Air
With a sensual, atmospheric sound inspired by Burt Bacharach and Brian Wilson as well as disco, synthesizer maestros Tomita , Jean-Michel Jarre , and Vangelis , new wave, and obscure Italian film soundtracks, Air may have been outliers in the late-'90s electronica boom, but they became one of the most influential electronic acts of the 2000s and beyond. Despite gaining quick entrance into the dance community (through releases for Source and Mo' Wax), Air 's 1998 debut album, Moon Safari , charted a light -- well, airy -- course along soundscapes composed with melody lines by Moog and Rhodes, not Roland and Yamaha. The presence of several female vocalists, an equipment list whose number of pieces stretched into the dozens, and a Baroque tuba solo on one track -- all of this conspired to make Air more of a happening in the living room than the dancefloor. Though Nicolas Godin and...