WERS 88.9 fm Performance Wrap-Ups: M83

April 12, 2005

M83 has undergone a significant transformation between their stunning release Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts and their latest record, Before The Dawn Heals Us. Originally comprised of two members, Before The Dawn Heals Us is the first record under the M83 moniker where original member Anthony Gonzalez has recorded alone. Gonzalez, who lives in Antibes, France, signed to Mute records in 2004, where M83 would release Dead Cities to critical acclaim.

Creating a space where electonica and rock work as a cohesive whole, Dead Cities was a promise of something bigger.

With the release of Before The Dawn Heals Us, Gonzalez has provided a clearer vision of what was hinted at in Dead Cities, a sweeping album blending the multiple genres of electronica with thunderous rock and roll.

This is your first record as M83 alone, was the process different?

Not really, I was composing the other albums alone, it’s just different with Nick being gone, he was such a great guitarist and I got great inspiration from him for the music.

With Before The Dawn Heals Us, you’ve created an interesting musical space somewhere between Sigur Ros and the dancefloor, how do you see your sound now?

I was definitely going for a more acoustic / electric mix here, and there’s more a mix of influences from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. I love the prog rock of the 70’s, keyboards of the 80’s and guitar work of the 90’s, so I wanted to fit it all in.

There’s a real sense of a theme or concept with Before The Dawn Heals Us with song titles like “Don’t Save Us From The Flames”, “Farewell/Goodbye”, and “Let Men Burn Stars”, can you give us some more insight?

Well, I really wanted a record built like a movie. There’s a beginning, middle and end I feel, a real story with unity. It’s definitely a concept album. The listener gets to put whatever they want into the story and make it their own.

After the North American tour, what’s next?

We’re headed back to Europe for a tour with Moby, where we’ll be opening. Then plenty of summer festivals all over Europe.

You can find out more about M83 at: www.ilovem83.com.

LIVE REVIEW: M83 and Ulrich Schnauss
PROGRAM: Left End and Revolutions
VENUE: Paradise Rock Club
April 12th, 2005

By Jinnie Lee

In this review of the M83 and Ulrich Schnauss show, I can write about how I felt a deep connection with each of the performers, how the lights created perfect ambience, how the energy of the audience resonated throughout the club, and on and on about how the show was a moment of a lifetime.

But I am not a good liar. In fact, I usually hate going to shows (for a number of reasons but an operative one having considerable “waiting” periods). So when I say that M83 and Ulrich Schnauss are two artists that are very much worth seeing live, it is equivalent to me telling you to get rid of that heinous oversized Hawaiian print shirt from high school—I mean it.

An endearing quality of working at an independently-run radio station like WERS is that there is constant exposure to new music, the majority of which is not circulating in the mainstream market. Such is the case with both M83 and Ulrich Schnauss, two artists whom I have just discovered a mere month ago (and by “discovered” I mean I have “heard of but never listened to their music in my life”). That all changed last night when I got to experience their music standing in the pit center stage at the Paradise Rock Club.

Already playing well into his set was Ulrich Schnauss when I arrived a bit tardy. Schnauss was sitting off to the side of the stage in front of his keyboard that somehow connected to his Apple G4 Powerbook that I suppose controlled what beats were playing. As someone who has no sound knowledge of electronic music and how it works, all I can say is what a real pleasure it was to see Schnauss himself, as an organic performer aside from his electronic addendums. Schnauss imbibed himself into his keyboard; his fingers moved with dexterity and ease like a tarantula sneaking along the keys. There was an obvious electrical surge somehow all connected from the pulsating beats from Schnauss’ laptop to his brisk hands that glided across his keyboard, and I am not lying when I say I was mesmerized. I am the impatient girl who runs up escalators, and here I was, standing still listening to Schnauss playing pieces that ran for 10 minutes at a time. Immediately after Schnauss played his last chord on his final piece for the evening, he abruptly got up from his chair and exited the stage as the remaining echoes soaked into the audience.

Up after Schnauss were the French boys of M83. They, too, were a delight to watch. A much different dynamic than Schnauss with a heavier and louder sound, M83 was on-stage primarily to perform. They did not banter and crack jokes in between songs, nor did they feel the need to stare out into the crowd and acknowledge themselves and the audience. M83 got “down to business” (for lack of better wordage) and did their thing, being completely immersed in their music and protruding their energetic force through their instruments. The guitarist had three guitars that he had used during the show. Two were played upright while the third was laid flat on a table where he hunched over and played horizontally. The drummer was raised on a wooden platform that I could not believe did not crack down the middle because he was playing his drums with incredible vivacity. M83 was not like every other band that performs in straight-shot show with band members stationed in their territory of the stage. Overall, M83 was much too of a reticent band for them to be such effervescent performers. But that was the charm of the band that I admired. You could not get that from just listening to their album, which is the ultimate lesson I had learned last night about the motivation of seeing live performances.

So WERS certainly has been on a roll with presenting some of its favorite featured artists at some of Boston’s best live venues. First, it was Medeski, Martin and Wood at the Avalon. Then, it was The New Deal at the Middle East Night Club. And with M83 and Ulrich Schnauss just recently added to our growing list of presented shows, I guess there is room for me to grow an appreciation for live performances.

-Joshua Jenkins