Air (French Band) - Brief Review

Air is a French band, whose music is most often associated with such electronic music genres as downtempo, ambient, and chill out. Founded in 1995, the duo consists of Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel.

Forming the band

Vintage

Air grew out from Godin's solo project. While studying architecture, he was asked by a childhood friend to compose a piece for a compilation cd which was to be released by a smaller independent French label called Source. Fellow musicians of the band Funkadelic helped Godin to lay down the instrumental tracks, and "Modulor Mix" appeared on the "Source Lab" album in 1995. This tiny success led Godin to ask his friend Jean-Benoît Dunckel to join him. Dunckel, who studied mathematics at that time, was also a classically trained pianist. The band Air was formed.

The duo produced more singles for Source. Those were mostly instrumental downtempo compositions, with a color of nostalgia, which were recorded at home with vintage instruments. Although originally released on various compilation albums, those singles were later reissued on Air's debut EP "Premiers Symptômes" in 1997.

Air's first album

On that same year the duo began working on their own album in a studio. Godin and Dunckel even traveled to London to have their strings arranged and recorded by an English veteran David Whitaker. The album "Moon Safari", released at the beginning of 1998, became quickly a classic. It had a strong retro-feel of the 1970's, with cheerful and melodic tracks, having a mellow electronic mood.

From 1998 onwards

Thereafter the band Air became well-known both in England and US. They got an offer from Sofia Coppola, an American film producer, to write the music for her movie "The Virgin Suicides". The album, issued in 2000 and named after the film, became another success. It was somewhat cleaner and less ambient than their first album "Moon Safari".

In 2001 Air completed their third album "10,000 Hz Legend", which was more experimental and eclectic than previous two. It contained a wider spectrum of different rhythms, electronic blips, and vocals, resulting in a somewhat different sound than their earlier recordings. The album "Talkie Walkie", released in 2004, is filled with dreamy landscapes and fragile strings, which were arranged by the band's idol Michel Colombier.

The fifth full-length album "Pocket Symphony", issued in 2007, has stronger influences of Japanese music, where Godin also plays Japanese floor harp called koto, and banjo-like instrument called shamisen. "Love 2", issued in 2009, was already produced in Air's personal recording studio named Atlas. In 2012 they released an album which was composed as a background music for the 1902 classic film called "Le Voyage Dans La Lune" (A Trip to the Moon).

Air's other works

The band Air has been actively involved in other projects as well. For example, the duo has composed and played the music of the album "5:55" by French actress and singer Charlotte Gainsbourg. In 2002 Air collaborated with the Italian writer Alessandro Baricco, for whom they wrote the music to accompany his narration texts during a live performance.

Air (French Band) - Brief Review

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French Wine Making

Wine making in France is not only a very economically viable activity but is also considered to be no less than any form of art. It is often referred to as an expression of one's creativity and the maker is literally considered to be an artist.

There are many different varieties of French wines. The most crucial factors that create differences in the kind of wine being prepared are, the choice of territory, the climate, the date of harvest, grape variety, the kind of container in which fermentation takes place, the temperature at which the grape juice is maintained during fermentation, the exact period of fermentation, and the type of container in which maturation takes place. All these factors are important determiners of the kind of wine which is ultimately made, its taste, color and peculiar smell.

Wine

In total, there are eleven suggested steps in wine making. These are plantation or grafting of a vine stock, growing of a grape bunch, subsequent harvesting of the grapes, de-stemming (only for red wines) and crushing the grapes, alcoholic fermentation of the liquid, maceration (only for red wines), raking the wine, malolactic fermentation, maturation of the wine, bottling the wine and finally, tasting the wine. The steps may be altered or changed depending on the kind of wine to be produced.

There is no one particular way to make wines. The methods of wine making differ from not only region to region but also from one wine maker to another. That is what makes the different kinds of wine available to the people. However, there are certain guidelines given to the wine makers and the vineyard owners as to how the process of wine making should be carried out. These simply provide frameworks to wine making and do not serve as rigid rules.

French Wine Making

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