In 1998 I was open to all kinds of music. The first release on my record label was a trip hop album by my friends in Bloom. They had played me the demo tapes of the music and I was knocked out by the songs and the sounds they were making and it gave me the impetus to kick-start the label. So while I was still firmly entrenched in loud sixties alternative indie type music I had a leaning towards and a soft spot for dance music. I was running the Lizard lounge which played all kinds of pop music. If it had a good tune and a beat I was into it.
And at the start of 1998 we started hearing about this French band called Air that were striking out in a somewhat different direction. And the names of Burt Bacharach and Serge Gainsbourg came up. And of all people. Little Murders ex and future drummer Mick Barclay told me about this groovy band from France. It was the name on everyones lips that summer so much so that I went down to Mighty Music Machine in Prahran to score myself a copy only to be told they had got a shipment in and had sold out but were expecting another shipment the following week. I couldn't find it anywhere else so I just had to wait.
A few weeks later it was in and I picked up the CD. For waiting the owner also gave me a massive Pulp "This is Hardcore" poster that was too big for him to display. It's now on my kitchen wall. And in retrospect the music of that Pulp album and Moon Safari fitted well. As the summer of early 98 came to a close. the Air album was a constant on my CD player filling up the spaces of my house in Elwood. Early evenings and Stolleys vodka and a French band in the background. Brilliant.
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