Foreword
It was when I was scrolling through social media networks, having a battle inside my head about not being in the mood for nuanced discussions about the virtues of procrastination, like the most of us stuck in lockdown; I came across a post by Porter Robinson, an artist I’ve admired and been inspired by for years. It expanded upon his search for Daft Punk’s music videos on LimeWire while he was eleven and just being blown away by the artistry that was presented by them. The news of Daft Punk breaking up after 28 years of being together took the music world by surprise. Flooded the internet with posts about them changing the industry forever. I suddenly remembered the first time when I came across their music. It was neither a music video nor a promotional activity. Rather an advert about backpacks(?). Fastrack had been pushing the brand in a new direction where being ‘mature’ was in. And the track they had playing in background, for some reason, stuck with me. I found myself humming it throughout the day and finally discovered the duo. This post entails their journey in a nutshell along with a short review of my personal favorite album.
Provenance
The appearance of two robots was certainly intriguing. After listening to their first album ‘Homework’, one would find it difficult to ignore the drum machines, vocoders and keyboard synths that created a heavy analogue sound which is still difficult to produce on modern hardware. But that was being done by them in a bedroom back in ’95. It was an era where the underground raves were filled with Deep House and Techno genres being played by DJs and enjoyed by audiences in a state of trance. Hip Hop and Electronic Music were the last great musical revolutions in decades. Everything since then ultimately comes from one of these two movements. The duo attended their first rave on the roof of Beauborg, Paris discovering the underground electronic scene and transforming it, using their genius, into something that introduced the genre to the rest of the world. ‘Homework’ had minimalistic synthetic keyboard melodies sprinkled throughout the album which made it much better than what the others were producing at the time.
The fame brought a lot of exposure and resources which they used wholly for the production of ‘Discovery’ – their second studio album, which stands as an artistic statement in electronic music still today. ‘One More Time’, perhaps the most popular dance song of the decade, makes my feet tap even now. The robotic synth arpeggios and intergalactic melodies, coupled with Synth Funk grooves was something that the mainstream audience had never come across before. The album’s music expands to include the shades of Pop, Disco and Funk that inspired the duo to compose music in the first place. The specificity of their music and their art is that there is a real interaction between music and technology. In a way, technology is considered as a part of the band.
The single ‘Digital Love’ is the kind of stuff I listen to in winters when the sky is overcast and the air is misty, finding a place with beautiful view and eyes tear up as the melody hits. ‘Face to Face’ is an underrated gem that I’ve always enjoyed. Instantly puts you in a better mood after tackling the challenges life throws at you. However, the song ‘Something About Us’ evokes certain memories and makes nostalgia rush through my psyche. It has a jagged bassline, disco-influenced slow groove guitar and synths adding a little bit of color here and there, and of course vocoder vocals singing upfront a beautiful melody and lyrics about love. Reminiscence of the one that got away. Difficult to comprehend that two robots could create something that’s so sensitive.
Plummet
But all of these crests finally caught up with the troughs. The third studio album was not received well critically or commercially. ‘Human After All’ was criticized for its autotune vocals and extremely repetitive nature of the notes. Adding to it the fact that the album was recorded in just over 14 days in the studio. Judgments were passed about the credibility of Daft Punk. If the best had already passed and there’s not much that could be offered. They just managed to turn it around a year later in Coachella 2006 with mixing the previous three albums and conjuring magic. That live performance with the iconic pyramid is still considered by who’s who of the industry, the best live electronic set to date.
Naturally, it opened up the gates for the robots where they signed a deal with the biggest entertainment conglomerate on planet – Disney, to provide the background music for their new Sci-Fi/Action film TRON Legacy. Daft Punk had spent years in making what they liked with no supervision or direction by anyone else. This was a new territory where collaboration with a full-sized orchestra and live musicians was inevitable. This fling, favorably was not futile. Instead, the soundtrack produced was full of grandiose and immersive sounds. The clean, shimmering rich tracks were ambitious and cinematic. This album alone peaked at number six on the Billboard 200, acquiring a Gold Certification and selling more than half a million copies worldwide.
Reinvention
The success made these robots get inspired by a new part of sound that is live instrumentation. And that’s what gave birth to the idea of Random Access Memories – the timeless record which is a tribute to music itself. An homage to the golden age of music-making where albums were these ambitious projects with a certain kind of teamwork and level of craftsmanship from musicians, studio and engineers to create magic. My favorite album by any artist yet, RAM redefines what it means to listen to music. The quality of production and instrument separation is unmatched. In any high-end audio device, instead of getting shriller or harsher, especially the trebles and high pitches, it just gets fuller. Here, every sound was made from scratch and using virtually no samplers in the entire album, which EDM artists are usually dressed down for. The thought was to go against the idea of quality of music being diminished nowadays in a world of cut n’ paste electronic age. Daft Punk’s goal was to make music feel more human and natural again. Having listened to the album with immersion, can anyone really say they failed?
Like any other great musician would want, they settled on the idea of composing the album entirely with live musicians to form something of an ‘ultimate band’, made with collaborations with the pioneers of the industry. Paul Williams, the composer and songwriter of their favorite film ‘Phantom of the Paradise’ singer and songwriter of their favorite contemporary rock band – Julian Casablancas of The Strokes; legendary guitarist and record producer Nile Rodgers are only some of the associates.
Opener ‘Give Life Back to Music’ has a sweet infectious melody where the title states the mantra itself. ‘Giorgio by Moroder’ features the father of Disco and his life story with his voice accompanied by nine straight minutes of absolutely jaw on the floor amazing mastering. There is no other example where Funk, Electro Dance, Jazz, Classic, Hip Hop and Rock are encapsulated in a single track like this one. ‘The Game of Love’, ‘Beyond’ and ‘Within’ provide essential and beautiful slow jams for balance. They are lyrically surreal and gives me, the listener, a sense of smallness in this big, gigantic, difficult to understand world. ‘Touch’ is often regarded as Daft Punk’s Bohemian Rhapsody. Enough said. The LP ends with what will make your speakers blow up if not careful. The ambient sounds of ‘Contact’ make much more sense when astronaut Gene Cernan, last man to walk on the moon, describes a flashing object from the window of his capsule while he was on the Apollo 17 mission.
RAM was an attempt to make a recording process that was honoring great techniques and methods of the past which were dying, becoming obsolete. Accomplished producers spend a lot of studio time trying to decode and imitate the quality of sounds which this album possesses. No surprise it was certified Platinum by RIAA and won five Grammys including Album of the Year. Daft Arts, their recording studio had a big poster of the Earth while mixing and recording the last album. This perfectly describes what I think Daft Punk were going for with RAM. They were trying to make something out of this world. They wanted to transcend people’s expectations of them, their own expectations of themselves and the stale EDM sound of the time. The final product here is a testament to creativity and a beacon of hope for the artists. It was recorded over the span of five years where they were sort of disconnected from the world; creating this timeless bubble with incredible artists. It somehow provides the listener with the same experience, where they can immerse themselves in the album, fast-forwarding through this pessimistic and cynical reality.
The Anonymity
Lastly, I want to touch upon the surrealistic nature of creating these robot personas. According to the duo, it let them stay human, grounded and completely free. It’s a rejection, a philosophical position stating they don’t partake in charades. I’ve heard the phrase give a man a mask and he will tell you the truth. We can observe that happening right here. You create a mystery with the masks. And mystery is fascinating. Without the quality of art that they represented; it would’ve been a gimmick. But because they’re Daft Punk, because of the quality of what they present, its not a gimmick. It’s something more.
This journey of two shy, quiet teenagers from making beats on a laptop in their bedroom to redefining musical landscape and inspiring a generation of new musicians is anything but trivial. Their transformation from musicians to magicians is simply exceptional. Music is the common denominator across the board. Music is where a revolution can happen. It is what groups of people with different affiliations can enjoy together; where all stereotypes can be broken. Where at the end of the day, if people are forgetting all their troubles and grooving along with the melody, the future just might have a ray of hope. A bunch of robots bringing humans together is ironical yet exciting. Here’s to all the music and memories!
I'm hooked on to this. need more content. not saying cause I'm your friend but, this is invoking and triggering my brain cells. they are hungry and want more of this.