M83 News

When the Killers started out, they wanted to raise a ruckus like their favorite rock stars did on the road: Frontman Brandon Flowers heard of the legendary exploits of Led Zeppelin and David Bowie and wanted to emulate those experiences.

IT'S BEEN a tough couple of years for James Chapman. Under his stage name Maps he was the darling of the 2007 Mercury Prize.

Air, 'Love 2 *** 1 2 A decade ago, when Air was delivering its extraordinary debut, "Moon Safari," the notion of French pop was a punch line.

Authorities in South Carolina say fresh interviews from a South Carolina cold case squad and a bloody palm print have helped solve a killing nearly four years ago.

Soundtrackfilter: Please recommend to me mostly-instrumental, sometimes dark, contemplative soundtrack albums in the vein of Michael Andrews' work for Donnie Darko or Robin Guthrie and Harold Budd's soundtrack for Mysterious Skin .

M83 are tired. Or at least the man behind the dreamy electronic band, Anthony Gonzalez, is.

Just as punk rock embraced the stripped-down, authentic aesthetic of rock and roll from a bygone era, the current wave of electronic-pop songwriters have embraced the analog-synth sensibilities of early-'80s new-wave and electro-post-punk acts.

Anthony Gonzalez, the only permanent M83 band member. Photo: Courtesy Israeli fans of French electronic rock artist M83 were treated to a tranquil display of synths, drones and occasional dance beats at a fun, chilled-out show Wednesday night at the Barby Club in Tel Aviv.

The Moscow Times>> Issue 4179>> Arts & Ideas If popular rock music works on the principle that certain eras just get recycled every couple decades, then the '80s has been hanging on for dear life in the past few years, apparently reluctant to let the '90s get its turn.

Digging into M83's past, the new webOS Palm Pre smartphone ad gets its soundtrack from a section of Before The Dawn Heals Us closer "Lower Your Eyelids To Die With The Sun." It was directed by Tarsem and features 1000+ orange-clad martial arts folks choreographed by Sun Yupeng in a large green field backed by misty mountains.

If your local DVD rental outlet has recently had a run on those John Hughes 1980s teen angst classic films like Pretty in Pink and The Breakfast Club , it might by Anthony Gonzalez's fault.

They're a band gleaned from the remains of two off-the-map synth groups that draws directly from both a bygone era of shoegaze and so many hackneyed New Age acts littering the club circuit today.

M83's earlier albums delved into subdued electronic shoegaze that earned comparisons with The Cure, My Bloody Valentine and Cocteau Twins.

To be a musician is to have a scarred adolescence. Formative years are spent as spitball magnets afflicted with a social leprosy that repels everyone but the most ardent lunch-money extortionists.

Dan Deacon has two distinct lenses through which he can be viewed: the perpetual child genius, looking to recreate the rapture of some Nintendo loop he heard when he was five, and the impressive electronic composer, creating ecstatic moments with junky synths and solid training.

These are bands we especially dig, not full listings. For those, please see "Concerts and Clubs". For more top shows featuring local acts, please see "Nightgeist". Wednesday, May 20 PLAN A: New York Dolls @ Belly Up Tavern .

Anthony Gonzalez has a John Hughes fixation - specifically on the director's popular Eighties movies where synthpop/alternative music played an integral role.

Cinma Vrit M83's Anthony Gonzalez brings his love of the silver screen to his music and, soon, actual screens On their self-titled debut and 2003's breakthrough Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts , the French duo M83 meticulously created a vibrant universe of rushing post-rock, epic shoegaze and cosmic electronica.

Saskatoon noisemaker Maybe Smith 's fifth full-length is a slow burner. The follow-up to 2007's Animals & Architects is filled with frantic indie pop, layered with chaotic electronic sounds, static and fuzz that take a while to decipher.

Rolling Stone chose local electronic-pop crew Paper Route as one of its "breaking" artists, dubbing the band's brand-new major-label debut Absence a collection of "melodic, emotional synth-rock that pulses with an ambient undercurrent reminiscent of vintage Boards of Canada or Aphex Twin " and the band "America's answer to symphonic-pop ...