index page for Delicado Album Details
10,000 Hz Legend  - Air - 2001
Label: Astralwerks (USA)
Format: CD
From: France
My rating: 6/10

Entered: 01/10/2003
Last updated: 11/19/2003

Post a comment
Search on Ebay
Search on GEMM

This long, rambling, yet incomplete review is pretty pointless. Sorry about that. Summary: it's a good record, but the Beck song doesn't work that well, and it doesn't stand up to repeated listening as well as the first two...

1. Electronic Performers
A dramatic, long, meandering, cinematic piece. Uses nice vocoderized spoken vocal and an assortment or bleeps and mechanical sounds as well as the group's favorite guitar, piano and synth sounds. Far more dark and less easy listening than the opener on Moon Safari. Good though. The lyrics are funny: 'we need to use envelope filters...to show how we feel'.

2. How Does It Make You Feel
Air's version of a ballad, although in the world of Air, this is about a long distance relationship between across space. It builds gradually with some a synth choir int he background, before melting into a cliched sounding 70s anthemic chorus of 'How does it make you feel'. The lyrics are again pretty humorous - the idea of our human insecurities being common to people from other planets ('it's very hard for me to say these things in your presence') is entertaining.

3. Radio #1
This was the first single from the album. It opens strongly, like a slowed down and superior version of 'Sexy Boy' from the first album. Then a 70s rock pastiche begins, as the 'sexy boy' bassline continues. It's actually pretty cool, but as in 'how does it make you feel', I enjoyed the dark verse more than the chorus. Towards the end the song keeps dipping in volume as a rogue listener starts singing along, which made me laugh.

4. The Vagabond
Featuring Beck, this one opens with a harmonica and has a long, quiet intro. The song as a whole ends up sounding more like Beck than Air. It's not bad, but not that special in my view.

5. Radian
Lasting a whopping 7 minutes and 37 seconds, this one opens with some cool spacey sounds; then a kind of world musicy wail comes in. Nothing much happens for a couple of minutes, and then we get some cool harp sounds and a drumbeat. The song proper starts after about 3 minutes. It's a very pleasant instrumental with a flute sound joining the standard Air set up of electric piano and string synth sounds, guitar. It builds up rather nicely and atmospherically. It's pretty much background music though. For the last couple of minutes, the keyboard sound is warped in a Bowie-esque way (not sure which song this is reminding me of; 'ashes to ashes' maybe?). Anyway, not a bad track, but too long.

6. Lucky & Unhappy
Opens sounding like Pet Shop Boys. Continues to do so, building up quite nicely; there is a female vocal in there as well. It's pleasant, but sounds essentially like an understated and slightly aimless PSBs single.

7. Sex Born Poison
Opens with an slightly out of tune guitar. I presume this was deliberate, but why? Anyway, it's a nice spooky little song with picked acoustic guitar and some echoey, watery sounds, reminding me slightly of some early pale saints b-sides. Until the vocals come in, that is. They add some more vocoder effects to the voice for good measure. There are some very pleasant strings later on, then the vocals come back in, accompanied by some ridiculous squeaky sounds. I don't know why, but I really don't seem to be in the mood for this album today! I guess this one just seems overlong to me. It becomes rather heavy and dark, almost goth/industrial near the end. As you can tell, my brain has really deserted me - I should go home!
Air recommendations at Musical Taste
   Alone in Kyoto
   La Femme D’Argent
   Kelly Watch the Stars
   Cherry Blossom Girl
   All I Need
   Cherry Blossom Girl
   Playground Love
   All I Need
   Mayfair Song
   all i need
   Ce matin la
   Sing Sang Sung
   playground love
   venus
   Radio #1
Links for Air
   http://www.intairnet.org/
   Fun official site, featuring a discography, photos, audio, games, and links to some other cool sites.


   Quick Search (this will search review text, performer, title and year):    

musical taste home