I love these guys-very atmospheric and wonderfully cheesy as well-sort of like 70s lounge music meets Pink Floyd or Kraftwerk. I have everything they've done and look forward to this!

From Billboard.com:

French rock/electronica duo Air will release its next album, "Pocket Symphony," March 6 via Astralwerks. The 12-track set boasts vocals from Pulp's Jarvis Cocker and the Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon, as well as group members J.B. Dunckel and Nicolas Godin. It was produced by longtime collaborator Nigel Godrich.

Several tracks feature Asian classical instruments such as the Koto and the shamisen, which Godin learned from a Japanese master. "It's another direction, for sure," Dunckel told Billboard.com in June. "It's different, but it's Air. We like to change all the time. If we don't change our sound, we'll be dead. People who like our music like to discover new things. They're curious. They have some cultural musical background also, so they want to be surprised."

"Pocket Symphony" is the follow-up to 2004's "Talkie Walkie," which debuted at No. 2 on Billboard's Top Electronic Albums chart and has sold 161,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Air will tour Europe beginning in mid-March and hit the states in early May. Festivals in Europe and Japan are on tap for the summer, followed by additional fall dates worldwide.

Here is the track list for "Pocket Symphony":


"Space Maker"
"Once Upon a Time"
"Hell of a Party"
"Napalm Love"
"Mayfair Song"
"Left Bank"
"Photograph"
"Mer du Japon"
"Lost Message"
"Somewhere Between Walking and Sleeping"
"Redhead Girl"
"Night Sight"

Talkie Walkie was my least favorite Air release, but I have high hopes for this. if you hear about any import only limited editions/bonus DVDs, etc., let us know.

I finally got a chance to listen to this album and even though they may say something like...

"It's another direction, for sure," Dunckel told Billboard.com in June. "It's different, but it's Air. We like to change all the time. If we don't change our sound, we'll be dead. People who like our music like to discover new things. They're curious. They have some cultural musical background also, so they want to be surprised."

...I don't think it's all that different. Without analyzing it too heavily, it was enjoyable and very much in keeping with the things that I've liked from Air in the past. My two Air favorites are "Moon Safari" and "Talkie Walkie" and I think that this album is very much in keeping with the same general style as those two albums.

I'm looking forward to the official release and hoping that there are bonuses to be found out there somewhere.

...I don't think it's all that different. Without analyzing it too heavily, it was enjoyable and very much in keeping with the things that I've liked from Air in the past. My two Air favorites are "Moon Safari" and "Talkie Walkie" and I think that this album is very much in keeping with the same general style as those two albums.

I'm looking forward to the official release and hoping that there are bonuses to be found out there somewhere.

Walter-was this a promo you heard? I'm very surprised you heard it so far in advance.
I'm not surprised it's in the same style as the others because I doubt they'd deviate too far. I'm looking forward to this but I always know that for the most part it will be quite mellow and trance-like!

All I can say is thanks to my new buddy Linda who's shown me the light!

Here you go, Walter ~ domestic release comes out tomorrow:





Audio samples and a complete tracklisting are available at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000KGGEUE?tag ... QEN3YB0DZ&

Now, you wanted bonuses of some kind ~ the Japanese release includes one extra track called "Time Capsule":

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000LZ52WU/?tag=imwan-20

Yeah...that's all I heard mention of, the Japanese import. I was hoping that as was the case with Zero 7 and some groups of this ilk, some singles or bonuses might show up at "Independent" retailers. I've heard no word of this yet though.

Best Buy's Rhapsody service put the album up and on their service, it's got a 13th track called "The Duelist (Feat.Jarvis Cocker & Charlotte Gainsbourg)". Does anyone know if this appears on the official release as a bonus track or something like that? Rhapsody doesn't state that this is an exclusive, though perhaps it is.

Download only, so far. "The Duelist" is also available at iTunes, but apparently they also had a 14th track called "Crickets" which was only downloadable with pre-orders of the album.

(Here's that emoticon you'll be wanting, Walter: )

Actually Linda, I was thinking more along the lines of... , but at this point complaints like this are more along the lines of

Once again, another really cool listening experience-the new Air album. And, it even made the Top 40 this week-cool!

Purchasing the album entitles you to a couple of extra, via the Opendisc technology, wihch I found a pain in the ass to access, not to mention just a little more invasive than I'd like. They give you a download in WMA format of the Japanese bonus track "Time Capsule". Additionally, they give you "listen only" access to "The Duelist". I can get a paid download of "The Duelist" on Rhpasody and I can convert the WMA of "Time Capsule" to something that I can use, but that still leaves me looking for the iTunes preorder exclusive of "Crickets" and "High Point", the bonus from their new single "Once Upon A Time". I sure would have loved to have had the option to pay a couple dollars more for a deluxe version with these extra tracks, but they won't give me that option until they're sure that everyone has bought the original version, so that they can sell it again.