Album Review: Air – Moon Safari

What happens when a single song completely stops you in your tracks? For Scott Coates, that moment came when an algorithm served up La Femme d'Argent, the hypnotic opening track from Moon Safari by French electronic duo Air. Built on a smooth, endlessly looping bassline and shimmering synths, it’s the kind of track that makes you hit repeat again…and again. Years later, it still shows up on playlists and still gets played two or three times in a row.

That moment of musical discovery leads us into February’s album pick: Air’s 1998 debut, Moon Safari. Often described as one of the defining albums of the downtempo and chill-out era, the record blends warm analog synths, vaporous vocals, and a polished hi-fi aesthetic that feels both retro and futuristic. Apple Music calls it an “effortlessly cool” breakthrough—an immaculate collection of suave Moog grooves and future-disco textures that helped shape the sound of late-90s lounge electronica.

In this episode we dive into the album track by track, exploring its dreamy atmosphere, distinctive production choices, and the famous use of the vocoder that gives parts of the record its robotic-yet-human character. Along the way we wrestle with a key question: is Moon Safari a genre-defining masterpiece, or is it better understood as something closer to what Darren calls “sonic wallpaper”—music that’s less about songs and more about setting a mood?

Reactions around the table are mixed but lively. Alain and Scott G found themselves returning to the album repeatedly and appreciating its layered textures and relaxed vibe, while Darren and Scott C were less convinced by the album as a whole—even if they were glad they took the journey. We also talk about how some critics describe the album as influencing not just a musical style, but an entire vibe—a sound that seeped into film, advertising, and late-night playlists around the world.

So pour a drink, dim the lights, and join us as we revisit Moon Safari: a smooth, spacey trip through one of the most iconic electronic albums of the late ’90s—and decide whether it’s a classic worth returning to, or simply a beautifully produced mood piece.

Scott Coates and the Sonic Collective Team

For access to show notes and more, visit us at https://TheSonicCollective.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:02

Welcome to the Sonic Collective, a music podcast that explores a different album or musical concept each month, diving deep into its history, context, and impact on the music industry. Join our hosts, Alan Scott Scott, and Darren Scott at Wait a Minute Scott, as they share their thoughts, insights, and personal connections to the music, inviting you, the listener, to discover new perspectives and appreciation for some of the greatest albums in music of all time.

SPEAKER_03 0:55

It can't be possible. Anyhow, this month it was my pick, Scott Coates, and I chose an album by a French duo called Air. And the album is called Moon Safari. And it's probably three years ago or so that an algorithm when I was listening to kind of chill out music must have popped up than a single. And man, this song just I don't know what it is about it. I just can't get enough of it. I still listen to it multiple times per week, sometimes before meetings, or I kind of want to get relaxed before something. I I find it really interesting. And then I kind of looked a while ago at the album and learned that it's from 1998. It's a debut by the French duos I mentioned. And I'm like, holy crap, I was still living in Calgary. I was in university at that time. And I got thinking back to like what electronic music was around then? Because I wasn't into film music. And I looked. And in 1998, Massive Attack put out Mezzanine, but I don't think I knew Massive Attack. Fat Boy Slim put out You've come a long way, baby. Not the same kind of music, but I definitely had that. And Chemical Brothers Dig Your Own Hole came out the year before that I bought that. But then a couple others, which I've had a bit of exposure to since the band called Boards of Canada from Sweden. No idea why they're called Boards of Canada. And Kruder and Dorfmeister, also similar kind of music, came out that year. So I wasn't into trill then, um, but I've gotten into it since. And this album, yeah, I I mean I I don't want to say too much about it. I'm curious what you guys think. But again, that song I love. So uh let's get it started. Let's throw it over to Alan. I'm curious uh what you thought, Alan.

SPEAKER_00 2:35

Cool, yeah, thanks, Scott. Um yeah, going into this month, I was genuinely excited for your down tempo pick. And that has not always been the case for me. Um, but over the years, and Scott Coates, I really have to give you a lot of credit for this. Your picks have kind of dragged me into this world of like the trip hop and the down tempo stuff. So yeah, when you um when you announced this band, I was actually kind of looking forward to being able to just like carve out a time to sit there and listen to something mellow and atmospheric. And usually with this kind of music, I like to do that in the evenings, typically when I have nothing else really going on. Maybe I have a drink in my hand, maybe I'm taking a hit from the vape pen, you know, getting in the right headspace for music like this to land. Uh so before I even pressed play, I was kind of primed for that. Uh and here's the funny part. When I went to go add Moon Safari to my review playlist, I noticed I actually had some songs from this group Air already saved in various like trip hylists. So um there were no songs from this album on there, but clearly the band themselves isn't new to me. So yeah. Um thanks for bringing air into our collective Zeitgeist here. Uh Moon Safari, man, it's it's just pure vibes. You know, it's smooth and warm, it's kind of got that cool, like late 90s, sophisticated French thing that's kind of hard for me to describe. And the album actually kind of gave me similar vibes to uh the feeling I was trying to describe a few months back during a recoil review. Um I I don't know how else to say it. It's kind of like being part of the secret cool kids club. You're listening to something that not everybody's gonna get, but like if you get it, you really get it. And that's how it feels listening to stuff like this and just chilling and vibing on a quiet night, you know. So um obviously Moon Safari is a lot more accessible than any recoil album, uh, in that it doesn't really demand attention, but it gets it anyway. And I really enjoyed just sitting with the album and like taking in those groovy bass lines and listening to that retro futuristic synthesizer, um you know, and and the way the sound just kind of evolved over over the course of each song. It was really cool. Even for someone who wasn't deeply entrenched into down tempo, I can see why you know an album like this kind of matters. Um, and there's a lot of conversation about air actually influencing some of the late 90s and early 2000s electronic artists. I couldn't find any direct quotes though, which is really funny. Like um, no one was ever like, yeah, air or moon safari was a huge influence on us. But um, given the era, given the scene, it's easy to imagine how Moon Safari might have been part of a creative tide that shaped Daft Punk and Radiohead and the Flaming Lips and even Thievery Corporation. Um yeah, sonically, I think this album is kind of a celebration of the past. They use, you know, techniques like vocoders and phasers, and like I said before, retro futuristic sounding synths. Um, so it instantly kind of marks this album as something from the past, but I don't know. I mean, it's it's just done with taste, right? Like bouncy bass lines. There's in a few songs they had like warm acoustic guitar strums, and everything's kind of layered in with synths and textures, and it's just kind of a rich, inviting soundscape. And I enjoyed returning to it each month. Um, the final track, Le Voyage de Penelope, I butchered that, I'm sure. Um Penelope, it it deserves a special call out because when I was listening to it, I kept hearing this like wubwub sort of sine wavy bass modulation thing, and it caught my attention because it sounds like proto-dubstep, except this album came out in 1998, which is well over a decade before dubstep really blew up. So I'm not gonna sit here and say that air invented that sound, but I definitely had a moment of realization, like, wait, should this exist yet? That wop wop that stuff. Um yeah, so really interesting. I don't know. I don't know if uh if these guys pioneered that or that's just a thing that I I personally didn't get exposed to until much later, but pretty interesting. Um Scott, you mentioned La Femme d'Argent Argent? I don't know how to pronounce that. I have a full French name, you guys. I don't speak any French.

SPEAKER_01 7:41

It's Halane, Halane, what was your family thing?

SPEAKER_00 7:45

Uh they're unhappy with me. Um so La Femme d'Argent, this is the first track on the album, and it is the longest track, clocking in at over seven minutes. And usually for me, when a song is that long, it's either gonna be annoying and repetitive, or like really avant-garde and pretentious, or it'll take me on a journey. And you know, like La Femme d'Arjan is indeed a bit repetitive, but the way they evolved the sound over the course of those seven minutes, it it never really lost my interest, you know. So that's that was pretty cool as well. Um and I'm sure if I listen to this song over and over and over again back to back, it would quickly lose its appeal. But like, you know, mixed in to the context of the album, or even like I've added it to other playlists and stuff, and I'm you know, every time I come back to it, I'm like, yeah, man, this song is great. And I never feel like, you know, okay, finish the song, you're getting boring. So yeah, that's that's a good marker of a song. Uh another one that stood out to me All I Need, uh, that featured a female vocalist named Beth Hirsch, and her vocals are just gorgeous on this on this track. Like, I don't know, everything about it acoustic guitar, catchy bass line, textured synth, and just this lovely female voice. It's all packed with hooks, kept me coming back, definitely a standout track for me. And then we have sexy boy, which I'm guessing is gonna come up a few times in this podcast. The only lyrics I understood were ooh, sexy boy, because everything else is in French, but I never felt like I was missing out on what it meant, because like really it's just a fun, vibey, catchy little song. Um, the verses are kind of treated with this dream-like effect, and then this hard-hitting, repetitive, driving chorus keeps on coming back, and you know, I again like it could get repetitive. I don't think I want to listen to this song more than once over a short time span, but like anytime it came back on, I was like, oh yeah, this song, I like this song. So, yeah, overall, I think Moon Safari is a really solid record. Um I I don't have anything bad to say about any of the tracks. It's just kind of a warm, immersive, and really well-crafted down tempo record that kind of still feels special today, I think. I don't know. Um, it's an interesting case study in how you know, even in a genre built around simplicity and subtlety and atmosphere, an album can still be deeply stylized and like evocative. I don't know. Um I I think it helps define what a good down tempo album can be. Let me throw it over to Scott Gregory.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

Why, thank you. Uh uh Bonjour à tous nos amis uh Francophonie. Uh, this is our first French album. Maybe we're gonna get a new demographic out of this. This is great. Uh I don't listen to a lot of electronica. Uh I had a brief stint, you know, but instrumental, not really. Down tempo wasn't really my thing either. Like the closest for me would have been uh probably some British groups like Pulp or Elastica, which actually come out a couple years before this group, and I think are more uh indicative of where Electronic was in Europe at that point, outside of like some of those maybe underground or this new burgeoning uh less pop version of it. I'm no expert. Uh maybe Darren will fill us in more on the context of that. Uh, I did like Massive Attack 2 though, Scott. And so I'm glad you mentioned them. Uh, I don't listen to a lot of stuff with vocoder in it either, though, right? Even though they use it a lot here. Like for me, a vocoder, I watch like a lot of Mr. Wobbles on like YouTube. That guy's amazing. Look him up if you haven't seen him. Uh, but other than that, you know, like autotune is the closest thing I get to like voice modulation and stuff like that, and that's not on purpose. So um, yeah, um, Alan, you did mention there are some French lyrics on the album. It's only in like two songs, though. And I was actually surprised by that. The vast majority, and maybe that was just so that they could hit more international markets, but the vast majority of this is in English, and um, you know, only about half the album in itself, I think, really has any substantial lyrics on it as well, too. And uh, yeah, for sexy boy, the lyrics aren't really that that important. It's basically like maybe I'll be sexy one day too, not a jerk kind of thing, right? So no deep message that you're missing on Sexy Boy for that one. But you know, I I don't know. I just we we look for on an album for like is there rhyme to it? And I couldn't really find a progression through, but they all flowed seamlessly into each other, right? Like it's a very contiguous album, it plays well together. I didn't feel like it was taking me on a journey uh individually through the elements, but the album itself is like this chilled journey itself, too. Uh, but really, it just goes like from mellow to aggressively mellow, and then like back to mellow, right? Like I'm not seeing a giant range. It's like the many emotions of Spock, right? This album is is basically on that as far as that side. And that's not a knock, that's just an observation. Uh, I found it was really great background music. Like I had to make time to actively listen to this if I wanted to try and dissect it, right? Because I I put it out when working out at the gym. Uh, I had it on at work and it would just fade into the background, right? And it was a nice kind of mood, it was peaceful, but it was closer at that point. If I was doing anything else, it almost became white noise as a point, uh, as opposed to like music, uh, which is kind of cool because it's you know a very mellow album. I think that's an interesting uh effect. And I found it was really interesting to listen to it separately on headphones and then uh on the speakers because it was like bass to the head and bass to the body kind of thing. And I'm with Alan in that there's some really interesting bass lines on this um that caught my attention differently depending on on how I was listening to it. As far as the tracks go, uh, you know, like La Femme d'Argent uh was a really good opening track. I think it set the table, uh, it built the mood. I like that it was like seven minutes because uh it really, especially for someone like me who doesn't listen to a lot of this, it's that moment to kind of get invested in that different approach. Uh it's not well, it is a little poppy, I guess. I'm gonna say it's not very poppy, but it's very, very chill compared to what I listen to otherwise, right? And this just keeps layering, it gets those funky bass lines, and then the pianos in there, uh, and then there's like organs and synth, and it just keeps coming and coming and coming, and you're eventually like really into it, right? And then you get pulled into sexy boy, which I mean it now is on the list with I'm too sexy, sexy and I know it, and sexy back as far as my sexy songs for me to like pump myself up when I'm feeling a little down. Uh, it's really great, it's got this 70s kind of feel to it. Uh, after I've been listening to it for a while, someone was one of the uh reviewers was comparing it to garbage. Uh, and you know, I I mean Butch Vig has got his very signature kind of sound, especially when it comes to garbage, right? And you can you can maybe put it with like number one crush or queer, depending on which part of the song you're looking at, either the more mellow bass lines or the actual lyrics. But I think uh riffing off of something that Alan said earlier, um, to me, when you hear garbage, it's very dated, it's very 90s, you know exactly where it's from in the timeline of music. And I don't get that from this album, even on Sexy Boy, which is probably really close to it. Like, I think you could drop this album in any decade between the 90s, late 90s, I'll say, and now, and it would just fit, and it would probably be different than the vast majority of stuff that it was being filtered around, even the other items that might have been influenced by this along the way. It's very awesome, and maybe that might be me just because I'm not very well traveled in the genre, maybe more, you know, uh chill file. I don't know what you would call your guy yourselves in this people who love this genre, uh, would be able to draw more similarities than me. But you know, it it's great sounding. The the Beth Hirsch tracks were really good as well. Too, I like the lyrics on that, all I need, and you make it easy between the two. They they kind of had the soul-infused quality to them over and above what the other ones had, that I think uh was really nice. It was a little bit of a counterpoint to like the the more chill electronic sound, and it did move more into like a soulful kind of uh mood for me on those ones, which were great. Um, all of the ones like um Kelly Watched the Stars, Remember, New Star in the Sky, and Le Voyage de Penelope, uh, they were all heavy on Vocoder, and I mean to me they sounded like 70s Sergeant Pepper style songs, right? Like, like I've watched that movie several times and I see them as being like a soundtrack to that kind of movie where things are kind of like this surreal kind of 70s mood to it. And and I'm again, I'm not saying that as a knock, but that is maybe the most dated thing, but it's weird because it dates it to the 70s, and this album clearly came out in the 90s. So uh maybe I guess that puts it in the homage category. Um, but finally, the the my last point would be like se mate la. Uh it seems out of place in some ways compared to the other ones. I couldn't really categorize it um along with the other ones, but I enjoyed it. I mean, it has a harmonica on it, and I'm always pro harmonica, but uh, and then the brass in it as well. Too uh, it was good. It was a very chill album. It was out of my wheelhouse, so I appreciate you picking that, Scott, because there were elements of it that uh appealed to me, uh, and but I wouldn't have gone searching for it myself. So overall, I was I was fairly impressed, and I'm still in some ways, you might hear, sorting my feelings out on it as well, too. So yeah. Uh what about you, Darren? What do you think?

SPEAKER_02 18:58

Uh yeah, we share a lot of the same views there, I think. Uh, first of all, I'd never heard of Moon Safari. Uh, this album, like no song even sounded familiar to me. I even clicked on some of their other stuff, and not really, nothing really sounded familiar, so I had no idea who they were. Um, yeah, interesting that it was out in the 90s. I to me, I actually do think it sounds a bit dated that that sound of that time. Um almost right away, like that Moby, uh, that play album, like I was just like, this kind of sounds like in the same time, which it was. Um and Moby to me would be a little more, I guess, timeless. I think you said you thought it felt like it fit in any time. I d I don't know. I I think yes, you could just mix this in with other ambient background chill music, but I think it does sound a little bit. I mean, they were using, I guess, some nice analog synths. I guess if you're a synth uh uh, you know, really into that, like the the the uh synths they use, and I know Alan, you touched on this, uh, are known for being very famous synthesizers and retro, yeah, old equipment analog I mentioned. And that I think that there's a lot of kudos there for them. Uh they really did, you know, we're one of the you know pioneers in this uh style of music, so I think I appreciate that. But in general, I gotta say, I kind of hated it. Like I didn't, it just didn't stick to at all. Like, you know, you're throwing spaghetti at the wall and it was just like it just all bounced off. Nothing really stuck for me. Uh it's great background music, it's what it is. I think, you know, and I get that. Uh, but uh I saw a quote as I was doing some research and listening to some other podcasts, and it said this is like for some listeners, the record feels more like mood mood-setting lounge music than something demanding active listening. And they said they call that sonic wallpaper, and I'm like, that's it, sonic wallpaper. I'm like, that's for me, that's totally what it was. It could just be any of that music. I remember like I can't remember the year, but I remember I bought it on Apple Music when it was 99 cents a track, and I bought some like uh, you know, mixed uh album of just this chill music for just that reason, but it was just unknown artists. I have no idea, I couldn't tell you who any, but it very much reminded me of that, and this is probably at least 15 years ago, so probably not too removed from this era, and it reminded me of that, but I mean I just like that as background stuff, but never really gave it much attention. I've since moved on. I'm more of I guess uh a chill uh hip-hop guy or beats guy than this type of music. Uh I I mean I it's funny because I am an old white guy, but I've always been, I think, more drawn to that kind of soulful, you know, typically black music or chill beats kind of rap or hip hop influence versus kind of some of this stuff that I'll call whiter, uh whiter sounding. I don't know how else to really describe it. But you know, again, a great production. And first of all, I mean it sounds great. I'm not taking these guys are brilliant musicians and uh awesome synth players uh and producers, so amazing. Uh I I did I did like a lot of elements in there, but it just again it just kind of blended in. And and when you uh Scott, you started by mentioning the contemporaries, uh like Massive Attack, and I'm like, yeah, I remember Massive Attack. Like I remember some of their peers that and those are the ones that really uh came to me. And I get they never quite got that mainstream fame, and it's not all about that, so I respect that. But yeah, I just yeah, it just didn't super resonate with me there. Um, you know, I guess uh I'm I'm not that deep on that this kind of music, and I just couldn't, and same as you, like I just really had troubles concentrating on it. It just would just blend in almost immediately. And again, that's I guess the intent of a lot of it. Uh the other part, and I'm not sure if anybody mentioned it yet, but uh they went on to do a lot of film and TV music, which makes sense. And I think you can 100% when you listen to this, you're like, oh, I could see this absolutely being in a television or show or a movie show. Uh they did the Virgin Suicides, I guess that's what they got known for. Uh that was a movie, I think. I guess I have no idea what that is. But uh yeah, but I I think that really set them up and they became even bigger in that genre. So I think a massive influence on that genre. And if you look at uh Trent Reznor now of Nine Inch Nails, who also kind of went that way, uh producing a lot of movie soundtracks. He just did the Neutron one, uh, he's done a ton of that kind of stuff, and it it is very cool and atmospheric. So I bet if you talk to Trent Reznor, he would probably absolutely know who these guys are. So I mean, I appreciate the influence, but just didn't really gel with me personally. But uh Scott, it was your pick. I mean, you knew the one song, but I know you didn't know them well. What what did you think, my friend?

SPEAKER_03 23:53

Yeah, I mean this is what makes this little club we have so interesting is to hear how each of you react to them. And I I find every album we do, I never know how anyone's gonna react to it, right? So yeah, a really mixed bag. And I I again I kind of mentioned at the start, I don't think I heard of chill music in '98, so I wouldn't have been exposed to it. I think Mobine While Not Chill was probably the first real voyage in that direction. And I've mentioned uh again, La Femme de l'Argent, sorry if I say it badly, but I'm glad you all kind of enjoyed that one. And years later, as I've said, I still don't tire of that. I was really surprised when I was listening to this All I Need. I knew this song for at least 20 plus years. About 20 years ago, I did get into chill music and I started buying compilations. And All I Need is on there, and it's a staple on a lot of chill um albums. And to me, it doesn't sound like anything else on the album. Vocoder, two of you mentioned it, Scott and Alan. I've never heard of that device. That's interesting. A Vocorder. Um, you know, this is a real mixed bag to me. And the synthesizers on some songs sound like, you know, a Radio Shack keyboard or something, and and really haven't aged. And that might be intentional, but I think of songs like Sexy Boy, Kelly Watch the Stars, Remember, and those just don't mesh with the other songs at all. They just stick out with this old Radio Shack keyboard. And I guess that's where the album sits for me, is I don't I I didn't find a through line, and I was interested that Scott and Alan, you both seem to feel it was like cohesive, but I didn't feel it was a cohesive album. It just sort of veers off here and there, right? Like there's Talisman, and then you have Kelly Watch the Stars, and then Remember. And I found Remember almost had like Halloween overtones to it, where you make it easy. It's just it's surprising to me how Larid and complex some songs were, and then other ones again just had that Radio Shack keyboard and kind of came out of left field. So in some ways I felt like this kind of is like an era of singles album. Like now it's it's singles. We don't really think of bands in their albums. And in the Beatles early days, it was all singles, but like this strikes me more as a collection of singles than a than a cohesive album again. It's funny, Darren, you mentioned this band went on to do TV work because uh the song Se Met La, sorry, but I I made this note earlier. It reminds me of a song you'd hear at the end of an 80s sitcom as the hero solve the caper and walk into the sunset. And there's almost a bit of Herb Albert in there. Um I like New Star in the Sky, and in many ways they've just gone chill all the way through with tracks like this, rather than that old style keyboard. And uh Alan, I think you called it out. Uh La Voyage de Penelope. Um, it does sort of have a little bit everything in this album in the final track. Like, I don't get excited, but it it to me it is one of the better enders of an album. So I mean I'm really glad we listened to the whole album. I think it has a big part to play in the early years of chill music. It contains a couple uh songs that I love in the chill genre, which I've mentioned already, but the a lot of the songs without Radio Shack synth, and just there's no kind of through line in this album to me didn't make it one that I would play start to finish. And I found myself actually a little bit disappointed where I was expecting to absolutely love it. So why don't we get the scores? Um Alan, back to you. Yeah, thanks.

SPEAKER_00 27:25

I think uh I just looked up the keyboards and the synthesizers they used, and uh one of them is a Cassiotone. I think that's probably the Radio Shack keyboard you're thinking of, because like those are pretty small and cheap sounding. Um yeah. Moon Safari for me ended up one of the being Moon Safari ended up being one of those sleeper albums that surprised me a little bit. Uh and I I'm not sure I would have encountered it organically, because even the other songs from air that I had encountered before had more of a trip hop vibe to it. Um yeah, but I'm I'm glad we listened to this one. Um all of us mentioned that you know it's it's pretty easy to fall into the category of background noise if you're not paying attention. So I do think you kind of have to go into it with intention to listen to it as you know, as music versus background noise. And you know, there's nothing wrong with background noise or sonic wallpaper. I like that. Uh right, because like ambient music is a genre, and Scott, I think a few years back you picked uh Brian Eno Apollo, I think that was right, yeah. You know, and that yeah, that's ambient music. And again, I was really surprised to find that I like that too. Um but you know, the through line for me with with both of those and this this sort of like down tempo thing is the intentionality. If I went into it expecting, you know, to to vibe out on a rock album or something, and then I heard this, I'd be a little disappointed. But you know, going into it knowing that it's gonna be chill, I could set the mood, man. Like just crush a brew ski, hit the vape pen, and just chill. There's a lot going on in the world, and it sometimes you just have to fucking chill. So um, yeah, anyway, I never grew bored of this album, which is really cool. Uh, and it never felt labored to me to get through. And I think you can credit the songwriting for that. You can also credit like the way they approach their songwriting, like the music evolves and this the soundscape changes and shifts over the course of each track. Um, that's the benefit of playing with synthesizers, right? You can you can twist some knobs and modulate the sound, and suddenly it it's a completely different character than it was before. So um, yeah, it's all dreamy, textured. Uh it's the perfect intersection of mood and vibes and craftsmanship and I mean curiosity for me. So yeah, overall a great pick, a fun listen, and a reminder that sometimes music you weren't excited about a few years back ends up being exactly what you need. Scott Gregory. Oh, wait, I need to give numbers. Sorry. Yeah, we we we influence recommend an overall. That's right. Good second review though.

SPEAKER_01 30:34

Your ham sandwich had no ham.

SPEAKER_00 30:37

Yes, sorry. All of that was trying to uh to sum up my scores, which are fours across the board. I think overall it's just a solid album, four out of five. And I would recommend it four out of five. Again, I think someone like this this is an album for anyone who likes electronic music. And if you're in the mood to chill, throw it on. Four out of five, I think it's great. Influence, again, four out of five for me, because a few of the songs from this album ended up on various playlists of mine. So uh yeah, Scott Gregory.

SPEAKER_01 31:14

Thank you. Uh I'm with you in that I never really grew bored of this album, but I also never really ever got excited about this album either, you know. And I don't know if I was supposed to. I think, I mean, that wallpaper comment is pretty there, right? I think this album is like a screwdriver and it's a tool to just chill, and it does what it's supposed to do, right? Like the best screwdriver just screws and screws, and this chill album, you just chill to. And uh never got too high, never got too low, but that's what chill is, right? You're never too high, you're never too low. So uh for me, a lot of it was the novelty of it because uh I'm like Darren, I had no clue who these people were, never heard of them, never I can imagine have seen it on a if you like this, you would also like this, because I don't think I even listen to anything adjacent to this in my normal path through music, right? But that being said, I love what we do, partially because I run into this situation where something that I haven't really listened to, uh or even necessarily listened to in a while, uh suddenly comes into the fold. And I'm like, oh, what do you know? You know, I actually like Brussels sprouts now. Um, and so you know, I'm like, oh, this is actually something that I could sit down and and listen to and have in the background or play while I'm at the gym or have while I'm on at work, and it's going to add value to to what I'm doing. Listening to it individually, I don't think I'm ever gonna just sit there and listen to this album without doing something else. Uh again, only sexy boy is making it onto any of my playlists, and that's because it's right up there with I'm too sexy, sexy, and I know it in sexy back. But um yeah, I mean, I'm I'm gonna give it a three for influence just because there is a novelty factor to it for me that I am gonna go down a bit of a well and listen to some more of this stuff and kind of feel out uh how much this genre is really appealing to me now because it's like, oh, maybe this is a thing for me. Now I'm even older, and maybe this is old people music, and I'm now an old person with old people chill music. Uh I was originally gonna recommend uh three, I'm gonna bump it up to 3.5, partially because Alan recommended higher, and he is much more versed in this style of music than I am. And if he's liking it to that degree, then uh maybe you know it deserves a little nudge up for me. But overall, I'm gonna still give it a three. I think it's worth giving a listen or two uh as well, just so you can know that it exists, right? Like I think anyone that's listening to us is in the same kind of mindset where they just want to have a taste of everything through the musical journey of life. Uh, and this is definitely in its own little bucket. So whether it's got a lot of replayability after that for people, I don't know. But I definitely think you should listen to this at least once, and then mileage may vary after that. What about you, Darren?

SPEAKER_02 34:25

Yeah, uh, yeah, my scores they're gonna come in a bit lower, but I mean, yeah, a great it is a great album, you know, for what it is. But Scott Gregory, you just said it was like a screwdriver, and you're like, oh yeah, and then you put it on and you just chill to it. You just you left that dangling there? No, you just screw to it. I didn't fix that. I didn't fix that. I was like, oh, like that's what you said. I was still ready, I was so ready. I can't believe you just left that dangling. I couldn't, I couldn't let it go. I couldn't let it go. Another band uh that I actually really love that kind of reminded me of is the Gorillas, who just released a new album. Always changing it up, always very atmospheric and cool. Their whole uh combining a cartoonist and an artist and the whole scene. They were just on Saturday Night Live, if you haven't seen it, they uh went and kind of uh brought back Clint Eastwood, one of their very, very classic uh songs from we're going back very close to this time now, probably when they did that um early 2000s. Uh 2001. 2001, thank you. I couldn't remember. I have it, but I don't remember the year. Uh but yeah, uh worth checking out as well if you're if you're into that kind of music. I'm sure you probably know who the gorillas are, but uh amazing, you know. So I I mean, hey, it's it's lounge music, it's it's not offensive, but to me, it just didn't resonate at all. Uh recommend, I mean, uh the way I'm thinking of this one, I think four to five people, it's just gonna bounce off. So I'm a one there. I think if you're that one person that's into this electronica music, or if you're into that, like go definitely check it out for the historical. But otherwise, I think it just falls into that sonic wallpaper. Um, the influence, I'll give it a little more because I do understand um it influenced a lot more. They did more for movies. Uh, another quote I saw, not mine, but it was somebody said uh they influenced a vibe, not a musical movement. And I was like, hmm, that's kind of cool. That's true. Like it wasn't so much that this music was the best and the greatest, and it's not that it doesn't sound dated, it does a bit, but it it kind of started a whole vibe and a whole motion. Uh and I mentioned I had that. I actually looked it up at that album. It was like uh something Paris, and uh all the artists had no idea who they are, they still don't. But I mean that was a whole thing, and we're going back to these early 2000s where there was this whole lounge culture, and it's probably played in uh cocktail lounges to this day, so I respect that. But uh overall, uh, you know, uh influence area 2.5 there, slightly higher. And then overall, I'm coming at two. I mean, uh it to me, it's just a little less than average, to be honest. It's you know, yeah, I could put it on and be fine with it, but it didn't do anything for me. But uh again, but glad we do it and always fun to experience new music. So didn't hate it, just didn't love it. All right, Scott Coates.

SPEAKER_03 37:08

Yeah, we've gotten some good uh sonic wallpaper out of this that's gonna be remembered. Um recommend I'm gonna give it a four. And and now I'm having second thoughts about that and feel like maybe I should have come in lower, because I kind of agree with you, Darren. Like it's it's okay, it's not awesome. But it's look thinking along the lines, if if you wanted to understand the world of chill kind of music and how it evolved, this is probably a pretty good one to throw in there. So I would say, yeah, four. Uh influence, I'm gonna give it a four, but I think it might be there's a caveat there. An influence with how the song that I've mentioned so many times influenced me, and that it's exposed me to a ton of other kind of chill type artists from Europe and whatnot that I'd never heard of before, and I'm very likely to continue down there. But overall, I'm going 2.5, so I'm a little higher than you darn and lower than Scott and Alan, just in that, yeah, I didn't really dig the whole album. Couple songs, but the Casio Radio Shack keyboard, and just to me, there was no straight line through it as an album. Um, yeah, didn't really dig it too much, so I'll give it a 2.5, but but glad we listened to it. So yeah, this is an interesting one. I'm glad we all got something out of it. Um, Alan, what have you picked for March 2026?

SPEAKER_00 38:25

That's right. It's my turn to pick for March. Um, and the album I have chosen for us will take us on a trip back to 1969. We're gonna be exploring At Home, the second studio album from Dutch rock group Shocking Blue. Uh, Scott Coates, you mentioned that you've never heard of them before, and that's fair, but I think you've probably heard of a few of their songs. One of the album's most enduring legacies, and my own introduction to Shocking Blue, is the track Love Buzz, which Nirvana Nirvana famously covered as their debut single. Um, and so that's how I first stumbled onto Shocking Blue and their existence, because I was a Nirvana fanboy forever and always. Um, and I have to admit, the original is better. Very, very different, but that's just my personal choice. Uh anyway, Shocking Blue was formed in The Hague in 1967 by guitarist and songwriter Robbie Van Leeuwen, emerging from a Dutch music scene that heavily leaned on rhythm and blues and psychedelic influences. The band did have a little bit of success with their first album, but uh it wasn't until their female-fronted vocalist Mariska Veres joined in 1968, where she kind of stepped into her role as a commanding front woman. Um, Van Luren had originally brought her in partly to emulate the female-fronted styles of Jefferson Airplane, but Mariska had a really striking voice and she was really hot. So the band finally had the front person they needed. They got all kinds of attention. Um released in September, I guess the end of September of 1969, At Home found success through their interesting blend of psychedelic pop and rock and folk elements and the occasional sitar. Uh while the Dutch pressing famously omitted their number one future hit, Venus, international versions have added it. Scott, you've heard Venus too. Um this song had a second life when Bananorama covered it back in the 80s. And I feel like I recall seeing it used in a women's razor commercial once back in the 90s. Um yeah. So anyway, on a personal note, I finally, after a lot of searching, managed to get my hands on a vinyl version of this one. I'm really excited. I've only spun it once or twice. Um, and it's it was a real trip in every sense of the word. So that's why I thought it would make a great album for us to review. Um, so once again, this month we are diving into the record that introduced Mariska Verez to the world and showcased the band's boldest early experimentation to planting the seeds of influence that would echo decades later through the sweet guitars of Nirvana. So let's drop the needle on Shocking Blues at home and see how it resonates for us today. Yeah. And before we before we go, guys, can I just do a quick and shameless self-promotion?

SPEAKER_02 41:37

Yeah, you just released an album.

SPEAKER_00 41:39

Well, I didn't release an album personally. But yeah, so my friend Aaron Penton is about to release his debut album, and it is called Beautiful Disaster. And uh, you know, it's it's gonna be available on all platforms Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube music, and yours truly is featured on all but one of the tracks as a background vocalist. Um so yeah, I'm I'm really excited for Aaron. It's it's gonna be fun. It's a good album. I think you guys are gonna dig it. It's like, in essence, a rock album, but there's a ton of other style influences, including country and soul and rhythm and blues and stuff. So definitely one of those albums where there's a song for everyone. He's really proud of it. I'm really proud of him, and not for nothing, but I also designed the album art. So please do Aaron and I a favor and check out Beautiful Disaster by Aaron Penton after you're done checking out At Home by Shocking Blue. We'll do it over.

SPEAKER_03 42:49

Beautiful disaster. All right, well, thanks. Uh really enjoyed it. Glad we all got something out of this album. Uh, and I've listened to your pick already, Alan once. Thank you to everyone listening. Come back uh, you know, in early April, and you can hear what uh we thought of Alan's pick. Until then.

SPEAKER_02 43:10

Hey, thanks for joining us on the Sonic Collective, where we've explored the music, the history, and the impact of some of the greatest albums of all time. We hope you've enjoyed our discussions and gained new insights and appreciation for the music you and we love. Join us next month for another exciting album. And until then, keep listening to Great Music.