COMM 380:  Media Criticism

After initially meeting in school in 1987, French musicians Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo officially became “Daft Punk” in 1993. After originally experimenting with other musical genres and musicians, they began their Daft Punk career with the “French House” genre. French House is defined as having “heavy reliance on filter and phaser effects both on and alongside samples from the late 1970’s and early 1980’s American or European disco tracks (or original hooks strongly inspired by such samples” (Wikipedia.org) Since then, they have released four major albums, “Homework” (1997), “Discovery” (2001), “Human After All” (2005) and last year’s “Random Access Memories” (2013). This is not including their 2010 original score for the Disney film, Tron: Legacy. There are many aspects of Daft Punk that are worth discussing: their space-helmeted anonymity, their intent on having full control of their music rather than optimizing their profits, their unusual marketing, or their original and sometimes baffling music videos. However, in this essay I will be discussing their wildly popular and award-winning album, 2013’s “Random Access Memories”. More specifically, their perceived change in genre and the reasons behind it.

 

As an avid Daft Punk fan, I must admit I loved this album. Though, I love all of their albums. I probably played it every day for months. My children even began memorizing the lyrics. Perhaps due to my career, (video and radio production and post-production) I am not much of a sports fan, but rather a film and music fan. My favorite musical groups, television shows and certain actors and comedians are my “teams”. I am a fan no matter what. There are many Daft Punk fans that were not as happy with this album, however. (noisy.voice.com) Some have argued that they “sold out” and tried to reach the maximum audience possible in hopes of more money. I absolutely disagree. As stated in an interview, Thomas and Guy-Manuel make music for themselves. They honestly do not care if their audiences disapprove. “When we make a piece of music we don't worry whether they will like it or not; we are really trying to create the music that we want to listen to as individuals…we think it's the healthiest way.” (smh.com) “Random Access Memories” was developed over five years and cost over $1 million to produce. (soundonsound.com) I believe that a true fan will see the artists for who they are. To be a true fan is to respect the choices they make, make an effort to listen to it and ultimately (hopefully) like it.

 

When Daft Punk released their first album, “Homework” in 1997, there were people who were not sure what to think. Looking back, Daft Punk was ahead of their time with their unique blend genre of French house, synth pop, techno and rock. It was unique and different, but they grew an audience immediately. Inside “Homework’s” cd there is a quote from Bangalter: "In Brian Wilson's music you could really feel the beauty—it was very spiritual. Like Bob Marley, too." (“Homework”) Though this influence has not been easily recognizable in earlier albums, in the their most recent album, “Random Access Memories” (RAM), the song “Doin’ It Right” reflects a Brian Wilson’esque tone to it. I believe it was this album that their influences became more apparent. They leaned more on lyrics and melodies, rather than their usual repetitive house and dance tracks. This is one of the reasons some fans became dismissive of this album. In their song “Teachers” on the “Homework” album, they list their musical influences. This includes DJ Sneak, Hyperactive, Jammin Gerald, Waxmaster and Brian Wilson. (daftpunk.co.uk) Daft Punk went full circle with RAM. They took aspects of their significantly influenced genres and applied it to the distinct robotic Daft Punk sound. They incorporated disco, funk, R&B and electronica. With the recent popularity of new electronic music such as “dubstep”, Daft Punk wanted to push themselves further and expand their repertoire. They decided to use analog recording devices and actual instruments with real musicians. Pete Franco, an engineer for Daft Punk said that after many tests, they decided that recording to tape and then sending to Pro Tools gave the best ‘sound’. This is contrast to the usual, record on Pro Tools (digital) then transferring to analogue, and then back to digital. Their mission was to recreate the sound of the past; they wanted their music to step outside of the current over-digitized, over-electronically altered dance music we listen to today. According to soundonsound.com, they criticized “today’s music scene and what they see as its ‘glorification of technology’”. (soundonsound.com) They worked alongside legendary artists such as Nile Rodgers, Giorgio Moroder, Julian Casablancas and Pharrell Williams.

 

In the song “Get Lucky”, featuring Rodgers and Williams, Daft Punk diverted from their more commonplace repetitive electronica with strong hints of pop and disco, reminiscent of Rodgers 1970’s group, “Chic. “Get Lucky” became the hit of the summer in 2013. Arguably overplayed, as most pop hits are, the fact remains that it was a hit record, and played on mainstream radio stations. This is a feat rarely achieved by the house genre. “Get Lucky” won both the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance Grammy and the highly-coveted “Record of the Year”. The song is catchy and fun. Pharrell Williams, another popular musician of today, is featured on the song, as well as Nile Rodgers. Rodgers helped compose the rhythmic guitar as a throwback to his Chic days.

 

RAM features many musicians, while playing a larger part than their usual smaller cameos. DJ and Producer Todd Edwards has been featured on previous Daft Punk albums. His song “Face to Face” on the Discovery album is legendary. Daft Punk asked him not only to help produce and compose “Fragments of Time”, but sing the lead vocals as well. Although he was taken aback, he ultimately accepted and created a remarkable track. “Fragments of Time” is a stark contrast to the rest of the album, let alone all of their albums. With a strong sense of country and Steely Dan-like influences it is an unlikely hit for Daft Punk. Popdust.com says, “If not the for the Digital Love-like solo that appears in the song’s bridge, we’d have no real way of knowing that the Robots were in any way involved with this one.” (popdust.com) It is a lighter track that Edwards sings thoughtfully with lyrics that speak of reminiscing and hopefulness. Edwards wrote the song himself and helped compose the melody. It is actually one of my more favorable tracks on the album, despite not being a country fan at all. Though, I am a huge classic rock fan, including Steely Dan.

 

Another song that appears to be less “Daft Punky” than usual is “Beyond”. The track begins with a massive orchestral movement, immediately followed by a slower funky beat and the Robots singing a smooth and soothing lyrical track. Though the song ultimately leads to a more electronic sound, the opening sequence of a full orchestra is unusual, but curiously fits. An interesting side note is the comparison between “Beyond” and Michael McDonald’s “I Keep Forgetting”.  In addition, Warren G featuring Nate Dogg for their song “Regulate” essentially sampled “I Keep Forgetting”. RRodd on Youtube made a mashup of all three songs. (youtube.com) It is pretty amazing how well they match up. This goes to show how the sayings “there’s nothing new under the sun” and “everything is a remix” are concepts that cross both the art of film and music.

 

After listening to “Random Access Memories” by French artists Daft Punk, it became clear to me that they set out to venture outside their comfort zone. After spending over five years and a million dollars, they produced what I believe to be a masterpiece. Though many songs are within their customary genre of French House, many songs ventured outside and stepped into the waters of R&B, disco, country and pop. While perhaps not their actual intention, Daft Punk succeeded in reinventing themselves by way of trying new and authentic sounds from the past. Growing outside of their comfort zone, reaching into their past, pulling from their early influences in a more obvious way, led to one of the most successful albums of 2013. Their hard work paid off when they won the highly deserved Grammy for Album of the Year in 2013. I just hope the next masterpiece comes a little sooner than five years.

 

 

References

Corrigen, Z. (2013, June 8). World Socialist Web Site. Retrieved November 22, 2014, from http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/06/08/daft-j08.html

French house. (2014, November 16). Retrieved November 22, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_house

 

Grow, K. (2014, June 14). Watch Nile Rodgers Play Daft Punk's 'Get Lucky' for First Time Live. Retrieved November 22, 2014, from http://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/watch-nile-rodgers-play-daft-punks-get-lucky-for-the-first-time-20140609

 

Kirn, P. (2013, January 1). The Daft Punk Press Problem: Nostalgia for What? - Create Digital Music. Retrieved November 22, 2014, from http://createdigitalmusic.com/2013/05/the-daft-punk-press-problem-nostalgia-for-what/

 

Perez, J. (2013, May 16). Why you think the latest Daft Punk sucks. Retrieved November 22, 2014, from http://www.themodernritual.com/228/

 

Poe, J. (2013, May 18). “Not everyone understands”: The genius of Random Access Memories. Retrieved November 22, 2014, from http://inthemix.com/features/not-everyone-understands-the-genius-of-random-access-memories/240

 

Rodd, R. (2013, September 26). RRodd - Beyond Regulation (Daft Punk vs Warren G ft Nate Dogg vs Michael McDonald). Retrieved November 22, 2014, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hhk2i-exX9g

 

Sircott, M. (1997, April 3). Personality punks. Retrieved November 22, 2014, from http://web.archive.org/web/20110606041352/http://www.montrealmirror.com/ARCHIVES/1997/040397/cover.html

 

The Musical Influences of Daft Punk. (2014, January 1). Retrieved November 22, 2014, from http://www.daftpunk.co.uk/daft-punk-influences.php

 

Tingen, P. (2013, June 1). Daft Punk. Retrieved November 22, 2014, from http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jul13/articles/daft-punk.htm

 

Unterberger, A. (2013, May 21). Daft Punk’s "Random Access Memories" Reviewed: "Fragments of Time"... Retrieved November 22, 2014, from http://popdust.com/2013/05/21/daft-punks-random-access-memories-reviewed-fragments-of-time/

 

Wolfson, S. (2013, May 13). Describing The New Daft Punk Album To Myself | NOISEY. Retrieved November 22, 2014, from http://noisey.vice.com/en_uk/blog/describing-the-new-daft-punk-album-to-myself

 

Zuel, B. (2013, May 12). Hosts in the machine. Retrieved November 22, 2014, from http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/hosts-in-the-machine-20130510-2jbcu.html