Daft Punk feat. Panda Bear, Doin' It Right
Info: This Friday sees the worldwide release of one of the most eagerly anticipated albums of the last few years, Daft Punk's Random Access Memories. It could be argued that it's their first 'proper' album since 2005's bummer, Human After All, when you exclude the Tron Legacy soundtrack and their live album in 2007 (Alive). Below I have done a track by track review and given a Yes, No or Maybe at the end of each track in terms of what I thought of it, if you agree with me completely once you've heard the album I can meet you next weekend to go to the Park Clinic together for DNA testing. Overall I really enjoyed this album from the first listen, if you're a fan of Daft Punk, or classics Homework and Discovery then you won't be disappointed, if you were expecting them to push the boundaries and try something exciting and new, you might be let down, it's back to basics for the two French boys, which is no bad thing.
1. Give Life Back To Music - Disco-funk, รก la Chic, 'Good Times' especially on guitar, you can dance to this song even if you can't dance (Yes)
2. The Game of Love - Chill-out with funky beat and bass, trademark robot vocals, not a big fan of this track (No)
3. Giorgio By Moroder - Begins with presumably Giorgio Moroder (soundtrack song-writer) talking about his dream of becoming a musician, Daft Punk back to basics here, nice lengthy digitised melody, as song goes on dips in and out of orchestral and fast drumming and beats before exploding towards the stars at the end, nice (Yes)
4. Within - Appealing lo-fi piano song, very reminiscent of Air c.Moon Safari (Maybe)
5. Instant Crush - Interesting to hear Julian Casablancas of The Strokes at higher than normal pitch through famous Daft Punk vocoder, catchy, ponderous tune (Yes)
6. Lose Yourself to Dance - Jamming song, guitar-led, first of three songs feat. Pharell, slow-motion disco vibe, enjoyable if not great, perhaps a 'grower' LOL (Maybe)
7. Touch (feat. Pharrell) - Half like a theme tune to a 1970's tv show (Hart to Hart?) that turns into spacey electronica (Maybe)
8. Get Lucky - THE song, Pharrell's best input, reminds me of Dublin's Republic of Loose on holiday in Provence... (Yes)
9. Beyond - One of my personal favourites, nice drum n' bass and lots of Daft Punk digi-vocals going on, chilled like a brain-dead penguin on 1sq foot of ice blissfully ignorant of global warming (Yes)
10. Motherboard - Only song to scream of filler, might sound better after a few listens but it's 5 and a half minutes of aimless instrumentals and adds nothing (No)
11. Fragments of Time (feat. Todd Edwards - yeah, me neither) - Instantly enjoyable and funky, Al Green with double-speed music behind him (Yes)
12. Doin' It Right (feat. Panda Bear from Animal Collective) This could be your favourite song on this album, everything comes together superbly, this will be on party playlists, only complaint, maybe too short compared to other tracks on album, see above video (Yes)
13. Contact - Great finish, like Luke Skywalker about to drop the bomb on the Death Star a high-speed, deafening powerhouse of a song (Yes)
Overall Rating: 3.5 / 5 (but could rise sharply after multiple listens)
