Elliott's Eccentricities- Raconte-Moi Une Histoire by M83

It is time for another Eccentricity and the voices in my head keep saying “Raconte-Moi Une Histoire”, or as the English say, “tell me a story”. I asked the voices in my head why they were suddenly French and they replied by calling me a stupid American. So in the spirit of appeasing the insane Frenchmen that are currently residing somewhere in my noggin, A story it is!

Last fall I was sitting in Steve’s room when he was deciding what album he was going to pick for his album of the year. He then put on M83’s Hurry Up We’re Dreaming (he ended up picking it as long time readers are aware). I was busy doing work and half listening as I do most albums when I first listen to them, when suddenly I put everything down and started jamming out. I couldn’t explain it, I was suddenly in love with this French electronic band that I had never heard before. Yes, Raconte-Moi Une Histoire made me fall in love with M83. I think the song also made all the voices in my head French…

Raconte-Moi Une Autre Histoire, the voices demand. Apparently that story sucked so I will give it a second go. A few weeks later, M83 announced that they were going to be playing at Union Transfer in May! Yet just as my heart entered the stratosphere it came crashing down. The show sold out in 8 minutes… I was crushed. Yet months later they announced that they would be extending their tour, and returning to Philly in August! This time I waited online and sniped tickets for the whole FoaL team. I really can’t wait. Ok, the Frenchmen are appeased and I can start to talk about some jams. (Sorry about the video, couldn't find a better one).

On the eccentricity scale ranging from 1 to 10
1- I hear voices in my head
10- I head French voices in my head
Raconte-Moi Une Histoire - 3/10

Raconte-Moi Une Histoire, or as I like to call it, the frog song, is the exact opposite of the stories above; it doesn’t suck. The song is a beautiful crescendo. It starts off really simple, just some snapping and synth. Then every few measures a new section of the song comes in. Slowly these sections build on each other, former something greater than their individual parts. By doing this, M83 is able to slowly build up a mood that fits so perfectly with the lyrics. Many electronic have done the slowly adding layers thing, but not like this and not to this effect. It is something worth listening to.

On top of this wonderful multi-layer dip of musical genius, is a story that is too adorable to describe. Well, I will do my best. I would say that it is absolutely adorable in every way possible; it is like a box of puppies playing tug of war against a cornucopia filled with kittens while a baby watches and giggles. I mean common, “and everything looks like a giant cupcake”? That is adorable. “It’s very funny to be a frog”? Burger Meister Meister Burger just shed a tear. “The biggest group of friends the world has ever seen, jumping and laughing forever”? I think I just heard Stalin say “dawwwww…” in his grave…

The climax of the song happens right as the story ends, the slow pulsing joy that was built up underneath the child’s voice wells up and takes over. The music fills up my entire being and displaces everything negative. I listen to this song and I feel like a little kid, no matter what. The world is suddenly filled with wonder and magic again. This goes on for a while until it suddenly drops out in a very fitting, cathartic end. This end peaceful feeling is continued in the next song with the lulling and comfortable sound of a train. It is such a great way to transition out of a song and is my favorite part of the album.

So I hope you listen to this song and take it to heart. Be a bit more of a kid and enjoy a bit more of the wonder that is so easily forgotten in the business of life. We could all use a bit of pretending to be a frog. Why not form the greatest group of friends the world has ever known, all it takes is a bit of compassion. And then the world would be a slightly less scary, slightly more wonderful place to live.

It would great right?

Track of the Moment-Midnight City by M83

Its strange. It has been a while since I last listened to Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, the masterpiece by electronic outfit M83 led by Anthony Gonzalez, an album that I very much enjoyed from last year. Perhaps it is the length, sure its only a little over an hour, but having to listen to music mostly on bus rides and the hour and five minutes between when I wake up and when I have to be at work makes things a little difficult. Nevertheless, after hear Midnight City again, the unbelievable single from that album it still sparkles like the day the album was released. What made that track so good in the first place was its timelessness, much like a few other contemporary artists, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti and Holy Ghost!, Midnight City gathers so heavily from the sound of the 80’s, or rather what a person might think music would sound like in a dream about the 80’s. The synth riff right at the beginning of the track is so starkly different than anything that would be heard during electronic 80’s music, but every other piece, the drums, the sax solo at the end, and the vocals are pure vintage. The album, Hurry Up, We're Dreaming was pick of the year last year, he can read my take on it here

Album Pick of the Year

This year it was tough to pick out one album that stood out as “favorite album of the year”. This is simply because of the multitude of strong releases by some of my favorite indie acts, which in retrospect is probably the kind of problem that you want to have. Among these honorable mentions are albums by tUnE-yARDs, and St. Vincent, both of whom I’ve seen live (they both put on SPECTACULAR shows) and Atlas Sound and Girls, both of whom I’ve bought tickets to see in December and January, and while I love all four of those acts, and all four of the wonderful albums they each have put out in this past year, my “favorite album of the year” award has to go to the double album “Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming” by M83.

Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming is difficult to categorize, for on the one hand it is eclectic, mixing eighties sounding drum beats, bass licks, saxophones and vocal lines with  modern electric noises and lyrics, and on the other hand because it is like nothing I’ve ever heard before. The easiest genre to place this album in would be 80’s revival electronic, label it as “sort of like Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti” (who I love) and be done with it, but that label doesn’t quite do the band or the album justice. With shrill electric noises over smooth familiar beats with thrown in guitar and soothing vocal lines this album is much more than that, it is its own.

One of the things that will instantly turn me away from an electronic album/band like M83 are repetitive or non-attention grabbing riffs. There is nothing worse than sitting down for an electronic album, most of which are only 30-40 minutes long and not being able to listen to the whole thing because I get bored. Now to undertake listening to an album in this genre that is 79 minutes seemed daunting at first, but before I knew it the album was done and I was the one left dreaming. Particular tracks that stand out are the single Midnight City, which I will get to in a minute, its B-side counterpart New Map, and one of the closing tracks Steve McQueen. As the name of the album suggests, the songs are ephemeral, vanishing into air before the listener can fully digest them, leaving only a haze a little like the skid marks the Delorean in Back to the Future leaves behind, but these three tracks in particular stand out, sort of like that one part of a dream that you can remember. The reason I said I would get back to Midnight City is because a week after I heard that single it appeared in a Victoria’s Secret commercial. One week. And do I blame them? No. Normally I’m against using licensed songs in TV commercials as a way to make money and promote a band, but I can understand why they did it. M83 while gaining popularity in Europe, in particular their country of origin France have gained little popularity in the US. This is their sixth album after all, and I’ll be damned if I’d heard of them before this. And besides the song fits with the commercial, there is something subtly sexual about it which, as Sigmund Fraud would tell you, is a key component of every dream. It was just a shock to hear after only a week of being released.

Anyway, the album on the whole is a gem, sparkling from beginning to end. It listens a bit like looking through a window, peering into the private life of someone you’ve never met, never will meet, and being shown the innermost workings of their minds via pop songs. And hopefully its gives the band some sticking power here in the states. We could use a little M83 right now here in the states, and they better hurry up.