Daft Punk's Random Access Memories

So much to take in after just one play. Even though I'd built this album up so much in my head I really do not feel disappointed. I'm not going to try and claim it's a masterpiece but there are so many great moments that left me grinning. I'm looking forward to spending a lot more time with it.

Prog and disco have never openly begged for their own hybrid, but the genres' newborn Frankenbaby is alive, whether we like it or not. Still, this beast, however grotesque, is relatively harmless-- rather than running amok in the village and snapping the necks of civilians, it only wants to "celebrate and dance so free, one more time." Just don't let it sing.

Is this only streaming on desktop iTunes?

Eh, the more this plays, the more I can already tell I'm unlikely to listen to it very much. Surely more than the Knife album, but probably no more than, say, Johnny Jewel's "Symmetry/Themes for an Imaginary Film." But then, I've thought all the Daft Punk LPs have been pretty tough start-to-finish listens. There's so much I like, but also just ... so much. And not enough.

A+ background music for dinner parties, I bet.

but Chic is better for dinner partites!

Are we not maybe overstating the prog thing?

How do you stream this from their itunes page?

Is this only streaming on desktop iTunes?

― Naive Teen Idol, Monday, May 13, 2013 8:50 PM

i was able to listen to it on my ipad

itunes app, daft punk page

I like that this album reminds me of a lot of different disco bands/styles. I kept thinking of bands like Space and Bombers who had a slightly prog feel, at other times I'd think of someone like Gino Soccio. Some of the production especially some of the strings reminds me of Alec R. Costandinos. I guess at one point I was expecting an album full of Chic style bangers but they've covered a bit of everything, all the sounds that made disco so great. As it's been said it's a very melancholic, another thing I loved about disco. Most great disco albums contained at least one great ballad. You can tell they are obsessed with that genre and I think they've done a great job capturing those sounds.

the new Justice album was kind of a prog/disco hybrid and it was....okay

but Chic is better for dinner partites!

Oh, by far, and it has better kitsch value, too. And it's got a lot more character than this does. In fact, I had Chic playing the last time we had friends over! This sounds pretty good at low volume though.

al, no way. that holy ghost record is amazing too

For everyone struggling with streaming, business insider, an excellent publication with a big future in print and on the web, has put together this guide: http://www.businessinsider.com/new-daft-punk-on-itunes-streaming-2013-5

h/t to gr8080

loool

I really should have put that last thing in quotes. its from pitchfork circa 2001 or whatever. don't want anyone to get the idea that I wrote that thing. ethan put that on facebook and I got confused until I googled.

Weird -- this is streaming in iPad but not iPhone.

okay serious lol time @ "The Game Of Love"

This feels like Herbie Hancock ca. Lite Me Up.

contact is awesome, with that feedback that sounds like an engine, constantly in crescendo.

― Treeship, Monday, May 13, 2013 4:46 PM (1 hour ago)

yeah, that's what made me think of "-<7". spacecraft ascending on blue-white percussion.

Giorgio prove that Tron: Legacy wasn't a total wash?

This feels like Herbie Hancock ca. /Lite Me Up. /

so far this album sounds like late 70s Herbie Hancock deepcuts



Clearly I am very late to this (sophisticated dinner) party. About twelve hours late, it would seem.

Julian Casablancas song is the first one that's killin' it for me.

COME-ON COME-ON COME-ON COME-ON COME-ON COME-ON COME-ON COME-ON COME-ON

People are talking about how this is getting a lot of discussion on Facebook, I have like two friends on Facebook that would be interested in this album. I think I'm going wrong somewhere.

Haven't been paying attention to what track's what, but it feels like there's a lot of awesome bits packed into 13 not-consistently-awesome songs.

i completely agree, except that all the songs are always awesome

my facebook has been friggin' daft punk central for months now.

"beyond" & "motherboard" = a hell of a late album tag team

my facebook has been friggin' daft punk central for months now.

― scott seward

Lucky you. Sadly I don't have a lot of friends who like music as much as I do, that's why I come here.

Love it when Touch goes all Dr Buzzard's Original Savannah Band for a minute!

"Touch" makes me wonder who at Columbia is championing this record-- and how much longer this person expects to be gainfully employed.

what a great surprise to come home to!

I finally figured out how to stream this

thank you business insider!!!

on the third listen, "fragments of time" and "doing it right" are the only tracks i could do without. "touch" is breathtakingly hideous in the paul williams manner, but fascinating in that, ambitious and oddly moving. plus it breaks the album up nicely. "fragments of time" just sounds freeze-dried (except again for the break, which is monstrous). not egregious, but it doesn't grab me like the rest.

and panda bear is just awful. lex otm in that regard at least.

cant tell if business insider is lollin or serious

business insider is harvesting that SEO, those clicks mayne

xpost x3 http://bit.ly/YzC79

this album reminds me of born this way, at least in the retro dance and kitsch departments. much more interesting and listenable tho.

Thanks NTI, I thought I was the only one getting Tron vibes off the Giorgio track

kind of mad at these motherfuckers for getting me to enjoy panda bear tbh

B-section of the Panda Bear track reminds me of

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLM8J5Ife4U

with DP's clout couldn't they have recruited a real panda bear to sing?

This album could probably convince them to mate, at least.

Loving the cosmic part of "Touch" right now.

most of the guest vocalists are just bland enough to make it sound like stock music

the album sounds /too/ nice... there are so few rough edges to give it character, so it sounds anonymous and forgettable

fragments of time would kill if kenny loggins were singin it mb

i like motherboard a lot

This whole thing is so slow! Especially Lose Yourself to Dance, I just want to grab it and pull it up 10bpm.

good a few times through but i think i'll forget about this as quickly as I forgot about gayngs :$

I am really feeling the melancholy on my second listen

and I think Casablanca's track might be the only thing he's done that I'll happily relisten to

this was OK a lot more atmospheric then i think it needs to be. favorite song on first listen was "Fragments of Time."

Yeah, they turned him into Michael McDonald! Didn't know Todd had that in him.

"Thru the Pain" from Odyssey sounds like Michael McDonald is actually on it (he isn't).