Just in...Daft Punk: Random Access Memories

  One electronic duo that I undeniably love is Daft Punk, or Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter. Every time I listen, I find myself wanting to groove to their music, like perhaps no other band I know. If anyone could get me to dance without inhibitions on the dance floor, it would be Daft Punk. This their fourth studio release, behind such greats as Homework (1997), Discovery (2001) and Human After All (2005).  Yes, it has been eight years (with the Tron: Legacy, 2010, soundtrack in there as well; which is almost as good as an album in itself) since Daft Punk decided to release something new for us to groove to! They should be arrested for such injustice and forced to write music as their punishment. Just kidding! But seriously, musicians should be writing music and it I think probably what keeps them from doing so it all the live concerts and tours they put on. And that's part of the experience of course, but I don't really go to live concerts much, and would prefer just more music! Rant over.
    There's so much to learn about this album, namely what the title Random Access Memories is all about. It sort of has a dual meaning, the implicit form of computer data storage as well as the more appropriate to Daft Punk's individual approach to the album--the human side of how memories created and stored. Looking back to the 60's and 70's a lot for this album's inspiration, they drew from classic albums like Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, Rumours, by Fleetwood Mac; as well as artists like Steely Dan, The Doobie Brothers, The Eagles, The Cars and Michael Jackson. Sadly, ironically, I've only ever listened to Steely Dan intentionally, while avoiding others like Michael Jackson is somewhat impossible. Another facet of Random Access Memories is that initially most of the material Daft Punk started with was all from synthesizers, which they ended up deciding against, opting to use live musicians in the recording studio instead. They realized and wanted to pay homage to all the time and talent it used to take "back in the day" to create all the samples that come so easily and are used [flippantly] nowadays without thought for where they came from. A fantastic quote that gives better articulation to this idea, from Bangalter: "The idea was really having this desire for live drums, as well as questioning, really, why and what is the magic in samples? [...] It occurred to us it’s probably a collection of so many different parameters; of amazing performances, the studio, the place it was recorded, the performers, the craft, the hardware, recording engineers, mixing engineers, the whole production process of these records that took a lot of effort and time to make back then."
    There's an excellent wealth of information about each track on the Wikipedia page for Random Access Memories, here, look under 'Structure'. But, I can at least give you an impression of the album to get you started. First, there's a lot of featured acts, including Julian Casablancas of The Strokes; Pharrell Williams, from the soul hip-hop R&B group The Neptunes; Paul Williams, responsible for writing the Muppets song, "Rainbow Connection"; Todd Edwards, garage house producer; Italian producer, Giorgio Moroder; guitarist Nile Rogers, best known for his involvement in Sesame Street; and Noah Lennox (a.k.a. Panda Bear), one of the members of ever experimental Animal Collective. All this to name a few, there's a few others who had limited roles and aren't necessarily featured but aided in the production, music and/or writing of various songs.
    Overall, some of the criticism for Random Access Memories could be true (some positive, some negative): Negative first. As one critic described, "there's a creeping notion that every musical idea that's ever been so much as thought up is on this album."; and another, "though everything about RAM, from the session musicians to the guests to the means of production, is meant to sound more 'human,' the album at points sounds more sterile, almost too perfect."; finally, "At over 70 minutes, the album feels rather bloated. Quite a few of the songs are too long, or too empty of ideas, or too willing to repeat themselves, or too willing to play to type". The positive: "...a headphones album in the age of radio singles..."; Rolling Stone said, "this is Daft Punk conjuring the musical era that first inspired them, when disco conquered the world with handcrafted grooves and prog-rock excess magnified emotions in black-lit bedrooms"; another, "...Random Access Memories is also Daft Punk's most personal work, and richly rewarding for listeners willing to spend time with it." Can't say I don't miss their electrified previous album sounds at least a little. But, a few of the songs are good enough fill, while the others are interesting and original and an earful to keep most all listeners well occupied.
    Decide for yourself! It has been streaming on iTunes all week, here. Probably gone now. No other full streams at this time. Check out a the song "Get Lucky" over under the 'Monthly Sample Tracks'. Enjoy!