10,000 Hz Legend

法国俊帅双才子，电乐梦想家队伍—Air空气：Jean Benoit Dunckle和Nicolas Godin是在凡尔赛学院透过共同朋友—唱片制作人／舞曲艺人Alex Gophe介绍认识，他们曾待过一个名为Orange的独立摇滚乐团；在音乐学院学古典钢琴的Jean Benoit後来成为一名物理老师，而Nicolas则成为一名建筑师；如今，约30岁的两人已在全球音乐市场获致成功。 1998年1月，Air发行「Moon Safari月光狩猎」首张正式专辑，在全球缔造了80万张的销售量；纽约时报、Muzik等双手奉上「年度最佳专辑冠军」桂冠，其余如Request、NME、Time Out(New York)、Select、Q、时代杂志、滚石杂志也都将之选为「年度最佳」之列。 Air成为90年代末期艺术派兼酒吧式，时髦又慵懒的乐团代表。一时之间，由Daft Punk傻瓜庞克带起的法制电子舞曲新声在Air手中推到了顶点！2000年改写好莱坞音乐流行风潮，再创暗沈新氛围之「The Virgin Suicides死亡日记–电影原声带」是Air的首次电影经验。这部电影是由曾执导「教父」电影的大师法兰西斯科波拉担纲制片，其女苏菲亚科波拉首次执导的黑色奇情喜剧片。 2001年初夏，Air即将发行他们的新专辑「1000 Hz Legend10千赫传奇」。这张专辑已被如「卓越」、「天才」、和「经典作品」等字眼来形容。这是更成熟的Air，拥有惊人的深度和美感的音乐，黑暗、有趣和难忘的特质同时存在。专辑大部分的歌曲在巴黎录制，歌曲产生的过程相当自然随兴。Air随後到洛杉矶，在几首歌曲中添加交响乐编曲。他们也找来老朋友Beck演唱忧郁放克的Vagabond，并在太空摇滚史诗作品Don’t Be Light中朗诵诗词。专辑中的歌曲除了Sex Born Poison是由Buffalo Daughter的Sugar和Yumiko演唱外，大多由Jean Benoit和Nicolas演唱。首支发行单曲Radio#1，一派缅怀70年代流行曲好时光之欢乐情调。 从朴实天真的「Premiers Symptomes」（辑结95-97年间早期单曲之迷你专辑），到流行且深刻的「Moon Safari」，再到千禧年式黑暗的「The Virgin Suicides」原声带，现在带着2001最新大作「1000 Hz Legend」，Air更证明了他们的音乐超过一般传统的法国之音。 Eager to prove their songwriting smarts and knowledge of traditionalist pop on their sophomore work, French band Air pulled back slightly from the milky synth pop of their 1998 debut, Moon Safari. 10,000 Hz Legend is a darker work, just as contemplative and unhurried as its predecessor, but part of a gradual move from drifting, almost pastoral melancholia to a downright post-modern helplessness in league with Radiohead. Air are still tremendously effective producers, and have actually expanded their palate with a surprising array of pop instrumentation (acoustic guitars, flutes, pianos, a harmonica, harps, and many strings) to file alongside the countless trilling synthesizers and machine sequencers. The two lead-off tracks, "Electronic Performers" and "How Does It Make You Feel," are breathtaking productions that exploit the same robot-weariness tendencies that made "Sexy Boy" (from Moon Safari) an alternative hit. Still, those detached retro-vocoder treatments sound so much more passé in 2001 than when the duo first tried them out in 1996. Jason Falkner and Beck, a pair of equally hardworking slacker-pop icons, appear (respectively) on the next two tracks, the tongue-in-cheek single "Radio #1" and an excellent morning-after jam named "The Vagabond." Again, the production is stellar, but these find Air stranded between art rock and pop, caught in the trap of trying to make great pop music yet never sounding particularly studied or concerned about it. Falkner pops up again on "Lucky and Unhappy" and "People in the City," a pair of album standouts that subvert any pop inclinations with a raft of bridges and breakdowns among the layers of production. "Wonder Milky *****" is another precisely studied track, a haze of lunar-desert synth pop directly evocative of country-pop classicist Lee Hazlewood, and "Radian" brings Air back to the instrumental textures of their early work. Fans and involved listeners are definitely rewarded with increased dividends after multiple listens, but even they may wish for an album that harked back to the simpler days of the Premiers Symptomes EP and Moon Safari. by John Bush