M83: Oblivion

M83's title track to the new Tom Cruise film Oblivion has appeared online.

The track Oblivion features vocals by Norwegian singer-songwriter Susanne Sundfør.

Given Anthony Gonzalez's apparent like for the more cosmic things (the band is names after a galaxy after all) involvement in the soundtrack of a science fiction film seems an obvious move.

Gonzales composed the score with Joseph Trapanese, who arranged five tracks on M83's Hurry Up I'm Dreaming album, and worked with Daft Punk on the Tron: Legacy soundtrack.

The track StarWaves - a slow instrumental - from the film soundtrack emerged earlier.

The film is based on a graphic novel by the same name, which was written by Joseph Kosinski, who made his film directorial debut with Tron: Legacy, a film that also memorably featured a French band's soundtrack.

2011's Hurry Up We're Dreaming gave M83 their biggest commercial hit, and a film soundtrack seems a good move in that it allows them to build on the success of that release without the weight of expectations of a new album. Although a soundtrack for a $100m movie is hardly a low key release.

That being said, the song - complete with its 80s influences - could easily be imagined as a massive hit single along the lines of songs like Show Me Heaven by Maria McKee from Days of Thunder or Take My Breath Away by Berlin on Top Gun.

Of course, those with longer memories recall Tangerine Dream, a European electronic act with a cosmic attitude, doing the soundt
rack for Risky Business, an early hit for Tom Cruise.

Whether or not Tom Cruise remains the big draw at the box office that he was in the 80s remains to be seen, but there's no denying the soundtrack certainly deserves top billing.

The film Oblivion is released on April the tenth.

Daft Punk: New album promo

Anticpation continues for the release of the new Daft Punk album, with the release of a short teaser clip at the weekend.

The clip was aired during an edition of Saturday Night Live in the US. It follows the recent release of a new image that emerged when they confirmed they had signed to Columbia Records.

There's not much that you can take from the short clip as to what might be on the cards with regard the new album, the band's logo and the new image, and some music that could be from the album.

Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalte's last release was the soundtrack of the Tron:Legacy movie in 2010, their last full album Human After All came out in 2005.

Expectation will certainly be high, and Columbia won't be taking any chances in promoting it and building up some excitement about it. The fact that they've invested in a TV advert during one of the US's most watched shows suggests that they're not exactly intending a low key release.

As for the album itelf, Nile Rogers has said he has been working on it, while other names including Chilly Gonzales and Giorgio Moroder are also rumoured to be involved.

The picture will certainly become clearer in the months to come.

The new album is expected to be released later this year, with May seemingly the most likely release date.

Rumours of live dates have so far come to nothing.

New: Daft Punk - Tron Legacy: R3CONFIGUR3D

While Daft Punk's Tron: Legacy soundtrack was certainly long awaited, I think it left some people a little disappointed as its overall downbeat and sparse nature didn't lend it to the dancefloor, and a feeling that they should just get on with a proper follow-up to 2005's Human After All.

However, it succeeded in being a more experimental release for the French duo, allowing them to take a step well outside the field of dance music. It also managed to fulfil the expectations of a cinema audience while leaving the band's artistic credibility intact.

It was also their highest-profile release so far, taking them to a whole new audience.

However, even if the original release may not have been on the same scale as a full new Daft Punk album, there would certainly be some great remixes to be come, and Tron Legacy: R3CONFIGUR3D collects several of these.

Collaborators on the album includes The Crystal Method, Moby, Photek, Glitch Mob and Paul Oakenfold. They are not names that you would normally associate with a Disney release, and it is all the better for it.

Involvement in a soundtrack work can lead to an artist diluting what they do best in a bid to please an audience that actually isn't all that interested in what they do.

But Daft Punk came away from the Tron: Legacy with credit, and R3CONFIGUR3D builds well on its success.