M83: Oceans Niagra

A new single from M83, with details of a new album on the way and due for release in March. 

The new song, Oceans Niagra, sees Anthony Gonzalez, the prime mover of M83, collaborating with his brother film maker Yann Gonzalez for the video.

Anthony Gonzalez said: "I wanted this record to be very impactful live." 

"The idea was to come back with something closer to the energy of Before The Dawn Heals Us. The combination of guitars and synths is always in my music, but it’s maybe more present on this new record than on the previous ones."

2011's Hurry Up, We're Dreaming double album was a major commercial and artistic breakthough for M83, the track Midnight City establilshing the band's international reputation. They'd go on to make the soundtrack for the Tom Cruise movie Oblivion, and their work would feature on other films and TV productions.

The new album, entitled Fantasy, is his first album since DSVII, which was released in 2019. The album is due on March 17, as a double vinyl or CD.

M83 has confirmed tour dates in North America from April until the end of May.

M83: Moonchild

Another older track by M83 getting another moment in the sun, with a new video for the track
Moonchild emerging.

The video marks the latest phase of the reissue campaign that saw new editions of their first three  albums M83, Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts and Before The Dawn Heals Us.

Moonchild comes from Before The Dawn Heals Us, a collection originally released in January 2005.
It also featured the tracks Lower Your Eyelids To Die With The Sun and In The Cold I'm Standing , both of which have been featured in recent videos.

On the M83 YouTube channel, Anthony Gonzalez said: "Before the Dawn Heals Us’ is still my favorite… There's something very special about it.

"I remember listening back to it for the first time with my manager at the end of the session, and it was like, “Yeah, that's cool. I'm going to sleep well tonight.”

While it may be some time since we've seen a new album from M83, there's little doubt that their back catalogue is packed full of classic material.

M83: Lower Your Eyelids To Die With The Sun

A new video for an old track by M83, coming ahead of the re-issue of three of their early albums next week.

Lower Your Eyelids To Die With The Sun comes from their Before the Dawn Heals Us album, which was originally released in 2005.

Before the Dawn Heals Us, Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts from 2003  and their M83 debut album from 2001 are re-released next week.

Next month also sees two EPs of remixes and bonus material from the early albums.

Those who came to the band following the success of 2011's Hurry Up, We're Dreaming will find much to love in these earlier albums, their epic sound already present, cinematic in the best possible way.

M83 have gone on to Grammy nominations, blockbuster soundtracks and platinum sales, but these three albums show where it all started, and it started in a very fine way indeed.

M83: Claudia Lewis video

A new video has emerged for the M83 track Claudia Lewis, another song that featured on their 2011 Hurry Up we're Dreaming collection.

The video, directed by Bryce Dallas Howard, is the latest to come out as part of MTV's Supervideos series.

The idea of the Supervideos was to bring directors and actors together to make music videos. While not the 'official' videos by the acts involved, they provide an interesting alternative visual take on the song.

Previous videos have included LCD Soundsystem's Pow Wow directed by Training Day writer David Ayer and starring Anna Kendrick, best known for her part in the George Clooney movie Up in the Air that saw her get an Oscar nomination.

The director of the new M83 clip is Bryce Dallas Howard, the daughter of Oscar winning director Ron Howard. She's established herself as an actor and director in her own right

The actress that features in the video is Lily Collins, daughter of former Genesis drummer and 80s solo star Phil Collins.

M83 have of course released the soundtrack to the Tom Cruise movie Oblivion since their last full album, but the new video certainly serves as a reminder that we could certainly be doing with some new material from M83 before too long.

Grammy Awards - M83: Wait

With the details of the shortlist for this year's Grammy Awards released, it's encouraging to see some French artists in the running.

True, there are 80 categories so statistically it would be more of a surprise if there weren't any, but yet again its good to see some French acts getting recognition in the US.

Hurry Up, We're Dreaming by M83 gets a nomination in the Best Alternative Music Album, up against the likes of Bjork and Tom Waites, not to mention Fiona Apple and Gotye.

Amadou & Mariam get a nomination in the Best World music category for the Folila album. Woodkid get a nomination for best short form video for Run Boy Run.

There are also nominations in the best solo classical vocal category for Nathalie Dessay and in the Best original film soundtrack for Ludovic Bource for The Artist.

Meanwhile, another track by M83 gets an official music video. This time its the track Wait that gets the bog screen attention.

It's a suitably cosmic affair for a band that is, after all, named after an astronomical object listed by 18th century French astronomer Charles Messier, the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy. The music is as epic as it always was, and the 2001: A Space Odyssey style of the video are certainly appropriate.

It's another track from their sixth album Hurry up We're Dreaming, an album that even so long after its original release continues to win over critics and new fans alike.

The winners of the Grammy Awards will be announced at the award ceremony on February 10.

M83: My Tears Becoming a Sea - Rust and Bone

A song that's gained a renewed life after its appearance in the UK trailer for the film Rust and Bone.

My Tears are becoming a sea featured on the M83 album Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, and album that's secured a place as one of the classic albums of the last few years.

The film debuted at Cannes earlier this year, and while not a winner of the palme d'or, it gota positive critical reaction, and more recently won the Best Film award at the BFI London Film festival.

Some suggest the film could earn Marion Cotillard her second Oscar award.

The soundtrack for the flim was composed by Alexandre Desplat, who previously worked on Cotillard's earlier film Coco Before Chanel, and with Rust and Bone director Jacques Audiard on the films A Prophet, A Self Made Hero, Read My Lips and The Beat That My Heart Skipped.

Desplat's film soundtrack career also included work on Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Queen, Twilight: New Moon and both Harry Potter and the Deathley Hallows movies. He's been nominated for an Oscar four times and won two César awards as well as a Golden Globe and a Bafta.

Bill Clinton playe M83 mash-up

Not usually a fan of mash ups, but occasionally they do work quite well. Here's one, that I reckon works quite well on account of its simplicity.

M83's Midnight City has a sax solo. M83 are big in the USA. The former president Bill Clinton plays sax.

So it's as simple as that, but it brought a smile to my face.

Maybe a reflection on how big M83 are in America, maybe a nod to the inherently cheesy nature of the sax solo. Whatever.

Can we have Obama dropping some beats with Sexion d'Assaut next?

M83: Reunion

The video finally surfaces for M83's new single Reunion, the second track to be released as a single from last year's Hurry up, we're dreaming album.

I featured M83 just the other day, but given that they are very much at the forefront of what's happening in French music at the moment, I'm sure I can be forgiven.

The video will certainly get the song some more attention, and it will probably embed itself into the public's ear every bit as much as its predecessor Midnight City.

The album's certainly getting the kind of growing attention that is quite rare these days, when record companies just seem to aim for the biggest sales as quickly as possible. While it's already been a huge seller, I reckon even more people will be won over by the charms of M83 on the strength of this track.

I wonder what products it will be used to advertise and what TV events it will  promote? It's certainly got that epic feeling that TV producers of events like the Olympics or the Euro 2012 football will like. I'm sure Nokia mobile phones are already getting their campaign together given that one of their phones gets a bit of an appearance in the video.

The release of Reunion also sees a host of remixes of the track, by the likes of Mylo,

M83: Outro

A video worth watching by the magnificent M83, for the track Outro from last year's Hurry Up We're Dreaming album.

M83 are probably the French band that have made the biggest commercial and artistic breakthrough in the non-French world since Justice.

The track Midnight City, the first single from the album, established itself as a radio favourite, appearing in the soundtrack for TV shows and a number of advertising campaigns as varied as American lingerie brand Victoria's Secret to the BBC's coverage of the 2012 London Olympic games.

A second single has been released from the album lawst week, the track Reunion appearing as an EP of remixes from the likes of Mylo, Sei A, The Naked And Famous, Polly Scattergood, We Have Band and White Sea.

For a modern band, they've built a reputation the old fashioned way, through live shows and quality music rather that internet hype and social media gossip. They've played at key festivals in the UK and the USA and are this summer playing in the UK, with two dates in London, as well as shows in Belfast and Edinburgh. An American tour is scheduled for the autumn.

M83 - Hurry Up We're Dreaming

M83 are getting quite a lot of attention in the UK at the moment, on account of a gig in London and a session on BBC 6 music, bringing their classy electro pop sound to a far wider audience than normally gets the chance to hear one of France's finest acts.

M83 have been active since 2001, when their eponymous debut album came out. Nicolas Fromageau left the band after their 2003 second album Dead Cities, Red Seas and Lost Ghosts, Anthony Gonzalez continuing under the M83 name.

Fromageau would go on to form the rather wonderful Team Ghost, who I featured earlier this year with their Record Store Day release split 7' with Anoraak.

M83's first post-Fromageau release was the album Before The Dawn Heals Us, which came out in 2005. Gonzalez became established as a remixer, working with Bloc Party, Placebo, Goldfrapp and Depeche Mode.

Other albums that followed included Digital Shades Volume 1, an ambient work that came out in 2007 and Saturdays=Youth, released the following year.

In 2008 M83 supported the Kings of Leon in their UK tour, and the Killers in the US. Spring 2010 saw the release of the soundtrack album for the film Black Heaven

M83's most recent album Hurry Up, We're Dreaming - a double album - was released in October 2011 with the track Midnight City being released as the first track.

The album got to number 15 in the US Billboard charts and Number 1 in the US Dance/Electronic album chart.

An appearance on the Jimmy Fallon show in November in the US gave them a huge profile boost, and they're due back in the US in early January.

The next single from the album will be the track Reunion, due to be released in Feb 2012.

M83 are touring in the UK in January, and have dates in Australia the following month, followed by more shows across mainland Europe.