Air : Moon Safari 1998

Moon Safari is the debut studio album by French music duo Air, released in 1998.
Electronica had its fair share of chillout classics prior to the debut of Air .
Air had musical ideas that stretched beyond samplers or keyboards, and Moon Safari found those ideas wrapped up in music that was engaging, warm, and irresistible.

Air is a music duo from Versailles, France, consisting of Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoit Dunckel.

Air had certainly bought records and gear based on the artists that had influenced them, they didn't just regurgitate (or sample) them; they learned from them, digesting their lessons in a way that gave them new paths to follow.

Nicolas Godin studied architecture at the Ecole Nationale Superieure d'Architecture de Versailles, and Jean-Benoit Dunckel studied mathematics before forming a band in 1995. Before founding Air, Dunckel and Godin played together in the band Orange, with others such as Alex Gopher, Xavier Jamaux and Jean de Reydellet. The former two have subsequently contributed to remixes of tracks recorded by Air..

Air's full-length debut, Moon Safari, that proved they could also write accessible pop songs like "Sexy Boy" and "Kelly Watch the Stars." But it wasn't all pop. The opener, "La Femme d'Argent," was an otherworldly beginning, with a slinky bassline evoking Serge Gainsbourg's Histoire de Melody Nelson and a slow glide through seven minutes of growing bliss (plus a wonderful keyboard solo).

Air use many of their studio instruments (like Moog synthesizers, the Korg MS-20, Wurlitzer and Vocoder) live on stage, where their ability to improvise is more clearly highlighted. The band performs the well-known tracks from the albums live as extended or altered versions.

Air often works together, both in the studio and live on stage, with artists like Beth Hirsch (Moon Safari), Francoise Hardy ("Jeanne"), Jean-Jacques Perrey ("Cosmic Bird"), Gordon Tracks ("Playground Love" and "Easy Going Woman" - Gordon Tracks is a pseudonym of the French singer Thomas Mars from Phoenix), Beck (10 000 Hz Legend), on the 2004 tour with Dave Palmer and on the 2007 tour with drummer Earl Harvin, Vincent Taurelle and Steve Jones.


Studio albums

    Moon Safari (1998)
    The Virgin Suicides (2000)
    10 000 Hz Legend (2001)
    Talkie Walkie (2004)
    Pocket Symphony (2007)
    Love 2 (2009)
    Le voyage dans la lune (A Trip into the Moon) (2012)

TRACKS :

  01 . La femme d'argent – 7:10 (The Silver Woman)
  02 . Sexy Boy – 4:57
  03 . All I Need – 4:28 (lyrics by Beth Hirsch)
  04 . Kelly Watch the Stars – 3:44
  05 . Talisman – 4:16
  06 . Remember – 2:34 (co-written with Jean-Jacques Perrey)
  07 . You Make It Easy – 4:00 (lyrics by Hirsch)
  08 . Ce matin la – 3:38 (That Morning) (co-written with P. Woodcock)
  09 . New Star in the Sky (Chanson pour Solal) – 5:38 (Song for Solal)
  10 . Le voyage de Penelope – 3:10 (Penelope's Voyage)

FLAC  Size  :  268 MB