SOUNDS ECLECTIC FRENCH DUO AIR EMBRACES FAR EAST ELECTRONICA SOUND.

Byline: STORIES BY FRED SHUSTER

>MUSIC CRITIC 

You've had a taste of Timberlake, a chunk of Velvet Revolver and a lick of Beyonce lately, but you're still hungry.

It's understandable. Mainstream pop is just that -- mainstream music designed to appeal to the masses. Any subtleties are purely accidental.

That's why local music aficionados are looking forward to a weekend of something very different; music of substance that the listener must meet halfway.

Friday sees the French electronica-pop duo Air fill the open-air Greek Theatre with intriguing European melodies and clever musicianship.

The next evening, the fascinating Indian-Anglo singer Sheila Chandra makes a rare local appearance at the L.A. Convention Center, blending some of the world's most challenging music and rhythms into a very unique and accessible expression.

It's an eclectic weekend we wish would happen a lot more often. Here are stories on Air and Chandra, plus a look at three other acts on the Yoga Walk bill.

Jean-Benoit Dunckel and Nicolas Godin are modernists.

The seductive music of this French duo -- who go by the name Air -- seems to be constantly moving forward, taking in classical and electronic elements yet always steeped in original melodies and startling sounds.

The group's first two albums of pastoral, atmospheric music were ubiquitous in boutiques, art galleries and trendy night spots around the world. Lately, Air has embraced Eastern influences as a result of Godin studying Far Eastern classical instruments like the Koto and Shamisen with a Japanese master.

"We're always trying to get away from the pop sound," Dunckel said. "I suppose we're influenced by modern composers like Philip Glass or early-

20th-century classical composers like Ravel or Satie. The way we work is that we improvise together. It's like magic because we always have something in common, like a new direction or desire, each time when we write a song. There's always a conscious desire to reject the previous album."

Along with four Air albums done in conjunction with English producer Nigel Godrich, the duo -- appearing Friday at the Greek Theatre -- scored Sofia Coppola's "The Virgin Suicides" and produced Charlotte Gainsbourg's somber "5:55" disc. Air songs have been used in countless commercials and TV shows while still finding airplay on alternative rock and adult-oriented radio formats.

"Their music doesn't ever sound dated," said Luis Baro, program director of XM Satellite Radio's The Move (XM 80) and XM Chill (XM 84) channels. "It's timeless music. You can play it now and nobody can tell when it came out. That's the way good music should be, but it doesn't happen that way a lot now. Air just has a different vibe than anybody else."

Even with the organic Far Eastern noises heard on Air's fourth and latest effort, "Pocket Symphony," the duo continues to embrace the latest technology, seeing it as a tool rather than the straitjacket it so often becomes.

"Now, the computer is really important for us," Dunckel claims. "To start with, we were totally opposed to this process because we wanted to use only analog keyboards. But increasingly, we had to admit that you can't do everything with analog keyboards. Also, in France, we have this modern research center called IRCAM run by (composer and conductor) Pierre Boulez where they're constantly inventing new plug-ins. So we've been playing with them.

"You can't fight against the future."

AIR

>Where: Greek Theatre, 2700 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles.

>When: 7:30 p.m. Friday.

>Tickets: $35 and $45. www.ticketmaster.com.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover - color) WORDLY MUSIC

IN OUR OWN BACKYARD

(2 -- color) no caption (CD)

(3 -- color) Jean-Benoit Dunckel, left, and Nicolas Godin comprise Air, playing at the Greek Threatre on Friday.

> CLAUDE GASSIAN PHOTO