AIR Vinyl & CDs

Review: When Air's Moon Safari first landed on terra firma in 1997, it was a revelation that flipped the French touch boom on its head. Swapping discoid thrust for sensual lounge, Nicolas Jean Godin and Jean-Benoit Dunckel kept a certain sophisticated nostalgia in their sound which tracked with their compatriots, but they absolutely weaved their own spell with it. The hits caught on for good reason, from the dirty grind of 'Sexy Boy' to the swooning romanticism of 'All I Need' featuring Beth Hirsch on vocals, but the moments in between merely added to the spectacle, lodging Air in the hearts and minds of a whole generation. This special anniversary edition adds a second disc of B-sides, remixes and session tracks, plus a Blu-ray disc featuring the iconic videos and a documentary from the Moon Safari era.

Review: Vegyn flips Moon Safari inside out, running Air's 1998 debut through his distinct anoxia of gauzy electronics and fleet rhythm. After tide blurring work with Frank Ocean and Travis Scott, Joe Thornalley approaches the source material not as a sacred object, but as raw clay to reshape, stretching melodies, reframing grooves, twisting moods. It's a full-album rework, track by track, with the French duo's ambient-pop blueprint softened and warped into something ghostlier and unstabler. Visuals get a similar rethink: original Mike Mills artwork is reinterpreted by Vegyn with Noah Baker. This version lands as a limited blue vinyl for Record Store Day - not a nostalgia trip, but a sideways step into a parallel listening experience.

Review: British producer Joe Thornalley aka Vegyn brings forward-facing, abrupt and clippy stylishness to Air's 1998 debut album Moon Safari, in a daring reimagining crossing both audio and English Channels. Vegyn's desultory dynamics prove a toothy match for Air's comparatively amniotic French downtempo pop sound, though we *can* hear the ways in which Vegyn might've always somewhat taken after Air's production, his dream-rap sound lent well John Glacier's album released not long ago. Of course, 'Sexy Boy', 'All I Need', and 'La Femme d'Argent' are synonymous with the vibe of an era, and Vegyn's LP-remix (an increasingly popular format in 2015) honours Air's e-steamed essence, reconditioning their turn-of-the-digital vibe in jerkier retrospective tones.