Sunday, June 30, 2013

Daft Punk: Get Lucky or Not?


           Originating from France, Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo’s Daft Punk has not only shaped and changed dance music since 1993, but has dominated it. This duo is the leading name of electronic dance music with their heavy bass drops and quick beat synthesizers. Daft Punk’s past three studio albums have held the reputation of the “robots” scientific, futuristic, sound. Even the album cover’s all share the same thick point italic Sharpie font. But, the fourth studio album “Random Access Memories,” released May 2013, is a foreign sound to what Daft Punk fans are used to. No longer are the heavy electronics, but rather soft 90’s pop guitars and poetic lyrical voices singing full verses instead of the trance like repetition of a single word. Even the album cover and font express a rebirth. No longer is there the simple title in the center in a vibrant color. “Random Access Memories” is written in the same font as Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” with the famous helmets glistening and newly polished in the center of the black square. This new renaissance by EDM’s top contributor raises the question: Can Daft Punk abandon all they are known for, alienating their original sound, and still keep their fan base, fame, and fortune? 
            “Random Access Memories” exposes the human side of their musical impulses (Ken Tucker, NPR Music)”. Daft Punk has finally removed the helmets and reveled their inner nostalgia for the older generation of music.  In a Rolling Stone Magazine exclusive interview Bangater exposes the motives behind the new sound: “We wanted to do what we used to do with machines and samplers, but with people.” The duo and their “robot” collaborators stressed to experience the difference between technology and humanity, answering the question how do you feel true emotions in a high strung technological world where “ILY” replaces “I love you” easily as a quick Siri conversation? They have achieved this feeling. Listing through the album, songs like “Fragments of Time” would make you believe for all four minutes that you are not listening to Daft Punk. The smooth, jazz, sound transport you back to the days of slow dances and sways instead of high-strung clubs with half naked women and acid.
            This old school sound has scared some Daft Punk fans away. Diplo, a harsh critic writing under Stoney Roads, referred to the album as it “… makes [him] feel like [he’s] alone at waffle house and the jukebox is broken and only Micheal McDonald plays out of it’.” Another angry fan remarked “When I first heard daft punk I was in my teens and going to my first parties that played dance music.. With no words.. That was new world to me.” Disappointed avid listeners are turning away from the new album with disgust that Daft Punk would even consider trying to change their sound. They are known for the bouncy electro hype, not easy listening driving down a palm tree sweltered 80’s LA rode in a white convertible and loafers.
            Random Access Memories” proves that Daft Punk remain masters of their domain, unafraid of making drastic direction changes in their art. The soft strings, the simple drum kits, and of course, the children’s choir, were not expected to come from the French electronic duo, but somehow it all works and we cannot stop listening. Time Magazine’s Dan Pfleegor wrote, “In 1968, Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey taught that man became who he is by mastering his tools, not by being a slave to them. Perhaps too, robots can only pretend to be human for so long before parting from their synthetic origins and embracing the tangible.” Daft Punk’s fourth studio album “Random Access Memories” is a standstill between old and new, but they “robots” have not lost their charm and technique. 

 

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