Daft Punks's "Discovery" : Classic or Dud

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best dance albums of THIS decade:

pop choice = Rooty, Since I Left You (it's got enough danceable bits!)

unpop choice = well everyone seems to agree that unpop and scene dance doesn't lend itself to the album format full stop, despite great 90s works like several Detroit albums or the brown album or 'Pansoul' if you like those kinds of things, different as they all are in turn. their existence means i don't buy the 'not an album genre' argument, but i'll have to think more about great 00s albums from more 'underground' artists all the same...

― blueski, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 14:14 (nineteen years ago)

Every pre-Boss Drum Shamen album

I listened to En-tact for the first time in years last week, and fuck me that is a great album. I suspect that if Will Sinott hadn't died in '91 they'd have become the big crossover act to emerge from acid house instead of being remembered as a dodgy novelty act.

― Billy Dods, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 14:17 (nineteen years ago)

rooty is like the worst b jaxx album!*

best dance albums of 00s, um, ok cowboy, thrills and orchestra of bubbles, kittenz and thee glitz...

*apart from last year's offering which i have forgotten about already HURRAH

― lex pretend, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 14:24 (nineteen years ago)

also can I just complain about that silly youtube video with all the daft punk samples in it....and the fact that I've seen it posted on blogs about a zillion times, only for Daft Punk indies to be like "OMG THEY COPIED THESE SONGS, HOW DO I SHOT POSTMODERNISM"

― Ronan, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 14:47 (nineteen years ago)

I don't think OK Cowboy is an amazing album. It is very good but his power had diminished by the time it came out.

― Ronan, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 14:52 (nineteen years ago)

OTM x 2

― blueski, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 15:31 (nineteen years ago)

those people do not deserve Daft Punk

OK Cowboy probably sounded really great to a lot of people not already familiar with half the tracks tho (there must've been SOME!)

― blueski, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 15:32 (nineteen years ago)

yeah, see, that would have been me

― river wolf, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 15:44 (nineteen years ago)

I don't hear it as "pop", I hear it as soul/r&b/disco loops. Unless you're saying that the pop umbrella includes soul/r&b/disco... but then why wouldn't it include techno/house?

Ah... ILM. The only place in the world where I would spend 30 seconds contemplating such insignificance.

― Steve Shasta, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 16:25 (nineteen years ago)

The point of calling Discovery "pop" is that the key numbers use a "song" form, rather than a "track" form, regardless of what genre touchstones those songs have.

― The Reverend, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 16:29 (nineteen years ago)

I don't differentiate between "songs" or "tracks", but I think you're trying to say it's pop because it has vocals arranged in verses/choruses? :-?

― Steve Shasta, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 16:34 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, basically. (Although most of the song structures are a bit more liberal than that.) Also, the general focus on melody and that most of the numbers are designed to stand on their own, as opposed to as a cog in a DJ mix.

― The Reverend, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 20:49 (nineteen years ago)

The only track on Discovery I think I'd really like to hear again is "Veridis Quo"

― Curt1s Stephens, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 20:52 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah "Veridis Quo" is my fave track as well. But I love the whole record...

― The Brainwasher, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 21:01 (nineteen years ago)

alright, why exactly do dance albums NEED separating into pop and unpop again?

Do rock peoples really go well "Loveless" was a good album but y'know, bit "scene" isn't it?

I mean Vocalcity or something might not have sold a ton compared to say, Vitalic's record but is that SO much less important if the influence of both has been felt a bit wider eventually?

What about people whose first albums were 'scene' but broke wider as they went on? Isolee, Ellen Allien, Ricardo Villalobos (well, album/ep/single is a bit blurred there...) etc?

― fandango, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 21:05 (nineteen years ago)

This easily remains one of the 10 greatest albums ever. I still listen to it regularly and I still hear pieces of it played out often (like almost every time I go out).

― Spencer Chow, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 21:17 (nineteen years ago)

Daft Punk are "pop" in the sense that they had big chart hits - fandango none of the artists you mention would likely be known to someone who doesn't have at least a basic working knowledge of contemporary dance music.

Discovery is a brilliant album, possibly the best of the decade so far (though there's tough competition).

― Tim F, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 21:35 (nineteen years ago)

there aren't many other ilm-friendly dance acts who really qualify as pop in that sense. basement jaxx, definitely, and then we head into groove armada territory.

― lex pretend, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 21:44 (nineteen years ago)

i mean, this decade, obv

― lex pretend, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 21:44 (nineteen years ago)

possibly the best of the decade so far (though there's tough competition).

Blueprint? Since I Left You?

― groovemaaan, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 21:45 (nineteen years ago)

yeah, that wasn't really what I was trying to say... maybe I missed the real start of this thread sidetrack?

Just thinking isn't it a bit odd the way "best dance albums" are always weighted in favour, almost required to have had mega or at least modest chart success to be thought of as eligible? It just seems like this isn't the way it works in not-dance (though you could assume it's the same at first look) and maybe it's a part of the reason people assume dance is "bad at albums"?

probably this would be better on another thread, carry on....

― fandango, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 21:52 (nineteen years ago)

you could easily make a big thing out a similar divide in rock tho - best pop rock album vs best alt rock album...if you want to rank at all (and many do).

what elevates 'Discovery' above several other albums by dance producers/DJs who became pop stars in the same way DP did? on paper maybe the concept and ambition/audacity of Discovery counts for a lot in people's minds...maybe even it's relative simplicity compared to those other albums (taking Rooty and SILY as examples again), the production ethos and style of songs is a virtue for many too. others would dismiss this as too dull too often (talking about some of the non-singles here). people talk about it as if everything on it is utterly amazing tho which i've never understood. makes me want to start a thread on what actualy makes an album great tho i'm sure several already exist.

― blueski, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 22:13 (nineteen years ago)

so much of my love and enjoyment of 'Discovery' was based on the initial excitement and reaction to when it was released. "Hey it's Daft Punk! And they're doing something!" type thing. I wouldn't say it clouded judgement as such because I was a bit disappointed with half the album from the start really, it's just that the other half was so good that it didn't sem to matter. if anything my judgement is clouded now because i rarely listen to albums in sequence these days whereas i still did that in 2001.

― blueski, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 22:17 (nineteen years ago)

this assumption that daft punk were some massive populist singles act was making me suspicious (i don't remember them like this apart from 'da funk'!) and they've only had four top 20 hits. three of which i actively dislike, too.

― lex pretend, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 22:17 (nineteen years ago)

i never expected them to become as big as they have. 'homework' going into the album chart top ten on first week of release was a huge shock, even in those heady 'electronica' days.

― blueski, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 22:25 (nineteen years ago)

"discovery" is pretty dope but it sure as fuck isn't this unassailable pinnacle of dance music. it merely holds its own against a whole lot of other great albums of a similar ilk.

― rps, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 22:28 (nineteen years ago)

you could easily make a big thing out a similar divide in rock tho - best pop rock album vs best alt rock album...if you want to rank at all (and many do).

-- blueski

I guess what I'm getting at is a lot of albums in the not-dance canon that start out (arguably) "alternative" end up thought of as big & important eventually (again I'm thinking "Loveless" here) but I get the idea people making dance lists don't ever get to reach this point, 'cos of something in the way all this stuff works.

I dunno, perhaps this is all utterly beyond obvious. But it does feel like alt-dance (really, lets) simply doesn't have the same opportunities to usurp the mainstream anymore (unlike the 90s). Any that's why the Chemical "is this getting old yet" Brothers are still going, maybe.

What I'm trying to get at here feels vague as fuck... never mind.

― fandango, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 22:42 (nineteen years ago)

Daft Punk always had a little bit of rock press love, and the videos... it's not hard to grasp how it went beyond just having a few Top 40 hits!

― fandango, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 22:50 (nineteen years ago)

ANY1 LIKE FATBOY SLIM? BIG BEAT LOL

― Belisarius, Thursday, 12 April 2007 00:39 (nineteen years ago)

nd I think Carnival by Archigram is better than all of the above and anything on either Daft Punk album.

-- Ronan (Ronan), Monday, September 20, 2004 3:59 PM (2 years ago)

this dude otm

― and what, Thursday, 12 April 2007 01:56 (nineteen years ago)

I think what really makes Discoveryfor me is that it's got this subtle emotional conflict thing running through the whole album. All the euphoric melancholia and such. It's very emotionally satisfying.

― The Reverend, Thursday, 12 April 2007 03:23 (nineteen years ago)

When Wes Anderson finally figures out this century something off this album will be the theme song.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 12 April 2007 03:47 (nineteen years ago)

If anything my my review at the time underrated this album, which I have held for the past five years or so to be close to perfect.

― Tim F, Thursday, 12 April 2007 05:09 (nineteen years ago)

I think that people should not diss on songs that they dont like. I think that people should be able to like what ever type of music they want . I personally like the daft punks for their music.

― deej, Thursday, 12 April 2007 05:13 (nineteen years ago)

Hating "Revolution 909" is like hating gold-plated blowjobs that come with free candy.

-- Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Tuesday, September 21, 2004 8:08 AM (2 years ago)
I think a gold-plated blowjob would probably have a nasty grating whumping noise that would put me off.

-- Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, September 21, 2004 8:15 AM (2 years ago)

haha u guys rule

― deej, Thursday, 12 April 2007 05:58 (nineteen years ago)

Tim's review is so great - gets much closer to expressing what's special about Discovery than anything else I've read, I think.

Anyway we all this album because it appeals to our inner rockist, without offending our pop/dance sensibilities, right? :)

― jabba hands, Thursday, 12 April 2007 06:14 (nineteen years ago)

Appealing to my inner rockist? (I most certainly have an inner rockist, but this isn't something that appeals to it.)

― The Reverend, Thursday, 12 April 2007 06:51 (nineteen years ago)

i'm joking really. i just mean that Discovery has a lot of the qualities that rock fans value in 'great albums' - thematic unity, narrative structure, this sense that the artist is making a statement - that is maybe part of the reason for its crossover popularity?

― jabba hands, Thursday, 12 April 2007 07:09 (nineteen years ago)

Tim's review =

http://www.awesome-sauce.net/images/awesome-sauce/misc/logo.png

― The Reverend, Thursday, 12 April 2007 07:18 (nineteen years ago)

we don't all love this album!

though to be fair i've never listened to it because the horrid messy treble and annoying robot voices on daft punk singles have been so off-putting.

― lex pretend, Thursday, 12 April 2007 08:12 (nineteen years ago)

and 'digital love' is BORING.

― lex pretend, Thursday, 12 April 2007 08:13 (nineteen years ago)

Great great review indeed. Discovery is classic for 'Face to Face' alone (ie. prob my favorite track ever).

― baaderonixx, Thursday, 12 April 2007 08:20 (nineteen years ago)

"and 'digital love' is BORING."

Lex this makes my faint appreciation of "Dakota" pale into signficance.

― Tim F, Thursday, 12 April 2007 10:11 (nineteen years ago)

You go on about old ILM being better but we fought wars for this album!

― Tim F, Thursday, 12 April 2007 10:11 (nineteen years ago)

i know! and when i discovered this i actually asked someone for an mp3 of this so-called best-song-ever 'digital love', because i knew i'd heard it at the time, but couldn't remember it. and then they did, and i was so underwhelmed, then i deleted it. it was...kind of like that cheesy 'starlight' song from around the same time, but with half the joy/bounce/life/melody, and a more annoying vocal.

i don't actively dislike it though, like i actively hate 'around the world'.

― lex pretend, Thursday, 12 April 2007 10:17 (nineteen years ago)

how on earth can you hate daft punk yet like... all the other stuff you like? IT MAEK NO SENSE!

― fandango, Thursday, 12 April 2007 10:23 (nineteen years ago)

Stop, stop, you're making it worse.

x-post.

― Tim F, Thursday, 12 April 2007 10:24 (nineteen years ago)

in fact 'robot rock' is probably my second favourite daft punk single, and i don't even care for it very much :/

― lex pretend, Thursday, 12 April 2007 10:29 (nineteen years ago)

You go on about old ILM being better but we fought wars for this album!

and lost to Radiohead googlers!

― blueski, Thursday, 12 April 2007 10:34 (nineteen years ago)

from better to bitter

― blueski, Thursday, 12 April 2007 10:40 (nineteen years ago)

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