M83

You've got to admire the confidence of the Killers. After all, the band chose M83 to open for its current tour even though the French act's most recent recording, Saturdays = Youth, does a better job of tackling many of the stylistic challenges that trip up the Las Vegas boys on their latest album, Day & Age. Anthony Gonzalez, who for all practical purposes is M83, looks back to the electronics age of the 1980s on his new offering, creating synth washes and pulses that hang over snappily programmed beats like a luxuriant swath of fabric. The results, as performed by a crew featuring vocalist/keyboardist Morgan Kibby, are often as retro as retro can be, but no less effective for their familiarity. Indeed, "Kim & Jessie" and "Graveyard Girl" sound like half-remembered past hits, not a failed attempt to recapture the fading zeitgeist as does, for instance, Day & Age. Talk about a Killers comparison.