Additional information
Air: Nicolas Godin, JB Dunckel. Additional personnel includes: Beck (vocals, harmonica, keyboards); Justin Meldal-Johnsen (vocals, bass); Sugar, Yumiko, Lisa Papineau, Jean Croc, Corky Hale, Jason Falkner, Ken Andrews, Barbara Cohen (vocals); Julia Sarr, Olyza (harp); Elin Carlson (whistle); Brian Reitzell (drums, programming); Roger Joseph Manning Jr (programming). Recorded in Paris, France and Los Angeles, California. Before this album, the last full-length offering from French duo Air was the soundtrack to the Virgin Suicides. That effort marked so much expansion on and progression from its predecessor (Air's debut MOON SAFARI) that a further push up the mountain seemed a logical expectation for 10,000 HZ. Instead, Air chose to jump off the mountain into a strange, forbidding ravine. You'll find neither the pure electro-pop hooks of MOON SAFARI nor the elegant, surreal majesty of VIRGIN SUICIDES here. Instead, the Air boys offer an insular record thick with ironic self-regard and tongue-in-cheek humor. Beck is a guest here, and his voice and pomo-slacker sensibility blend right in, but for the most part, Air lets the synthesizers and vocoders take center stage. Listening to 10,000 HZ LEGEND is somewhat akin to sitting in a bar and getting hit on by an android; in fact there's actually some Barry White-style bedroom talk filtered through electronic processing early on in the album. How far you're willing to go with these Gallic pop-bots probably depends on how far they've taken you in the past.
Reviews
Spin (7/01, pp.126-7) - 7 out of 10 - "...Their very own KID A....offering heavier arrangements, starker contrasts between soft folky orchestrations and hard prog-rock noise, more guest stars, fewer pretty tunes, and several gigabytes of robo-speak....absurd, uncanny and touching..." Q (7/01, p.106) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...A bold, chaotic departure from MOON SAFARI's smooth lines, packed with experiments and sonic jokes..." Alternative Press (2/02, p.64) - Ranked #8 in AP's "25 Best Albums of 2001". Alternative Press (7/01, pp.58-9) - 8 out of 10 - "...Funny and ingenious..." Magnet (12-1/02, p.56) - Included in Magnet's "20 Best Albums of 2001". CMJ (5/28/01, p.5) - "...Made of the strict artisan molecules as previous releases....LEGENDS lives for shadows...the depth and variety of the darkness beautifies the album... Mojo (Publisher) (1/02, p.71) - Ranked #26 in Mojo's "Best [40] Albums of 2001". Mojo (Publisher) (6/01, p.94) - "...This is rich, deep-pile music reliant on texture rather than pop smarts..." NME (Magazine) (12/29/01, p.59) - Ranked #14 in NME's 50 "Albums Of the Year 2001".
