AIR - Premiers Symptômes

Personally I rate this as their best work to date. This particular collection of tracks is a lot more "cool" and less "kitsch" than any other Air release. Dare I say it might have something to do with Dunckel having less of an influence on Air's output at the time these were recorded. He is not even credited for the first two tracks, essentially making them Godin solo works.

Despite having been released separately previously, the first five tracks which made up the original Premiers Symptômes are quite cohesive and form an impressive little body of music. The last two seem a bit tacked on at times, as they are a lot more upbeat, but are far from being subpar. Having never owned the five track original these last two tracks are an equally essential part of this release to me.

I would only recommend this specific Limited Edition release to collectors and almost regret getting it over the standard edition. The quality of the video is bad enough to make it nearly unwatchable and the cardboard sleeve, while nifty, damages easily.

The tracks are excellent, probably among the best music I know and love, and I'd recommend them to anyone. This Limited Edition has no substantial extras to offer over the regular release though.

Out of everything that AIR has released, almost all of which is great (I didn't really like 10,000 Hz Legend though), this has got to be the best. It's downtempo synthpop with a distinctly French funk to it that oozes from your speakers with the coolest vibes ever.

The first three tracks are the better ones sounding like perfect moments from a lounge, and if you've heard Moon Safari you'll likely recognize the bassline on "Les Professionnels" as it's very similar (if not the exact same) to the one appearing on "All I Need" - it's put to much better use here, with chord-changes wrapping around it creating an air both somber and chilled.

It's hard to explain just how well the beginning of this CD flows. It manages to remain cool and collected while at the same time hard-edged: it's a lucid, sexy wah-wah ambient spy-thriller soundtrack, funky basslines and a Moog wash around electro bossa-nova drum grooves while, out of nowhere, a spike-tinged & overdriven Rhodes bangs out and grabs your attention without wrecking the space the rest of the music creates.

Strange, though, how near the end of the CD things begin to evaporate and lame breakbeats start to show up here and there. Still, I'd have to recommend this CD to anyone that likes groovy music.

After it looked like techno was well burning out by 1997 and Drum-n-Bass had already once lifted me out of the funk surrounding "techno (or 'rave') music", this little anomale came along and breathed some fresh air into my discriminating brain when techno needed something fresh. This release is really smooth and very very VERY musical. Not repetitive at all, these are "songs" in every sense of the word. Years earlier techno music was arranged neatly into "songs" that simply used electronics to the hilt with sequencers doing the work of the keyboard player doing fifteen overdubs to arrive at virtually the same conclusion. That's right, with this release techno kind of came full swing to my ears. Once again I was hearing music of the electronic persuasion that wasn't boring me to death with ultra-minimalism! Actual "music" that used the elements of music and did it with an astounding human touch, too! Unfortunately in the last five years I really haven't been swept off my feet quite to that degree. The closest thing to the level of this music was a few Ninja Tune releases, but there's not been enough of them! This release really does reach those upper echelons of the electronic music world. Get it! Best Song is Casanova 70!

As good as Moon Safari was, this EP stands head and shoulders above it. Beautiful and haunting, it showcases the pure potential that Air has yet to live up to. "Modular Mix" and "Le Soleil Est Pres De Moi" are two particularly excellent examples.

Althouth it was re-released after Moon Safari, and included 2 additional tracks, this is a prior release for the frenchsters Air. After you hear it, you cannot argue that Moon Safari, is inevitably the best follow-up this mini-album could have. Actually you can see that All I Need was indeed based on one of the songs on this mini-album. Surely one of the finest moments, France could provide in a decade where electronic music turned out to be an all impressive field.
Be sure to keep one of these into your record collection.