmag's "Ten Best Albums Of 98" - "...beautiful easy listening with 70s synths [and] vocoders....The chill-out sound of nine-eight."
Melody Maker (1/10/98, p.37) - "...MOON SAFARI is their lush, joyous, oxygen-filled voyage to a thrillingly non-specific destination....a dream of a record."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.64) - Ranked #27 in Mojo's "100 Modern Classics" -- "[A] perfectly realised melange of electronica, filmic expanse and autumnal folkisms."
NME (Magazine) (1/17/98, p.38) - 8 (out of 10) - "...neo-symphonic bliss-outs for the next Generation Next. For the Jazz Club in space...a floaty, widescreen and spiritual music that updates The Beach Boys' instrumental odysseys..."