Air – 10,000Hz Legend (2001)

Air was one of the new bands that I felt passionate about at the turn of the millennium. This was the first time I started to enjoy electronic music. Growing up in the early 90's with grunge, hard rock and britpop taking over the world, electronic music wasn't almost allowed. It was something that had been done in the 80's and 80's was really uncool. Of course in the mid 90's, pop-techno became very popular, but that just proofed that electronic music really wasn't cool. Then, in the early 2000's everything changed when Radiohead went full electronic with Kid A and Amnesiac. Air had previously played quite typical French electro-pop, but this album changed their sound into a darker and more ambitious direction in the style of Radiohead. Many old fans of Air who liked Moon Safari above all didn't like this change, but I thought I had found something amazing. I do like Moon Safari a lot as well, but for me, this album still remains the best Air album up to date.




Air combines electronic sounds skilfully with more traditional and authentic band sounds. They also have a great sense of melody. I really liked the dark and melancholic tone of this album and the authentic sounding drums ensured that I liked the band even though it had lots of electronic elements that I wasn't that fond of back in the day. Drums were kind of sacred for me. Drums needed to sound like drums instead of a drum machine. I still kind of feel like this. Drum machine never sounds as good as the real thing. Of course there are some artificial drum sounds on this album as well, but as long as it's not the only thing, that's fine.

The album starts strong with the Electronic Performers. This song has an airy sound that seems to come from outer space. The smooth synth sounds change quickly into strange buzzing and clanking sounds. The production just amazed me back in the day. The next song, How Does It Make You Feel is one of my favourites on the album. The strange whispering voice leads into a funny finish when the question 'So, how does this made you feel' gets an answer 'Well, I really think you should quit smoking'. Radio #1 was one of the biggest hits on this album but in my opinion it's probably the most boring song on the album. The melody is too monotonous. This is followed by a song that doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the album. The Vagabond is sung by Beck Hansen and it has a more acoustic folk sound along with a harmonica. It's a good song in its own right, but it sounds very different from the rest of the album.

After this, we really get into what this album is all about. The rest of the album is quite dark and filled with songs with amazingly strange sounds and effects. I remember just listening to this CD in a dark room taking in all the strange sound and thinking how this was something truly special. Don't Be Light was the only hit song from these remaining songs, but there are various amazing songs that I just adore.

I've seen Air live twice. The first time was at the Flow Festival in Helsinki and the second one in a similar festival, Field Day here in London. I wasn't too impressed by Air's albums that had come out before these gigs, so I wasn't expecting that much, but they actually played lots of their old songs on both times and I was really impressed by their stage show and sound.

Air has always had a great visual side as well. Their album covers are interesting and their live shows have amazing set-ups. So, it's no wonder they also have quite good music videos. This video for How Does It Make You Feel is a work of art.

Air's 10,000HZ Legend is one of the albums that made a lasting impression on me as a young adult and it will remain forever one of the most important albums for me personally, because it played such a significant part in my life at a time when I truly started to discover who I really am asa person.

Album on Spotify.