Last night, M83 rocked la SAT (Société des Arts Technologiques) along with Active Child to finish off the M for Montreal festival, whose first few days were closely covered by MP's own Katelyn (click here for Day 1 and here for Day 2).

Playing music from his latest album Midnight City, M83 (Anthony Gonzalez) and his band offered a steady dose of electronic synth tunes, along with a bit more rock sound than usual for him. They actually added a ton of drumming to some of the better tracks off Midnight City, and I'm still not sure how I feel about it. It made the set feel very much jump-around-rock-the-house, rather than sit-there-and-dream-about-space-flight, but appropriately so considering how intimate la SAT can be when full (and it was definitely full). We missed Active Child's set unfortunately, but from what I heard they were equally as galactic.

If you're unfamiliar with M83, his latest album is kind of a bridge between Neon Indian and Owl City, but with much dreamier undertones and a bit less funk. If you like Explosions in the Sky and This Will Destroy You, you will definitely love Gonzalez' older stuff, some of which is embedded below.

The name M83 actually comes from the Spiral Galaxy Messier 83, which is a spiral shaped galaxy deep somewhere in space. The band was originally founded by Gonzalez and Nicolas Fromageau, but the latter left the band in 2004 prior to the 2005 release of Before the Dawn Heals Us.

I actually discovered M83 a few years back while watching the intro to Lakai's Fully Flared (embedded below and directed by Spike Jonze and a really awesome video). You may have heard him lending some songs to a load of movies and tv shows, including the Stranger than Fiction soundtrack (also below). Most recently he co-wrote the trailer music for Red Bull's Art of Flight (which you should check out as soon as possible because it's amazing) and also lent a few songs to the project.

A much better post about M83 can be found on Acquiesce To.

M83 - Midnight City

Lakki's Fully Flared Intro

Lakai Fully Flared Intro (re-mastered in 720p HD) from skatefairy on Vimeo.

In Church - M83

Art of Flight Trailer


Header Photo courtesy of M83's Facebook page and Facebook user Michael Kohr