One thing is for sure: Daft Punk certainly know how to market themselves. When a 15-second teaser trailer for the album that came to be known as “Random Access Memories” dropped before the closing of a Saturday Night Live episode back in March, the whole world had their attention turned on them. The teaser was incredibly vague; it could have been promoting a rerelease of one of their records for all we knew.
But no, it was centered around the release of their fourth studio album (fourth if you don’t count that awesome TRON: Legacy soundtrack they composed a few years ago). And what a return to music this is. The highly-anticipated album moves through thirteen tracks, all neatly crafted and designed to provide the listener with some of the most unique sounds the duo have created today. Tracks like “Give Back To Music” and “The Game Of Love” feature both organic instruments like drums and clean guitar mixed with smooth synths and keyboards to provide a disco-feel the album. “Touch” brings to mind a trip through outer space, conjuring images of science fiction and space travel (at least, it did for me).
Daft Punk also brought a few guest vocalists on board, including Panda Bear (“Doin’ It Right”), Todd Edwards (“Fragments of Time”) and Pharrell Williams (“Lose Yourself To the Dance”, and “Get Lucky”, the album’s single). The inclusion of guest vocalists really did complement the record and bring something special to the Daft Punk sound.
When I was a teenager, I worked at Hot Topic. My store manager loved Daft Punk, so I became accustomed to listening to their music all the time (particularly the “Discovery” album). Needless to say, I was excited to hear they were back making music. The album was a bit different than I anticipated it would be, but in a good way. It’s an enjoyable, laid-back work of art that will thrill fans old and new. Let’s just hope they tour around it.
Label: Columbia Records
