Daft Punks's "Discovery" : Classic or Dud

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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 (seventeen years ago) link

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 (seventeen years ago) link

i mean, this decade, obv

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

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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 (seventeen years ago) link

"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 (seventeen years ago) link

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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 (seventeen years ago) link

ANY1 LIKE FATBOY SLIM? BIG BEAT LOL

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

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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 (seventeen years ago) link

Tim's review =

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

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

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 (seventeen years ago) link

and 'digital love' is BORING.

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

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 (seventeen years ago) link

"and 'digital love' is BORING."

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

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

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

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

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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 (seventeen years ago) link

Stop, stop, you're making it worse.

x-post.

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

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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 (seventeen years ago) link

from better to bitter

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

the lex, whatever the opposite of dropping science is, you are doing it here.

I think Discovery's great triumph is in that it was chart enough for people to dismiss it as disposable pop rubbish. How many dance acts, ever, can say they've done this while still receiving critical acclaim?

― Ronan, Thursday, 12 April 2007 10:42 (seventeen years ago) link

I actively like this album

― RJG, Thursday, 12 April 2007 10:44 (seventeen years ago) link

whatever the opposite of dropping science is

dropping art?

― lex pretend, Thursday, 12 April 2007 10:58 (seventeen years ago) link

falling onto the ground?

― 600, Thursday, 12 April 2007 11:25 (seventeen years ago) link

lying under a table unable to get out while forlornly trying to grasp at chips and succeeding in getting no chips at all?

― 600, Thursday, 12 April 2007 11:26 (seventeen years ago) link

asking how to make beans?

― 600, Thursday, 12 April 2007 11:27 (seventeen years ago) link

that indie club in london bridge?

― 600, Thursday, 12 April 2007 11:28 (seventeen years ago) link

^^^ many examples of the opposite of dropping science

― 600, Thursday, 12 April 2007 11:28 (seventeen years ago) link

i have never asked how to make beans!

― lex pretend, Thursday, 12 April 2007 11:32 (seventeen years ago) link

(I like "Music Sounds Better With You" better than anything off of Discovery)

― HI DERE, Thursday, 12 April 2007 11:41 (seventeen years ago) link

Dan how could you leave this off your list anyway?

― blueski, Thursday, 12 April 2007 11:49 (seventeen years ago) link

I've never actually heard that whole album.

― HI DERE, Thursday, 12 April 2007 11:52 (seventeen years ago) link

i don;t think even Guru Josh has.

― blueski, Thursday, 12 April 2007 11:59 (seventeen years ago) link

Discovery really grew on me at first, but now it's starting to regress. I'm not sure what it is...I just get sick of it from time to time. It's super cheesy, but that doesn't always get in the way of the album. It almost sounds like Motown kind of stuff updated with robots and synths. Have to listen again I think.

― catblender, Thursday, 12 April 2007 14:20 (seventeen years ago) link

Dan, the Lex and I, UNITED AT LAST.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 12 April 2007 14:22 (seventeen years ago) link

(I like "Music Sounds Better With You" better than anything off of Discovery)

-- HI DERE, Thursday, 12 April 2007 11:41 (2 hours ago)

this is totally true, but MSBWY > most songs ever

― deej, Thursday, 12 April 2007 14:33 (seventeen years ago) link

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