Jean Michel Jarre - Electronica 2: The Heart of Noise
by Kevin Wierzbicki
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One of the pioneers of the electronic music scene, it has now been 40-years since Jarre first captivated worldwide audiences with his Oxyg�ne album. This follow-up to last year's Electronica 1 finds Jarre once again collaborating with a cornucopia of well-known guests, some of whom are surprising choices. One of those surprises, and this was withheld from the media until right before the album's release, is the appearance of infamous whistle-blower Edward Snowden on a cut called "Exit." The song is a very fast-paced cut; those who are familiar with Snowden's life on the run can imagine an amusing visual of Snowden literally running to a place of political asylum. Snowden, in no way a musician, has only a speaking part about half way through the song where he talks about, what else, freedom of speech. "Here for You" is a dark, New Wave-y synth rocker with guest Gary Numan that sounds like something that could have been on one of Gary's heyday albums, and tailoring the set list to the guest list is the idea here. "What You Want" for example, featuring Peaches, is hip-hop flavored pop while "Swipe to the Right" with Cyndi Lauper is catchy carefree pop and "Brick England" with the Pet Shop Boys is a throbbing dance floor cut. Other guests include Hans Zimmer, Rone, Julia Holter, Jeff Mills, Siriusmo, Yello, the Orb, Christophe and Sebastien Tellier but Jarre does offer a couple of cuts featuring himself only, including a bright and bouncy take on the title cut for the album's closer.
Jean Michel Jarre - Electronica 2: The Heart of Noise
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