Daft Punk - Random Access Memories

[dr lopez]

this is all true (haven't heard boc yet tho LOL)

 

but... this is a good album. good music. but very very confused. too many things going on here, throwback album? are they really still keeping up with the robots myth thing? but then why feature panda bear and julian casablancas and pharrell unless just trying to sell copies?

 

this weekend I'll really write up my thoughts about this album. will say this - DP are some of the best in the game at the vocoder.

[psn]

They should start a vocoder consultant firm.

[Guest disoriental express]

Clearly the world needed another disco/funk record. They're so rare.

[Guest Hanratty]

Part of my love of RAM is because it is a major pop album, and I have not been a big fan of a major pop album since maybe nine inch nails as a teenager.

 

But for the people not liking RAM, is it just me that detects a subversive element to their whole schtick? Something about alienation/loss of individuality, or something. Like it's upbeat only because it's on prozac. I hear it in the singer's voice/lyrics in Instant Crush, or the lyrics of Lose yourself to Dance, or Within. And then when I hear Get Lucky in a store or someone's car radio, I think that these people have been tricked into liking something with much more depth than is typical from top40 style music. Album of the year for me.

 

The BOC album might be great, haven't listened enough yet to really say, but I doubt it can top RAM for me because it's too introverted and will likely not be heard beyond their niche audience.

[joshuatxuk]

this is all true (haven't heard boc yet tho LOL)

 

but... this is a good album. good music. but very very confused. too many things going on here, throwback album? are they really still keeping up with the robots myth thing? but then why feature panda bear and julian casablancas and pharrell unless just trying to sell copies?

 

They had a very grandiose, extremely ambitious and arguably arrogant concept behind the album. The interesting thing is they said they recorded most of the songs on synths and samplers (as usual) then threw out the results. They wanted to go all analog, all live recorded in studios, and they literally, literally brought in their influences from childhood into the studio. They sampled in a very abstract sense after all: they used studio musicians! It's come full circle really. I think they brought in Panda Bear and Pharrel and Casablancas because they wanted to, but I'm sure their label didn't mind having those names on RAM either. I think they were sincere in their efforts, but at the end of the day, there's nothing remotely new or fresh about the album. For people familiar to both BoC and Daft Punk, this is a pretty obvious fact. For people who listen to Daft Punk and never heard any of the music that influenced RAM, it will sound new and fresh - but it's an illusion from ignorance, not the reality.

 

Part of my love of RAM is because it is a major pop album, and I have not been a big fan of a major pop album since maybe nine inch nails as a teenager.

 

But for the people not liking RAM, is it just me that detects a subversive element to their whole schtick? Something about alienation/loss of individuality, or something. Like it's upbeat only because it's on prozac. I hear it in the singer's voice/lyrics in Instant Crush, or the lyrics of Lose yourself to Dance, or Within. And then when I hear Get Lucky in a store or someone's car radio, I think that these people have been tricked into liking something with much more depth than is typical from top40 style music. Album of the year for me.

 

The BOC album might be great, haven't listened enough yet to really say, but I doubt it can top RAM for me because it's too introverted and will likely not be heard beyond their niche audience.

 

That's perfectly understandable. I think it's extremely foolish and illogical to compare them in terms of "good or bad" and ridiculous to push BoC on people intread of Daft Punk. They are opposite ends of the spectrum, which make for a great comparison in my opinion in terms of context and execution of their goals as artists. Personally I have resisted temptation to even express my true feelings about RAM to my friends who loved it because I don't need to. I think they both have niche audiences. I will always think it's inessential and overrated (btw a lot of the music journalist outlets praising it are same ones that gave Homework and Discovery bad or mediocre reviews - the reception is very much an apology for past dismissals, a way for saying "our bad.") That said, while others can disagree, I think it's a perfectly good pop album and something they can be proud of.

[geosmina]

RAM might be the worst album I've heard in my whole life, atm.

[Guest Hanratty]

I will always think it's inessential and overrated (btw a lot of the music journalist outlets praising it are same ones that gave Homework and Discovery bad or mediocre reviews - the reception is very much an apology for past dismissals, a way for saying "our bad.") That said, while others can disagree, I think it's a perfectly good pop album and something they can be proud of.

 

For what it's worth, I liked Homework back in the day, but didn't care for "One More Time" so I didn't listen to Discovery or anything else until giving them another shot with Alive 2007, and although I liked that and still do, I didn't bother with the Tron sdtrk. I just feel like RAM is different, and I'm very cynical towards record label spin/corporate media.

[mat]

I have tried and tried to avoid comparing Tomorrow's Harvest with Random Access Memories, it seems so petty and cynical, but I must. They are both 70s inspired. The expectations of both BoC and DP artists were substantial, as are their reputations as producers. They both come 8 years after what are generally considered their weakest albums.

 

And the end result? Daft Punk made an inessential and comically over-hyped album. A good album (objectively, imo) but a completely forgettable one. Boards of Canada on the other hand have made a landmark album, one that at the very least reaches the critical level of their iconic releases MHTRTC and Geogaddi.

 

I won't and can't say that their backgrounds more than anything made the difference, but their circumstances are starkly different: Daft Punk had substantial marketing and promotional effort put in their release, Boards of Canada pulled off what might be the most cryptic promotional campaign in music history. Daft Punk's release warranted primetime commercials on major networks, Boards of Canada put out 6 nondescript vinyl records. Daft Punk does a cover story on Pitchfork, BoC does an email interview with Guardian. Daft Punk has stayed busy doing Hollywood soundtracks and maintained connections in fashion and celebrity circles, Boards of Canada recorded their album after travelling and spending time with family members. Daft Punk recorded with major label producers and musicians and Boards of Canada secluded themselves in a rural studio. It's very ironic that the album inspired by bleakness and nihilism is more soulful and human than the one aiming to "bring life into music." If the Daft Punk album ends up getting more positive reviews, it will only emphasize how much money and misinformation influences everything...and I could care less about that reality and they probably aren't even aware of it.

 

This Post Has the Right to Children

[Rubin Farr]

after listening to this off and on since the leak, I've come to the conclusion this album is crap. It's also seriously in need of some radio edits.

[manmower]

Still loving it, it's been on repeat in my car for weeks.

[KGW]

Listen to this a lot on holiday.

Enjoyed it a lot.

Great summer album.

[dr lopez]

Well I listen to this more than tomorrow's harvest. Welp.

 

*commits watmm-cide*

[MDF]

I think Random Access Memories is certainly overhyped, its increasingly hard to be objective about it when some of the tracks are played to death and the media are going so over the top with the reviews, its like they're scared not to praise it to the heavens. I think it is a good album (though I am sick of hearing some of the tracks right now), it could do with some editing to make the most of a few of the tracks IMO. I would give it 7/10.

 

The new BOC album is also good, but my criticism so far (after only a few listens) would be that it is too clinical and could do with a bit more grit, and be more out of the ordinary and have more of a mix of elements. I am very glad they have released a new album, I would give it 7/10 as well.

 

 

[joshuatxuk]

You know, objectively 7/10 is reasonable for both. My bias would be like TH at 9.8 and RAM at 4.1

[modey]

Am I tripping or does the breakdown section of Motherboard sound incredibly similar to the choir section in the middle of Hello Earth by Kate Bush?

[YEK]

still listening to this

 

Well I listen to this more than tomorrow's harvest. Welp.

*commits watmm-cide*

 

yeah

 

 

 

anyways has anyone heard the get lucky remix ? it's pretty poor, maybe a cash grab. but i like this album even though it doesn't sound much like daft punk.

[Ivan Ooze]

[jules]

I don't think he likes it

[YEK]

haha

[MaartenVC]

So I listened to this album today for the first time.

... what is this? What a disappointment. So sad I wanne cry :/

 

I loved homework, discovery and human after all...

[Berk]

off-topic sorta, but I had to put this somewhere

 

this song is really cool

 

[dr lopez]

make love is the best track on human after all -- which i will say has aged FAR better than we all expected.

 

also RAM is actually a good album. This was hard for us to swallow because the first two are classics on arrival but yeah in retrospect both human after all and ram are quite pleasing to my increasingly aged ears.

[MassfreeKid]

make love is the best track on human after all -- which i will say has aged FAR better than we all expected.

 

also RAM is actually a good album. This was hard for us to swallow because the first two are classics on arrival but yeah in retrospect both human after all and ram are quite pleasing to my increasingly aged ears.

How old are you? :)

[dr lopez]

22 lol still much more deaf than I was age 18. #sadtruth

[geosmina]

make love is the best track on human after all -- which i will say has aged FAR better than we all expected.

 

also RAM is actually a good album. This was hard for us to swallow because the first two are classics on arrival but yeah in retrospect both human after all and ram are quite pleasing to my increasingly aged ears.

off-topic sorta, but I had to put this somewhere

 

this song is really cool

 

 

yeah, that and Nightvision are so fucking sensual.