Tag Archives: daft punk

#1204: Daft Punk – Short Circuit

Last time I wrote about Daft Punk was for ‘One More Time’. Over two years ago now. Strange ’cause I thought I wrote about a tune by them much more recently. But that’s just how time goes, I guess. And just as I thought I’d be writing more about them in times to come, it also turns out that this will be the final Daft Punk post on here. I’ve covered a grand total of six whole songs by the duo. All of which come from Discovery. Could have been seven if I liked ‘Doin’ It Right’ back then as much as I do now. But then again, I haven’t listened to ‘Harder, Better…’ in a while. There are bigger fans of the duo than me, it goes without saying. But I appreciate them, for sure. And I was bummed out just like anyone else was when they announced they were breaking up back in 2021. I maybe didn’t take it to heart as much. But I felt that sense of loss all the same.

Discovery is my favourite Daft Punk album. Not like I’m trying to say anything special with that statement. It’s a lot of people’s favourite Daft Punk record. But to me, it’s one jam after another, back to back hits. I got into the LP back in 2010 after a spontaneous recital of ‘One More Time’ by one of my schoolmate reminded me of that song’s existence. But it’s all a bit hazy as to whether I watched the Interstella 5555 visual before listening to the whole album, or vice versa. Either way, the album was heard and, at some point, today’s track was featured along the way. ‘Short Circuit’ is the 12th song on Discovery, the final instrumental on there before being followed by ‘Face to Face’ and ‘Too Long’. It arrives at a pivotal moment in Interstella, one that I can’t say because I don’t remember it all that clearly, but also because it would be a spoiler to divulge such information.

‘Short Circuit’ is a tune essentially made of two halves. The first being the put-your-hands-in-the-air party instrumental to bop your head to, with the second being the sobering come down that unexpectedly makes its way in and becomes more and more distorted as the track goes on to fool you into thinking your speakers are dying. I don’t have much else to say about this one. Looking on Spotify, it’s the least played song on the album. But it’s been one of my go-to’s probably since the first time I heard it. I really bust out the air-keyboard during the first half. I find it hard not to move to the erraticness of it all. The track was actually around during the duo’s Homework days, and there are “videos” you can find online of them performing it live when they were touring for that album. Much different than how it eventually ended up, obviously. But I like that they worked on it for inclusion on Discovery. As the last instrumental on there, it’s like they’re saying goodbye to that proper French house era of their sound. Though maybe I’m looking too much into it.

#986: Daft Punk – One More Time

There’s a clip of a 5/6-year-old me watching Daft Punk’s ‘One More Time’ video just for a moment on Top of the Pops, all the way back in 2001. It might just be a figment of my imagination, but I’m quite sure that it happened. But I wouldn’t have understood what was with all the blue people or why the music video was a cartoon. All the videos I’d seen at that point had people in them. The song reached number two in the charts over here in the UK. But between 2001-2010, I had honestly forgotten that the song had existed until one of my schoolmates spontaneously started singing it in between classes. That act alone reminded me how much of an earworm it was. It was like it had been my favourite song for all those forgotten years. Wasn’t too long that I downloaded Discovery and reaped all the benefits.

‘One More Time’ opens that album. Fair to say, it might just be one of the best album openers to ever exist. Set to chopped up horns and a rhythm section sampled from Eddie Johns’ ‘More Spell on You’, the track is a five-and-a-half celebration of dance and music and a call for people to let loose just once more before letting things come to an end. The beat is repetitive. The lyrics, written and performed by Romanthony, are also recycled on and on. Almost like a skipping record. But the message has to be said clearly for all to hear. We have to celebrate. Don’t stop the dancing. And we can’t stop, because they both make everyone feel so free. A lot of “yeahs” and “come ons” and “all rights” added into the mix, and Romanthony and Daft Punk provide us with a universal hit.

I think the best part about the track, though, is that it isn’t all four-on-the-floor thumping for the duration it lasts for. Things get all spacey around the two-minute mark, where almost all the instruments drop out and leave a soothing synthesizer to play a relaxing chord progression behind Romanthony’s auto-tuned vocals. Brings a huge sense of calm and serenity amongst the partying madness. But of course it can’t last forever, as those horns rise up in the mix again and the good times start all over again. Gotta appreciate Romanthony’s vocals in general. It seems that the vocal take is something of a cut-and-paste job where he sang each phrase individually, which were then sorted into a flowing lyrical piece where each phrase segues into the next. And that’s not to put it down, the technique is awesome. Yes, he’s auto-tuned to oblivion, but for great effect rather than masking a bad vocalist. The result deserves a great chef’s kiss. 20+ years and this track still sounds massive.

My iPod #489: Daft Punk – Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Daft Punk know how to make a track out of the smallest things. By sampling the first seven seconds of an 80s funk song, speeding it up, making the pitch a few tones higher, looping it and throwing in their own lyrics – a total of nineteen words used altogether – they created “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”, the fourth track from the duo’s 2001 sophomore album Discovery and one of their most popular too.

Took me a while to find this song. Initially hearing it when I was quite young, a brief few seconds of it played on an advert on the Disney Channel. The robotic vocal sounded like nothing I’d heard before but the trouble was I had no idea what it was saying – it may not have been saying anything at all. But it remained in my head for a long time. I can’t even remember listening to the full track for the first time because it’s just been one of my favourites for a while now, but I’m glad I found it.

It’s groovy, it’s funky, it’s repetitive, but not in the way that it will bore you after many listens. It always remains fresh.

Kanye West sampled it for his own use too, but it’s not the same.

My iPod #348: Daft Punk – Face to Face

I have returned! What better way to start the month of October than with the start of this ‘series’ thing that most followers possibly look at my blog for.

This is “Face to Face”, the penultimate track from Daft Punk’s second album Discovery. If you are watching the album’s visual counterpart “Interstella 5555“, this is the point where – spoilers – Earth finds out the band are aliens and help them get back to their home planet. That’s the first time I heard the track, and I got very positive vibes from it. Watching the film at the same time, I was happy to see that the people of Earth were so adamant on helping the blue-skinned people. It was nice to see.

From looking at the lyrics, the track is from the perspective of someone who feels foolish for throwing their toys out of the pram in a fight, instead of just talking it out face to face, and finding sense in whatever the other person was saying. It may also be about Internet dating or something. But I personally think it’s the former.

The double-tracked vocals are done by Todd Edwards, who more recent Daft Punk fans may know from “Fragments of Time” from “Random Access Memories”. However, the majority of the track has no vocals at all and instead focuses on the different samples of older songs that are used but which Daft Punk never wanted to reveal. We all know that “Evil Woman” by ELO is in there….. but I still have no clue what the female vocal is saying or where it’s from. I’m convinced that it’s saying “-long…. Mr. Furlong” and then “good evening” at some parts too.

The music itself makes me feel good. Why? The positive message, the stomping 4-4 beat, or those cut/copy samples that work so well together. A song to lie back to and feel good about what you have is what this is.

My iPod #274: Daft Punk – Digital Love

“Digital Love” was a single from Daft Punk’s second album “Discovery” which came out in 2001.

I’m very sure that the video (the one you see above) aired on Cartoon Network once. Just one time. That was the first time I saw it too, but I always have doubts about whether it is because I was so young. I do remember a seeing a spaceship crashing into a forest, and a blue person coming out of it. That does happen in the video, right? Even if I did see it then, I must have heard the opening introduction in a lot of adverts or promotions for sitcoms or something.

Enough about me. You wanna know more about the track and what is in it. Well…..

1) The main chord progression that repeats throughout the whole song is actually a four second sample of an older track.
2) It’s about being so far away from someone that the only way that physical contact is possible is in one’s dreams…. which is sad. But that’s okay because…
3) It’s really funky. Got a proper four-on-the-floor disco beat.
4) Contains a shredding solo which starts near the end, lasts for about 40-50 seconds (off the top of my head) before fading out to a close.

The track is goooood. My favourite single from the album. Not song…. but single.