Electronica 1: The Time Machine is the seventeenth studio album by French electronic musician and composer Jean-Michel Jarre, released on 16 October 2015 by Columbia Records.[10] It was recorded with the help of 15 separate collaborators, including Vince Clarke,[11] Gesaffelstein, M83, Armin van Buuren,[12] John Carpenter,[13] Robert \"3D\" Del Naja of Massive Attack fame, Pete Townshend (from The Who) and the late Edgar Froese of Tangerine Dream, the collaboration being one of Froese's last projects before dying in January 2015.[14]
Jarre announced on 20 April 2015 \"Conquistador\" as result of his collaboration with French techno producer Gesaffelstein.[15] On 15 May 2015, a second collaboration, this time with French electronic band M83 titled \"Glory\" was announced, with a music video for the track being released on 23 June 2015.[16][17] A third collaboration, this time with German electronic band Tangerine Dream was announced on 22 June 2015.[18]
The collaborations were teased over a period of months in 2015 before the album itself was announced by Jarre on 10 July 2015, under its project name \"E-project\". It is to be his first release of original music since his 2007 album Téo & Téa. Pre-orders of the album were announced, as well as two limited edition box sets.[19]
On 28 August 2015, details of the album and the title Electronica 1: The Time Machine were announced, together with the Little Boots track \"If..!\". A trailer accompanying the announcement[20] has Jean-Michel Jarre talking about the concept of this album and how it all came together. A second volume was released in May 2016.[21]
01. Jean-Michel Jarre & Boys Noize – The Time Machine 3:51
02. Jean-Michel Jarre & M83 – Glory 3:56
03. Jean-Michel Jarre & Air – Close Your Eyes 6:24
14. Jean-Michel Jarre & 3D (Massive Attack) – Watching You 4:05
15. Jean-Michel Jarre & John Carpenter – A Question of Blood 3:00
16. Jean-Michel Jarre & Lang Lang – The Train & the River 7:13
Background
In an interview with Billboard, Jarre said of the album: \"I've wanted to tell a story for a while regarding electronic music history and its legacy from my point of view and experience, from when I started to nowadays. I planned to compose for and collaborate with an array of artists, who are, directly or indirectly linked to this scene, with people I admire for their singular contribution to our genre, that represent a source of inspiration for me over the last four decades I have been making music, but who also have an instantly recognizable sound. At the outset, I had no idea how this project would evolve, but I was delighted that everybody I reached out to accepted my invitation.\"[22]
The \"E-project\" started in 2011 with his collaboration with David Lynch.[23]
Nominations
The album was nominated for the 59th Annual Grammy Awards in the \"Best Dance/Electronic Album\" category.[24]
Secrets
The spectrogram of the track \"Continuous Mix\" contains several hidden secrets. User \"audiolab\" at forum rt22.mybb3.ru revealed phrases \"Ancient astronauts\", \"Always trust your vision\", Jarre's portrait and an unknown bit sequence.[25] After that, Jan Szulew decrypted the bit sequence unveiling two 32-bit binary strings which represent floating point numbers of WGS84 coordinates (latitude and longitude respectively). The coordinates point to the center of the Obelisk of Luxor on Place de la Concorde, where the first big Jean-Michel Jarre concert happened in 1979.[26][27]
