Track Listing

1. Venus
2. Cherry Blossom Girl
3. Run
4. Universal Traveler
5. Mike Mills
6. Surfin' On A Rocket
7. Another Day
8. Alpha Beta Gaga
9. Biological
10. Alone In Kyoto

Product Details

• Released on: 2004-02-17
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Amazon.ca: Le meilleur de l’année 2004
Avec ses rythmes paresseux, ses claviers sixties et ses airs simples, quoique toujours efficaces, Talkie Walkie témoigne d’une troupe qui a retrouvé son aplomb, après une quatrième galette mal reçue. On succombe en effet pour les nouvelles bulles musicales que propose Air, gorgées des lignes langoureuses aux contours psychédéliques. Un nouvel opus qui tourne souvent dans le lecteur.

Voir la liste complète des meilleurs albums de l’année 2004.

From Amazon.co.uk
Talkie Walkie comes five years after their landmark Moon Safari and Parisian mood-enhancers Air are back doing what they do best. Famously shy of ever repeating themselves, JB Dunckel and Nicolas Godin have filled in the years with the poorly received follow-up, 10,000hz Legend (even they think it strange), and an eerily effective soundtrack to Sofia Coppola's Virgin Suicides. Nice enough in their own niche way, but a far cry from what people actually wanted.

Happily, Talkie Walkie reunites us with the Air that we love: two hopelessly indulgent romantics with an ear in the past and an eye on the future. It's meltingly good stuff--a collection of cool, cosmic pop songs that dispense with notions of time and space, wallowing instead on a cloud of poignant psychedelia. With vocal duties this time taken by the boys themselves, and gorgeously fragile strings courtesy of Serge Gainsbourg collaborator, Michel Colombier, they get off to a good start. Perhaps the introduction of an outside producer, in this case Radiohead's Nigel Godrich, has forced such beautifully measured focus? Whatever, touchy-feely epics such as the heavenly "Cherry Blossom Girl" sit well next to electronic masterpieces such as "Ran", whose enveloping tracked vocals recall the 10cc classic "I'm Not in Love". --Paul Tierney

Customer Reviews

21. 99 only to hear surfing on a rocket
I LOVE SURFING ON A ROCKET! EXCELLENT EXCELLENT SONG. Venus/Univeral Traveler/Surfing on a rocket/Alpha Beta Gaga are the only songs likeable and everything else is not worth listening to over and over.

Has Its Moments
This is a really nice album. It's not nice as in, "Wow, what a nice album!" But rather, it's nice like that guy your sister broke up with because he wasn't challenging enough. From the beginning of the Spiritualized-like "Venus" to the tired end, Talkie Walkie is an easy-listening chillout feast, occasionally bizarre [anyone for a rocket surf?], but not very captivating overall and at times even boring. Nigel Godrich does a fine job of making Air sound as English as Alfie which, in the grand scheme of things, isn't really a bad thing but it isn't exactly Air either. They are still more quietly joyous than the Boards Of Canada are subtly depressing so if that's your cup of tea, go for it. For me, this was a very safe album for them to make, one that is guaranteed to never offend anyone and my attention struggles at times because of their lack of passion. While catchy as anything they've done, the boundaries of downtempo electronica remain secure as ever. One thing that really sticks out in my mind about this project is the Black Panther style of leather gloves Dunckel and Godin sport on the cover. They've even got them on the same hands as the Olympic athletes who started the fashion with two raised fists at the metal ceremony thirty odd years ago. I can't imagine this album inspiring people into riotous action as that gesture did, though. Nice just doesn't motivate as well as racial inequity. In the end, you'd probably be better off with Zero 7's Simple Things, Moon Safari, and all the Boards Of Canada you can get instead of this pile of happy. Ah salaam a lakum, youngblood!

Beautiful and Dreamlike.
I heard a song on the radio that I liked, and I thought the announcer said it was called "Air" by Mike Mills. When I went online to buy it, I discovered the SONG was "Mike Mills" by a group called Air, who turned out to be two French guys who record in Paris, but sing in French-accented English.

When I started listening to it, I fully expected that the only track I would like would be the one I had heard on the radio (which is what usually happens!) -- but imagine my delight in discovering that, not only is the whole recording a treasure, but there are several songs on it I had heard before and loved but hadn't known who the artist was.

There's the odd song like "Cruising on a Rocket" that is up-tempo, but most of the tracks are beautifully hypnotic. Their gentle voices combine with the floating, ethereal melodies to create an effect that is incredibly soothing and peaceful. After a stressful day, I just put it on, and tracks like "Cherry Blossom Girl" and "Universal Traveller" make all the cares of the world melt away.