Moon Safari As part of the chill out music explosion of the nineties, Air appeared on the scene, a pair of Parisian musicians, Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel who were heavily influenced by Jean Michel Jarre and the electronic sounds of the seventies, when combined with the smooth dream like beats of Serge Gainsbourg, this is a fair definition of their sound, electronic, sexy, chilled out pop. Moon Safari was their biggest and most popular album, for me it's the one album that can put me to sleep, it is so tranquil and relaxing, the music, the melodies, the voices, the whole album has a dream like quality which I adore. This album released in ...  Read the complete review

It was in the mid to late 90's that the 'chill-out' phase really started to hit the british public. It seemed that youngsters were now more interested in laying back and letting retrofied songs wash over them, than being battered into submission with constant 4/4 beats. French Duo Air arrived at just the right time. With a perfect blend of songwriting nous and gallic cool, they produced an album which outlasted the genre. 'La Femme D'argent' is the epitome of cool, a languid bassline ushering in the synthesised melodies. First single 'Sexy Boy' rides along on a fuzzy bass, whooshing song effects and a winsome melody - It turned out to be one of the biggest ...  Read the complete review

French music used to be associated with heavy breathing and 14 year old girls singing about taxi drivers. However, the late 1990's saw the emergence of a dynamic strand of Gallic dance and chill-out music that has been inescapable ever since, largely due to its omnipresent appearance on TV shows and adverts. Air, along with the likes of Cassius, Etienne De Crecy and Daft Punk paved the way for French music to associated with cool, rather than eurotrash. 'Moon Safari' was the album which launched the French duo of Jean-Benoit Dunckel and Nicolas Godin into the big-time internationally. The duet are visually striking, looking as if they've been ...  Read the complete review

The French music is hardly known in Great Britain or even worldwide. Mind you French people tend more to turn towards American or British incomings also. That is why few years ago, some radio stations launched a special programme to promote French music. To do so they decided to broadcast less foreign songs. It was a good initiative as it allowed to French composers or singers to be heard and to value their work. Of course the good oldies are still in the air but far less than before. The first time I heard about “Air” was in Edinburgh. My manager used to play the CD every night in the restaurant. I appreciated it straight away and went in a music ...  Read the complete review

The UK debut from Air, released in 1998, was a revelation for me. A concept album that was very nearly, conceptually and musically, naff, but that actually sounded so good you had to play it over and over. The album sold over 2 million copies so a lot of people felt the same way. It starts very quietly, with what sound like the sound of rain, and then some percussion, a little like the start of Steely Dan's "Do It Again", but then the bass and the synths kick in and we enter another world altogether. Out of this world, even, as it's a 'spacey' sound. As the album's title indicates, there is a 'space' theme ...  Read the complete review