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All Air albums as well as outtakes and rarities
Air: All albums in the ranking
The French pop duo is going on a sold-out “Moon Safari” tour in 2024. A showcase of the albums by Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel.
Air: All albums in the ranking – Essential
“Moon Safari, 1998”
The title suggests that something is discovered through an expedition where it cannot actually exist. However, the phenomenal debut album was quickly located in the earthly realm: in club music. Techno, the rush of the early 90s, was to be followed by lounge. Flokati, balloons, chill out after the rave. Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel – two DJs? A misunderstanding. Although they were friends with electronic musicians like Daft Punk and Étienne de Crécy, it wasn’t until they were on tour that it became clear to everyone: Air are retro romantics who play live with three other musicians on heavy old instruments. And they never wanted to work with samples again. Ironically, the two most distinctive album sounds were samples. The Caribbean rhythm of “La femme d’argent” came from Edwin Starr’s “Runnin'”, the scratchy drums in “Remember” from the Beach Boys song “Do It Again”.
“The Virgin Suicides,” 2000
After the worldwide success of “Moon Safari,” the French resisted the pressure by presenting an irregular album: the soundtrack commission for Sofia Coppola’s directorial debut. To date, the last major score by a pop band exclusively with new compositions. A nod to fusion and 70s horror scores; Pink Floyd, Beatles and the Italian progressive band Goblin come to mind. Organs and siren songs, deep red, jazzy and velvety, perfect for Coppola’s film adaptation of Jeffrey Eugenides’ novel about sisters who gradually commit suicide without their parents being able to understand why. This was the first of their albums to be performed live in its entirety and was the only one to later receive a box set. “Playground Love” sings Gordon Tracks – Phoenix singer Thomas Mars is behind it.
Air: All albums in the ranking
“10,000 Hz Legend”, 2001
Like REM and Pink Floyd, Air belongs to the club of three-big-albums-in-a-row artists. It’s just that Air has forgotten how exciting its early development was. After the lounge pop of “Moon Safari” and the giallo-inspired “The Virgin Suicides,” now this album that combines Kraftwerk minimalism with voodoo, space rock and country. Some call “10,000 Hz Legend” the birth of “New Prog”. But since there hasn’t been an album with a similar sound for more than twenty years, it has no successor and actually no genre. Godin and Dunckel speak as lustful aliens through voice distorters and summon the monster “Mesamedasu, prince from the biomass,” which emerges from “Sex Born Poison.” Because they knew that mythologies shouldn’t be taken seriously, they ended the songs with self-deprecating punchlines.
In “Don’t Be Light”, guest singer Beck sighs: “Aah, wildlife!” and plays a Stone Age man who doesn’t know that Homo sapiens owes its existence to aliens who are watching him in the crosshairs. In short, there was no album in 2001 that was more erotic, more paranoid, funnier – and bolder. It would have been easy for Air to attempt a Moon Safari 2, but instead they decided to cut all ties with the chill-out classic. Only after the commercial failure of “10,000 Hz Legend” did they do exactly that again and again: compose ball chair songs that rarely come close to their old greatness – Air set up shop in their beauty boutique.
Air: All albums in the ranking
Rewarding
“Premiers Symptoms”, 1997
The sensational debut EP unfortunately contributed to the reputation in the early days that Air were DJs, arrangers, remixers, not composers. They were certainly living room tinkerers who underpinned exotica sounds with drum machine rhythms. “Les professionnels” was the preparatory work for their later, biggest hit “All I Need” and “Californie” was a French fantasy of life on Venice Beach. After all, “J’ai dormi sous l’eau” are still playing live today. Godin described the Versailles walk “Le soleil est près de moi” set to music as her best song. He’s probably right.
“Talkie Walkie,” 2004
After the experimental “10 000 Hz Legend,” Air moved into friendlier sounds, which is surprising – their new producer Nigel Godrich isn’t known for his offers to musicians to take it easy in the studio. At the same time, Dunckel celebrated his debut as lead singer – a controversial but also charming idea, as his lisped Mickey Mouse voice fits Air. Godin only revealed in the ROLLING STONE interview that “Talkie Walkie” is an angry album. The musician, born in the year of the first moon landing, felt betrayed by the promises of the Space Age, an impending space exploration. Songs like “Biological” or “Universal Traveler” are about the exact opposite: the exploration of the human body, the adventure into the cells, the chromosomes. “XX XY, that’s why it’s you and me”, so simple and so right, the difference between men and women. Still a sad itinerary decision – space would be better.
“Love 2”, 2009
Best album title of all time, right? 15 years old and their last regular record to date, so not a commissioned work. Godin and Dunckel don’t like the work – unfortunately. As a concept album, “Love 2” is as atmospheric as “Moon Safari.” This time we went into the green thicket, “Night Hunter”, “Tropical Disease”. “We were energized, which is actually great,” Godin said. “But every time I hear a song from the work today, it hurts me. Those were no longer air.” It’s a shame. “Heaven’s Light” is their jewel, their trademark song: deathly longing for the last journey, but with a look over the shoulder – maybe it would be better to turn back?
Air: All albums in the ranking
Supplementary
“Pocket Symphony”, 2007
Godin said what everyone was thinking: The better Air album of the year was not theirs, but the “5:55” they composed for Charlotte Gainsbourg. “Once Upon A Time” with its Philip Glass miniatures is still a success, as is the instrumental “Lost Message”. The remaining ten songs leave you at a loss. “Space Maker” is a low-stimulation variation on the “Moon Safari” classic “La femme d’argent,” and the lack of ideas is made up for by new instrumentation – Godin learned to play the koto and shamisen in Okinawa – as well as a number of Guest musicians are accommodated, who are a bit too nervous for this rather elegiac song collection: Neil Hannon in “Somewhere Between Waking And Sleeping” and Jarvis Cocker in “One Hell Of A Party.”
“Le voyage dans la lune”, 2012
In Georges Méliès’ silent film “Journey to the Moon” (1902), astronomers land on Earth’s satellite and fight against St. Vitus-dancing natives. On earth they are greeted with a parade as if they were war veterans – a contemporary acknowledgment of colonialism. Air has achieved two things with the 30-minute score: the reinterpretation of a classic through retrospective, martial, disillusioned music and, more importantly, the final burial of their own lunar fantasies, the sweet dream of that moon safari that once brought them fame.
Air: All albums in the ranking
Weaker
“Music For Museum”, 2014
Recorded on behalf of the Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille, as part of the Open Museum project. Only 1000 LPs of this minimal music were pressed and have long been sold out. It is clear that banging air hits like “Wonder Milky Bitch”, “Sexy Boy” or “Napalm Love” would be rather unfavorable for the accompaniment of an art show and the gentle guidance of museum visitors. But the reduced continuous loops of “Octogum” or “Art Tatoo” are very annoying. Or is that art?
film
“Air: Eating, Sleeping, Waiting And Playing”
Like “Meeting People Is Easy” by Radiohead, a rather smug assessment of life on tour, which of course relies heavily on cultural contrasts, because the French have to be able to communicate on tour in the USA. Directed by Mike Mills (the director, not the REM bassist), the film takes its title line from the Air song “People In The City.” An entertaining 75-minute look at unimagined fame.
Air: All albums in the ranking
Precious items
Live rarities, B-sides and solo projects
“High School Lovers”
Phoenix’s Versailles friends re-recorded the slow-motion dream ballad as a rollerball disco piece with Queen guitars.
“Melissa”
Godin and Dunckel covered this soft erotic piece by Francis Lai on their 1998 tour, the original is on the “Bilitis” soundtrack from 1977. On the same tour, Air also used John Williams’ theme tune from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” as intro music – Daft Punk followed suit on stage nine years later.
“Cosmic Bird”
The 1997 sampler “Source Lab 3” not only contains French house gems like “Faithfull” by Fantom, but also this air co-op with electro pioneer Jean-Jacques Perrey.
“Jean”
The duo also secured this collaboration with an idol when they were still completely green behind the ears. Chanson singer Françoise Hardy sang the deadly sad song for her about an It girl who wanted to go too high and fell apart while living.
“Home”
Another nobility, even before Air became known. In 1997 they made a remix of “Home” for Depeche Mode, whose arrangement the Brits would even use for their live version. It sounds as if Martin Gore and Dave Gahan were sitting in an Eames Chair.
“Concrete And Glass”
Inflated solo album by Nicolas Godin from 2020 in which he sings love letters to architects. A background singer shouts orgiastically: “Mies van der Rooo-he!”
“Darkel”
Jean-Benoît Dunckel’s solo debut from 2006. First indication that the creamy air melodies come mainly from him and the technical extravagances from Godin. “How Brave You Are” and “My Own Sun” are the standouts.
“Close Your Eyes”
The last sign of life from the studio was nine years ago. A collaboration with Jean-Michel Jarre, for his guest artist album “Electronica 1: The Time Machine”. It’s amazing how much these electronica experts stand on each other’s toes: on top of one of Jarre’s sound layers, Air puts theirs, and on top of that, Jarre puts his, and on top of his…