Love 2 is the sixth album by the French duo Air. I grew up on Air. Literally. I love these guys. Their ability to create sonic landscapes to just... relax to is incredible. But that's not entirely present on this disc. There are a few songs that are still capable of giving you the desired "Air effect." For example, the second song, Love, is pure unbridled Air. It has the ability to get you to close your eyes and drift across a land of... well, love! It's beautiful, and repetitive, but if you know Air, repetitive works! Sing Sang Sung, the ninth track is a very nice track as well, which, after a few listens, you'll be able to sing along nicely to. It's a very... French record.
And then there's the rest of the album. It's a little poppier than their previous works. And this is partly why I'm having trouble with this record. It's good... but not for Air. On normal occasions I would give this maybe a high 8/10, but I'm going to give this one a 6/10. The Air is just not there, fully. Comparing it to classic albums such as Moon Safari or Talkie Walkie, it doesn't hold it's weight. There are definitely a few jems in here though, and any fan of Air should grab this. It may not be their best work, but it's still, at the least, worth listening to.
Now... I was really disappointed by Kanye's latest album, 808s & Heartbreak, because it was a complete departure from his previous works. And lately, I for one have little respect for the guy, as a person. I feel that, beyond his musical "genius," the guy is a total idiot. But in retrospect, I see now that this departure he made from his previous hip-hop albums turned out to be... well it turned out to be a success. Despite all the annoying digitizing of his voice, due to auto-tune effects, and the absence of his rapping abilities, the album was actually very consistent. And looking back, I almost regret my immediate shrug-off of this 2008 record, because it did have it's strong points and jems. For one, this song, Coldest Winter, was probably the best on the record.
Well, Kanye's finally created his music video for the song, directed by Nabil Elderkin. Wow. This thing is scary cool. I don't care what anyone says about him. He's actually not even in this video (not surprising, of late). In the video however, is a rather large-chested woman running in slow motion, and the effect is... nice. Lol. But besides that, the rest of the video is really awesome. Just imagine dementors from Harry Potter fuse with the Organization 13 members of the video game Kingdom Hearts series, and chase a hot girl Sleepy Hollow style into Dante's Inferno. And sure, what does this have to do with the video, you may ask? No clue. I don't think it has much to do with it. But at the same time, the synchronicity and mood of the music to the video really draws you in. The song is a little tweaked from the album version, which is partly good because it sounds a little fresher. And why did I like the Coldest Winter best on 808s & Heartbreaks? Because, my dear Watson, his voice wasn't droned out with the auto-tune (as much) on this track. I hate auto-tune.
WHO IS THIS!? It's been bugging me for a few weeks now. You may be wondering what I'm talking about, so let me explain...
A few weeks back, a YouTube profile entitled iamamiwhoami surfaced, releasing periodical (music?) videos that are incredibly well produced. Each video, (there are now five) is incredibly confusing and seem to revolve around a different animal each time. The music played in the background is also entirely unique. After watching the first video or so, I had chills. It's a kind of ambient electronica that's got a definite rhythmic power to it. In most of the videos, they revolve around a blonde woman, and an extremely freaky blonde woman at that, usually covered in mud or something (we are never shown a good enough image of her to make out who it is).
So why is this profile causing such a stir? Well a) because it's mad weird and freaky, b) the music is surprisingly incredible, c) the production quality is superb, and d) the profile is MEANT to keep you on edge. With a name like iamamiwhoami, many are putting names of possible bands, groups, or artists that could potentially be behind these string of viral videos. The profile is meant to read as "i am am i who am i," but originally I thought it read "i am ami who am i." I guess it doesn't particularly matter, because I still have no friggin' clue who this is! The lady in the video does actually look like Lady Gaga, and many people are saying that's the case, but hello! Lady Gaga doesn't sound THIS good. Others have stated it could be: MGMT, Animal Collective, Panda Bear, Christina Aguilera, Grizzly Bear, and/or other. But what if it's someone completely new?
My own theory isn't that it is someone entirely new, because it looks like it cost some well-earned cash to produce. I do believe it has to do with Animal Collective, or Panda Bear projects (Panda Bear is the stage name of one of the members of Animal Collective). Animal Collective definitely sounds a lot like this. And, in each of the videos, a different (yet random) animal is chosen for the video to revolve around, thus making it some kind of collection of animal videos. ANYWAY, I'm probably totally wrong. We probably all are. I'll post the videos though, so check em out and enjoy! (Don't be too frightened).
The first video doesn't actually have the dirty blond in it (hehe). But the music is certainly relaxing. If you look closely (well you don't have to look that closely), you'll see that there are a bunch of limbs swaying from the trees. Interesting, no? This video revolves around the Goat. It is called: Prelude 699130082.451322-5.4.21.3.1.20.9.15.14.1.12
The second video is the first in which you actually see the blond woman... She's licking a tree. And it's not hot, no.. No it isn't. The music enters a bassier mood this time around. And it revolves around the Owl. It is called: 9.1.13.669321018
The third video starts off with an almost Flaming Lips atmosphere to it. Very serene. The atmospheric sounds soon turn into a very Animal Collective-like beat, which furthers my belief on who's behind the video. Also, notice the strawberry cake in the background. (Please note that one of Animal Collective's albums is entitled "Strawberry Jam"). This time, the video revolves around the Whale. It is called: 9.20.19.13.5.723378
The fourth video introduces the first vocal chants, sung, of course, by the blonde freak lady. Notice the introduction of the dog, playing in the snow in front of the small hut. Significance? Who cares. It's starting to to sound more like M83's Saturdays=Youth, or Stereolab. In other terms, it's starting to sound VERY French. This video revolves around the Bee. The video is called: 13.1.14.4.18.1.7.15.18.1.1110
The fifth and latest video, released on the 22nd of Feb, is a little more fast-paced than the previous ones, song-wise. Still, it's bugging me more and more. She makes contact with the black dog and it runs away from her. Also, more strawberry's. Six of them hanging, at the end of the clip. This video revolves around the Llama. Yes, random. It's called: 15.6.6.9.3.9.14.1.18.21.13.56155
You know what I think? I think a great way to introduce new music to you readers out there is by way of music videos. I personally believe the age of the MTV music video has ended quite some time ago, and there isn't much ingenuity when it comes to newer videos, but at the same time, the videos often add another whole dimension to the sounds given off and add to the overall double-sensory effect, which there is no fault in. I saw a new music video today from the musician Caribou that I thought would be nice to share with you all. The song is 'Odessa,' from his forth-coming album, Swim.
This video follows a young, bloodied-up, girl as she appears to be fleeing through the wilderness, and we are shown a collage of what are to be inferred as memories. I find this "collage" of animal-life, roads, cold winter wilderness, memories, and other to be extremely well done. And I don't want to say that it follows the rhythm of the song fully, but it surely flows well enough. The electronic sounds and bleeps in the background (and I have no idea how he made them) help produce a certain eerie quality to the whole thing, and that's probably the strong-point of this particular song, and they slide well into the actually video, creating an interesting 5-minutes. And no, i do not know what that thing is at 00:15 or so, but it looks to me like a penis.
I was first introduced to Caribou in 2007, after he released Andorra, which by the way is an excellent album. He, Daniel Victor Snaith (Caribou), used to go under the stage-name 'Manitoba.' Apparently, he decided to change his name to Caribou during an acid trip he had in which a caribou told him to change his name to such... And he did.
The full album on which 'Odessa' will be released on, Swim, hits the shelves on April 19-20.
(Electronica, Downtempo, Ambient, Trip Hop, Chill Out)