*** Air

PREMIERS SYMPTOMES

(Astralwerks)

Until recently, French pop music has been noteworthy for its coy chanteuses, alkie beatniks, and warmed-over prog-rock. In the past few years, though, a nascent French dance movement, led by Laurent Garnier, Daft Punk, Cassius, and Super Discount, has restored Francophilia credibility with a masterful synthesis of Chicago disco thump and crispy Detroit techno. Compared with the four-to-the-floor pounce of these Franctronica compères, however, the dreamy and slow-footed music of Parisian duo Air is, well, au contraire. Less suited to the upbeat disco than to the ennui of a chill-out room, Air's exotica update of early-'70s mood jazz makes them chaise longue lizards -- like a Style Council for the '90s, the duo combine jazz cool with prog-rock and cherry-popping cocktail music. Following the surprising success of Air's full-length debut, Moon Safari, and their feline single "Sexy Boy," Premiers symptômes offers a prequel of sought-after early singles and mixes. "J'ai dormi sous l'eau" imagines Burt Bacharach writing for Herbie Hancock and Jean-Michel Jarre, asking the musical question, "Do you know the way to Champs-Élysées?" And the rest of Premiers symptômes is the sound of Air suavely searching for the answer.

-- Patrick Bryant