Air

Air return with an LP that might make them the coolest guys ever. They are so cool that they have an instrumental song called "Mike Mills." They are so cool that their electro-folk songs sound like they are being sung by pre-teens, Japanese girls, or both. The Tokyo-inspired interstellar soft rock revolution begins now!

Like so many other pop wizards, Air take their favorite David Bowie disguise and build a
whole new sound out of it. The French electronica duo always sounds as if it's lost in
erotic space, floating in the blue with Major Tom, combining the soppy balladry of Hunky
Dory with the whooshing electronic haze of Low. Air's music is charged up with regret and
longing -- too much for the Earth to satisfy -- and so they take off into the ozone.... More >

Those French, so subversive with their Nissan commercials ("Surfing on a Rocket," "Alpha Beta Gaga"). (Grade - )