Jean-Michel Jarre Announces Full Details of Electronica 1: The Time Machine

jean-michel-jarre-tangerine-dreamJean-Michel Jarre today announced the full details of his upcoming album Electronica 1: The Time Machine, which features Jarre’s work with fifteen collaborators.

Electronica 1 ranges from work with newer artists like Gesaffelstein and Little Boots, to songs with electronic music veterans such as 3D of Massive Attack and Moby, and fellow electronic music pioneers Tangerine Dream and John Carpenter. The album offers Jarre’s personal vision of electronic music over the decades.

Here is the official preview:

The track listing for Electronica 1: The Time Machine is:

1) The Time Machine (JMJ & Boys Noize)
2) Glory (JMJ & M83)
3) Close your eyes (JMJ & AIR)
4) Automatic (part 1) (JMJ & Vince Clarke)
5) Automatic (part 2) (JMJ & Vince Clarke)
6) If..! (JMJ & Little Boots)
7) Immortals (JMJ & Fuck Buttons)
8) Suns have gone (JMJ & Moby)
9) Conquistador (JMJ & Gesaffelstein)
10) Travelator (part 2) (JMJ & Pete Townshend)
11) Zero Gravity (JMJ & Tangerine Dream)
12) Rely on me (JMJ & Laurie Anderson)
13) Stardust (JMJ & Armin van Buuren)
14) Watching you (JMJ & 3D (Massive Attack))
15) A question of blood (JMJ & John Carpenter)
16) The train & the river (JMJ & Lang Lang)

Electronica is a two volume project with 30 Collaborators in total. The first volume will be released October 16 (but can be pre-ordered now via iTunes and Amazon, with Volume 2 to come in Spring 2016.

A limited and signed Box Set is aso available.

25 thoughts on “Jean-Michel Jarre Announces Full Details of Electronica 1: The Time Machine

  1. This looks like a pretty decent album and I will definitely pick it up.

    It’s a shame though that Monsieur Jarre did not do a track or two with old RabidBat here to leave the world of western 12tET and entire realms beyond imagination or comprehension of tiny western minds. The album would have been a monumental revelation and I assure all it would have hit multiplatinum and ranked along side Sgt. Pepper, the Brandenburg Concertos, and Javanese Court Gamelan.

    Oh well, it’s no biggie. Maybe next time brother.

    1. Yeah, I hate those tiny Western minds. They get stuck in my teeth and ruin the taste of the pizza. Wendy Carlos is all-too-rarely heard these days and Vangelis has such a classical bent that it’d be an odd mix, but if we’re talking demigods… those two made a great impact on me. I’d enjoy hearing how those blends might unfold.

      1. Yeah again. With the range of his collaborators and what he says, there is the hint of defining a canon and also that he’s almost there on this front, except for some glaring silences from at least one of the two figures you mention, whom I can only presume did in fact say no or their answers were so confidently anticipated that the question wasn’t even put. This, of course, is a little frustrating since the album(s) concept so clearly sets up this ambition.
        That aside, I’m a good deal more interested in this album now, having seen the full sweep of collaborators and hearing of his intentions. JMJ’s popularity – and desire to remain so – has always rather eclipsed the guy’s entirely serious musical intent. This guy isn’t merely trying to maintain a currency in today’s electronic music scene. He’s making an important and ongoing contribution to it. Bravo, Monsieur Jarre!

  2. Amazing and inspiring concept album .
    So cool because , in this album you see how electronic/synth music are evolving, by greats artists .
    I am just missing some names like Kraftwerk , Vangelis, BT , Brian Eno , Wendy Carlos ,Aphex Twin….
    Maybe they will be in the next volume …. ;D
    Aaaa if you go to JMJ YouTube channel , you can watch all the interview about each track … Very inspiring !!

    1. actually Kanashiro that is an amazing list you suggested and exactly who i woulda suggested, Kraftwerk, Vangelis and BT…maybe Sasha as well!

  3. Lang Lang and Pete Townshend?? Okay, I’m hooked. Pete is an understated synth hero, so its proper to see him here. You never know what will come from a good collaboration.

  4. This is the most ambitious project I have heard of. Will definitely be purchasing this. Some of the greatest artist with Jarre. I love what I am hearing. Great blend of minds.

  5. This looks great. JMJ is probably my favourite electronic music artist, and I was a bit let down with ‘Teo and Tea’! So this, together with E-Project, marks a return to form. Will order both albums.

    1. Er, this IS the E-Project…that was just a codename for it, now it is officially known as “Electronica 1: The Time Machine”. Volume 2 will release spring next year, with reportedly 30 collaborators between them.

    1. The initial vinyl release is part of the 1000 limited edition signed box sets being launched to the tune of over £200 by the time you get volume 2 as well. Will vinyl see the light of day on general release? Not sure…

  6. It is bound to be a slight dissapointment, I’m afraid. Happy to be wrong. Would also have liked a little info about the instruments used, when watching the different track storys.

  7. It’s been decades already that JMJ is not relevant to electronic music anymore… except maybe for nostalgic people living in the past.

      1. Not at all. Genres are a definition of a time period. So even the best artists could only be timeless for their limited time period. Artists are not immortal, therefor they aren’t timeless either even if they would evolve from genre to genre across their lifetime. And finally, people can have timeless taste and listen to music from genres out of the current time… and therefor live in the past. Regardless how much you can love Jarre, even if he has been an important influence few decades ago for electronic music, he’s not relevant anymore today and for today’s electronic music genres.

        1. @ Phil : relevancy

          Is Nina Simone, Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin, Maria Callas, Joan Armatrading, Herbie Hancok, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Robert Plant
          Chemical Brothers, Underworld, Future Sound if London, The Orb relevant these days ?

          Only in terms of their influence, special place in peoples hearts.

          Jeez Get Over Yourselves.

          1. No, they’re not. Some of them aren’t even alive, how could they be relevant if they can’t even do anything to be relevant to the current music? They can only be an influence to others that will be relevant for what they do, they could be relevant to the music or even the genre at the time they did, but they can’t be relevant *Today*. Does Hitler relevant today in politics? if you’re saying yes to this question, we definitely don’t have the same definition of some words… Same thing with music. I know, it’s hard to accept your favorite artist is passé…

    1. @M

      JMJ plenty relevant to all the artists on the album.
      Which is far more than can be said of any of us commenting

      Are you relevant, are any of us relevant.

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