2009-08-08
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For their fifth album, Saturdays = Youth, France's M83 conjures up the 1980s in all their candy-colored glory. Even the cover portrait, showcasing models in rolled-sleeve blazers, peg-leg pants, and pastel prom dresses, evokes John Hughes' high-school classics Pretty in Pink and The Breakfast Club. In the liner notes, singer/multi-instrumentalist Anthony Gonzalez thanks the individuals who "made my teenager years so great!" and in "Graveyard Girl," he name-checks Molly Ringwald (he also takes a page from the Air playbook with allusions to stars, rockets, and other notebook-doodle favorites). There's a difference, however, between poaching from the past and recreating it. Despite the abundance of pretty-boy (and girl) vocals, oceanic keyboards, and big electronic beats--recalling '80s icons from Simple Minds to Kate Bush--Saturdays feels more like an affectionate tribute than a cynical carbon copy. Like the couple at the heart of "Kim and Jessie," Gonzalez is "crazy about romance and illusions," but all is not sweetness and light as a few numbers betray a Tim Burton-style Goth influence, which helps to alleviate any potential sugar shock. Saturdays = Youth is a precious gift from a secret admirer, wrapped in ambience and sealed with a blood-red kiss. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
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By C. Carlson (MoHill)
One of my favorite records of all time. I was taken back to my youth and loved every second of it. I adore this album
By Davide Marani (Italy)
...probably I would have never bought it by the cover.. sometimes I did it.. you know.. cover for a cd is important!... should give you an idea of what you're gonna listen to...
well, I found out of these guys as opening act for Depeche Mode, and I can tell I've been really impressed!!
I began to see DM live in 1986 and I can say I never did like their opening act... these were the first I searched for when I got back home from the gig... and the search was worth itself...
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I can say that sometimes their melodies are even too simple, but they catch you, maybe for that reason too.. It sounds oldish... vintage synths... nothing new maybe or something alredy heard... but THIS album especially (because I bought the entire discography) is really flawless, from the first track, leading to one of their singles "Kim & Jassie" which became one of my favourites, also because I clearly recalled it from the gig!... the silliness and at-the-same-time majesty of the last trip.. sorry :-) last track: 10 minutes of 2 chords pad in loop....
well... lyrics are just a little bit creepy but it's part of the game!
....
Don't know if you'll like it or not, BUT, to me, it's one of those cds that it's NOT listened once and then put away in a cd tower...
BUY IT.. it's worth...
By Lazerize (Neptune)
On their fourth full-length release "Saturdays=Youth", M83 deliver is a haunting nostalgic ode to the 80's. More specifically, a nod to new wave pop. Like The Cocteau Twins, Kate Bush and The Simple Minds, M83 have crafted sparkling synth pop songs that light up the sky. They demonstrate that a simple and good formula never stops working. Filled with their trademark shoegaze-esque washes of fuzzy guitar as well, M83 threaten to lose you in a foggy landscape of noise. "Kim & Jessie" evokes all of the synth soaked new wave that filled the soundtracks of John Hughes' films. "Skin of the Night" sounds like The Cocteau Twins in all their atmospheric brilliance - showcasing a collaboration of neon synths, pounding bass, and modulated vocals. Equally stunning, ethereal, and eerie, "Coleurs" is vintage new wave dance revitalized. Flashy synth lines soak the atmosphere over smoothly textured dance beats. "Up" is vintage Kate Bush, duplicating the essence of her music in a gorgeous homage. "We Own The Sky" is a vivid, electro-fused, cloud of blissed out synths and vocal harmonies. The atmosphere is cloaked in choking fog, leaving the whole album to feel like a dream. It also adds to the flashback-nature of the songs and gives it a mysterious depth. "Saturdays=Youth" is a flashback to a different era, no doubt lost forever but re-captured to live over and over again.
By Greg Kinne (midwest)
As a kid growing up in the 80's, I was never fond of the majority of Top 40 music of that era. I found the sound to be too produced and the artists were hard to take as they pranced and preened on MTV. Bunch of fops, I thought. It's ironic that the music that I rejected twenty years ago as a kid has influenced a multitude of artists that incorporate these styles into something that I now find palatable. Who knows, maybe a little nostalgia and maturity isn't such a bad thing.
One artist, M83 (Anthony Gonzalez) has taken those sounds and the feelings of that era and has created an excellent album, `Saturdays=Youth' that could be best described as a soundtrack to a lost John Hughes film. M83 has crafted an album full of whooshing synths and brittle production easily replicating the feel of an 80's production. This album is no simple mimicry though, because it has some great songs that accompany the production. The instrumental "Couleurs" could have been a huge dance hit accompanying a Beverly Hills Cop scene. "Skin Of the Night" is evocative of "Cry Little Sister" from The Lost Boys.
Although this album is drenched in 80's synth pop, it also contains some of the most solid songs that M83 has written. `Saturdays=Youth' is an album that rewards on multiple listens as it illuminates the past and wanders towards the future.
By Chase Stout
This album is like roasting a marshmallow. Some tracks(We Own the Sky, Kim & Jesse) are a perfect golden brown and delicious. Others(You, Appearing; Couleurs) are a little burnt, but still good. Thens there's the tracks(Midnight Souls Still Remain, Skin of the Night) you never get to enjoy because it rains and your camp fire goes out before you have a chance to roast your tasty treat. A little less atmosphere in some tracks would have been nice. I don't want 4 1/2 minutes of electro-lush before the song starts. But, overall, a very decent record.
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