(They also did the Soundtrack for Tron:Legacy, basically their fifth studio album)
Anyway, I keep remembering how panned 'Human After All' was, and how bad the reviews were because the album was too "mechanical" and was "missing the warmth of House", while this is EXACTLY how the genre evolved in the years to come and none of those music experts saw this.
Many journalists did a retrospective of it a few years later and admitted that they misjudged it.
It's not that Daft Punk drove the industry in this direction, the album wasn't well-received by most at that time. They showed the destination of a journey while people didn't even realize they are traveling...
In the end, it appears that 'Random Access Memories' is one of their least innovative and "lasting" albums. It's probably their most successful one, the most complex to conceptualize and produce, but IMO it has the least unique character of all their productions.
Looking at the whole picture, the product of "Random Access Memories" is less the music, but the duo celebrating the process of production itself...
The reason that I dislike Human After All is that, quite simply, it's not fun.
It's dour. It's depressing. And it's repetitive in a way that feels tiresome; You can't dance to most of it or even really tap your foot to it.
What happened was that Daft Punk challenged themselves to make an album in six weeks and ended up with a showcase for a few neat guitar pedals and two fun songs (Robot Rock and Technologic), one of which consists almost entirely of a barely-changed sample (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFwGQAEYqHs).
Electronic music certainly evolved in ways that made it less warm, but that didn't make it less fun. Case in point, Skrillex's early music is weird and playful despite relying on 'cold' synth sounds. Human After All is just cold.
Not to be that guy, but techno is only repetitive if you are a) listening to boring/uninspired techno (the same kind of complaint being leveled here against HAA), or b) not paying attention.
"in a way that feels tiresome" is the operative phrase here. I like the throwaway tracks on Homework that are twice as long and half as interesting more than I like most of Human After All. They're fun.
Fine not to like it for those reasons. But maybe try listen to it next time from a more psych, garage, or post-rock perspective. They were influenced very early on by groups like Spacemen 3, and I see HAA as them doing something big and dirgey in this kind of school. I even recall the liner notes saying only "all guitars by Daft Punk".
The sound design is certainly interesting from the perspective of psych, garage, post-rock, etc., but the sound design doesn't make up for the songwriting. You need both. Or at least, I do.
I think it's a just a more experimental record. The lack of songwriting is kind of the thesis of the entire album, right? (technology, repetition, etc) It's aims are not to be Digital Love or their more conventional song-based stuff. If anything, it's almost a return to their origins like some of the more techno-orientated tracks on Homework.
That's what I meant with what it has in common with garage and psych. Not the textures or sounds, but the relentlessly experimental approach to convention. Not saying it is perfectly executes, but I think this what it is meant to be.
What you’re describing is an album that’s more fun to think about than it is to listen to!
It definitely has a theme, but unfortunately as executed it’s basically “what if we defied convention by using live instruments and making a shitty album?”
When you bring up psychedelic, experimental post-rock, I want to mention that one of my favorite bands is Battles. They’re a good example of what you can do when you defy convention!
Ha. Fair, but music that makes us think more than feel isn't necessarily always a terrible thing. John Cage, Steve Reich, even Battles is pretty intellectual in a way (it's quite literally math rock lol).
I guess we like different artists for different reasons, and you like Daft Punk in boogie mode. Which I definitely get, as it is their strong suit. But I just think this is album is a bit of an anomaly in their catalogue and might require having to unlearn them a bit to dig it.
Their live album Alive 1997 would have to be my favourite of theirs btw. But I don't hate Human After All as many other fans do.
Honestly, I used to focus much more on how objectively interesting music was. I got into Frank Zappa and started down the very deep rabbit hole of his discography, and eventually realized that I really loved some of it and the rest was just... not enjoyable.
Speaking as someone who has been writing music for quite a long time, writing something that is objectively interesting (by being complex or unusual) is much, much easier than writing something that is just plain entertaining.
I think there's always something to be said for pushing boundaries, and I love experiencing any art or entertainment that makes me think "oh shit, I didn't know you could do that." But even then, that doesn't make it good or enjoyable, just interesting or thought-provoking. They're not mutually exclusive, but they also aren't necessarily correlated either.
Tron:Legacy still lives in my head. I'm still chasing the music I imagined after seeing the movie/hearing the soundtrack. Also half of Daft Punk Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo's work in Kavinsky’s 'Nightcall'.
His name is Joseph Trapanese and I always wondered who worked with them on the album (for basically no credit) because, while I adore Daft Punk, very few pure dance music producers have the traditional-music/composer chops to pull off a film score.
I didn’t know until you pointed it out that he worked on Kosinski’s other film too. There are definitely some huge similarities, especially with the end title tracks.
Random Access Memories was such a letdown. It's an OK disco album that doesn't innovate at all. Masterful recording, it sounds great of course, but it didn't take any risks. I listened to it twice and that was it.
RAM brought back that funky sound which had been completely absent from contemporary dance music. It was a revival of old elements, mixed with modern electronic sound. A masterful mingling of elements of the past and the future coming together to form something not quite as good as either, but listenable and danceable, and most importantly impactful, because after that album there was a wave of artists emulating that sound. We wouldn't have gotten Uptown Special if we hadn't gotten Random Access Memories. That's my feeling on it anyway.
Exactly, fully agree.
If it would have been released as a Pharrell Williams Album "produced by Daft Punk", it woul have been met with different expectations.
And especially now it would perfectly blend with other Pharrell Williams Albums (i.e. "Happy" could have been on "Random Access Memories" without standing out at all...)
Guess you didn't listen to it on shuffle. There are multiple stories to be discovered depending on the order of tracks, like the one about the alien robot that crash lands on earth and strives to experience humanity. The album is RANDOM ACCESS Memories after all.
how bad the reviews were because the album was too "mechanical" and was "missing the warmth of House"
FWIW, I wouldn't call myself a particular fan of house or dance music in general. This mechanicalness and lack of warmth is probably what I like about the album.
I have a standard joke about Random Access Memories that, although I'm not saying that Daft Punk contributed nothing to Get Lucky, I'm saying that if _I_ made a record with Niles Rodgers and Pharrell Williams it would be a top 10 hit as well.
R.A.M. is more that they'd decided to finish and made one last album that was as much fun as possible. It's a bit like "Accelerate" by REM in that respect.
I really, really like Human After All. It’s probably their second most cohesive album, given how much they used the DigiTech Talker and DigiTech Synth Wah all over it. (Second to Random Access Memories in terms of being cohesive.)
Interstella 5555 is still one of my favorite movies. It's an anime movie where the entire soundtrack is the album Discovery. There are no vocals, the entire story is told by only the animation and music, and it works incredibly well.
Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem for the first time was an astonishing thing with that soundtrack..
Back then wasn’t really into DP, but that sold me entirely..
To be fair, they've done a lot more than just studio albums, from collaborations to live albums, concerts and whatever more. Personal favorite is probably Alive 2007 that went on repeat until Mom complained about the windows in the living room downstairs almost breaking.
Funny because Mom alternated between a Bob Marley greatest hits and Daft Punk Discovery and Human after all records when doing the ironing and cleaning at home.
No idea what she is listening to these days when doing those chores.
Interesting watch. It leaves some things unexplained though. How did Prydz end up as the artist on a song not in his own style, nearly identical to two previous artists making the same song, based on a re-recording of a sample? I wonder if the label was simply looking for a competent producer to make a version of what they thought would be a hit after having figured out how to clear the sample.
I mean, they’re retired, and I’m not holding out hope. But it’s remarkable that 30 years after their debut Daft Punk could put out an album and probably be as innovative and relevant as ever. That’s such a rare quality.
There’s rumours they’re working on more material. I wouldn’t blame them for telling the world they’ve broken up, just to take the pressure off. I can live in hope, right?
