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M83: Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts

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? by Gareth Dobson
The best things in life, as we all know, are surprises. We all know what Oasis album no.25 will sound like, we have a good idea what to expect from the next Mogwai record, and hell, we even have a reasonable idea what Thom Yorke's going to do next (hint: it's not going to be a collection of gabba-core party anthems).

Therefore, when something fresh and beautiful drops into your laps, something new, it really is a wonderful moment. Why vegetate in stale conditions, when you can drench in glorious sunlight?

And 'Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts' really is a ray of beauty. A ray of droning, intricate synth beauty yes, but marvellous nonetheless. Hailing from the Gaelic lands, the duo extort beautiful Air-meets-MBV sounds that wash over and encapsulate you with the same wonderful feeling of warm water round your nadgers. Ahem. Or nipples. It's quite perfect, and goes someway to redressing the balance against the boredom of retrocity that we've suffered for the past few seasons. Tunes like the slow-mo immersion of 'Be Wild' sound like Boards of Canada with a gentle love manifesto, whilst the pure pop rushes of 'Birds' are warming in a sensual, back-rubbing style. The album when required, has pacing and tempo ('Cyborg' for example), allowing it to stay in the forefront of your consciousness, where so many others would let you droop into a drooling slumber, beset by noodling and chic aimlessness.

Skitting across the album of the year charts already, M83 have fashioned something better than the latest album by the latest hot troops in the trench warfare of indie, it's something new and exciting. A wonderful surprise.

  • M83 9 / 10
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Comments

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Yay

A great great album.
Old_Anonymous_Comments | 28 Oct '03, 18:27 | Send note | Report this | Reply

Re: Yay

Agreed, it's a beautiful piece of work. *claps
FinestLittleSpace | 29 Oct '03, 13:58 | Send note | Report this | Reply

Re: Yay

Ack - I've listened to this three or four times now and I have to say I think its a bit rubbish. The problem is that while MBV meets Air is a brilliant idea, and there are some nice enough tunes here, music like this is supposed to drift and wash over you, but M83 produced everything so unsubtly and hamfistedly that the end result is more like an entire CD full of backing tracks by one of those godawful Radiohead ripoff bands.

Also, nothing on this record is ANYWHERE NEAR as good as Blown off the new LFO album, which showcases exactly what music like this should sound like. Dead Cities feels more like an indieboy's coffee table electronica record than the real thing.
Old_Anonymous_Comments | 6 Nov '03, 14:59 | Send note | Report this | Reply

Re: Yay

And its more than a little Jean Michel Jarre in places as well, and that can't be a good thing.
Old_Anonymous_Comments | 6 Nov '03, 15:00 | Send note | Report this | Reply

Re: Yay

I initially thought the M83 album was great, but I think like Matt said, it's the idea and the potential of it all more than the actual 'songs' or rather, 'music'.

It's occasionally beautiful, but hard to pick one track from another. It's not quite in the same league as the Air debut. Perhaps The Virgin Suicides soundtrack.

Definitely one of the better albums of the year, though.
Old_Anonymous_Comments | 1 Dec '03, 20:58 | Send note | Report this | Reply

Re: Yay

yeah, this album is excellent in principle, but much of it just ends up jarring; the mix of sounds they've aimed for don't gel.

They should definitely aim for a less hectic combination. If the record plowed a similar vein as "unrecorded" or "run into flowers" we'd have the loveless of the 00's.

Instead it gets ruined by wanky sub d'n'b like "0078h".

polko | 4 Dec '03, 23:09 | Send note | Report this | Reply


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