M83 Pictures

Breaking: M83

Who: Ambient shoegaze-pop group M83 is the project of 28-year-old France-based musician Anthony Gonzalez. Up through 2005, Gonzalez collaborated with his pal Nicolas Fromageau, crafting spaced-out synth-powered compositions. But when the two mutually split, Gonzalez went pop, releasing last year’s excellent, slow-growing album Saturdays=Youth. That disc most recently caught the ears of the Kings of Leon and the Killers, who both asked Gonzalez (plus his backing band) to open up their string of recent U.S. arena dates. Sounds Like: M83’s tunes range from astral cinematic soundscapes to full-blown club-ready jams. On his latest record, Gonzalez ties those disparate genres together by paying tribute to 1980s pop culture, when the Thompson Twins, Talk Talk and John Hughes’ movies ruled. (That red-headed girl on cover of Saturdays=Youth? Total dead-ringer for Molly Ringwald.) Cuts like “Graveyard Girl” (about a lonely goth chick who feels like she’s too big of a loser to ever get kissed) and “Kim and Jessie” (about two best friends who may or may not have Sapphic tendencies) are warm, nostalgic odes to high-school adolescence. “I wanted to try new things,” says Gonzalez about his direction on the LP. “It was time to do something more pop and less serious. I wanted to be less dramatic than on my previous albums. My other albums are like movie soundtracks, where you had to listen from the start to the end. With this one, you can love two or three songs on the album and maybe not care for the other ones.” Vital Stats: • Before forming M83, Gonzalez used to work in the promotions department of a small, independent French record label. But he found it hard to work on music while holding down a day-job — not to mention keep up with his heavy partying habit around Paris’ club scene. “I had so much fun,” says Gonzalez. “I would see a show every night and I was partying all the time. But there were too many distractions. I was useless.” • M83 teamed up with director Eva Husson to

Published: 2009-01-28 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News, Breaking

Single Minded: Mariah Carey, Thrice, M83 and More

Every Tuesday Single Minded highlights new tracks hitting stores (or the Web) this week. On Fridays, come back for rarities, remixes, mash-ups and more. Mariah Carey, “Bye Bye” [Official] Carey says E=MC² is a sequel to 2005’s Emancipation of Mimi. We can’t get the acronym to work out, either, but it’s no matter: This E is almost as charming as the last one. Exhibit A: this bright gospel number in which Mimi bids a heartfelt farewell to friends who have left this world and have gone somewhere better. Frightened Rabbit, “The Modern Leper” [MySpace] This Scottish quartet describes the delicate art of getting dumped and, in the process, creates one of the year’s best rock records. By the time the whole band comes charging in on the chorus, your whole body will be made of gooseflesh. Thrice, “Broken Lungs” [MySpace] This is the final installment in Thrice’s series of concept albums about the four elements. But wait! Come back! The first part might have been a dud, but “Broken Lungs” proves the California group is finding their way back: Coils of guitar expand and contract slowly as Dustin Kensrue’s weatherbeaten tenor voices the great existential questions — where did we come from, where are we going and what possessed us to write concept albums about earth, wind, fire and water? M83, “Graveyard Girl” [Pitchfork.tv] An early frontrunner for single of the year, this new wave chestnut by French one-man band M83 is three minutes of raw teenage pain in search of a John Hughes movie. By the time we get to the spoken word passage, where the girl of the title announces, “I’m fifteen years old, and I feel it’s already too late to live,” we’re in the car and halfway to Duckie’s house, tears streaming down our face. Children of Bodom, “Hellhounds on My Trail” [MySpace] So, a few quick things you should know about Children of

Published: 2008-04-15 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Single Minded