Monday, August 12, 2013

Review Trifecta Part Two: Daft Punk - Random Access Memories

I'm not sure what pushed me to get Daft Punk's new album - . I love some of the songs from their album Discovery but I'm not a huge fan. Piracy or online buying is more common than owning a hard copy of an album - it was certainly out of the ordinary to buy a physical copy of Random Access Memories.

Whatever it was, I'm glad I did. The centerpiece of the album by far is "Georgio By Moroder." Words can't quite express how amazing this song really is.

If you don't know, Georgio Moroder is a musician who helped to produce the music for films such as Scarface. His work on Scarface is his best - the theme works on its own as one of the first great electronic themes and is completely listenable even when not watching the film itself.

There is an effect where Moroder layers the main synthesizer loop in the Scarface theme with a couple keyboard notes and Daft Punk appears to mimick this on "Georgio By Moroder." That's followed by a live bass and drum solo and then a keyboard solo and then more drums. Then all the instruments come together in a symphony led by a guitar solo. The song is layered with Moroder telling his life story and clocks in at literally nine minutes! It's pretty incredible - it's the work of a serious rock band and not just an electronic duo.



If that's not striking enough, Pharrell Williams (yes, Pharrell of the Neptunes) springs up on this album on two songs - "Get Lucky" and "Lose Yourself To Dance." "Get Lucky" is the first single and you're sure to hear it blaring out of car radios or bumping at clubs and parties. Pharrell's lyrics are mature and advanced - he is a much stronger singer now than he was when he was part of the Neptunes. I liked "Get Lucky" more than "Lose Yourself To Dance" but I do appreciate the latter - it's amazing how Daft Punk, which became famous with mindless dance songs like "Around The World," are now able to synergize and create serious pop music.

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