Daft Punk's Random Access Memories

Yeah, been listening once per day since Monday.

i have it on right now

I think it's really well sequenced...I've listened to it from start to finish about 4 or 5 times now (when was the last time that happened??) and always think that after 'Get Lucky' the 2nd half of it is going to be really weak but it's at least as good as the 1st...I've never bought a DP record in my life and wasn't the least bit bothered about a new one (the collabs did intrigue me but had zero expectations)...but to try and ignore 'Get Lucky' was madness ( the SNL clip had me from the get go) so I listened to the album and think its the best thing I've heard in ages...don't care about the hype or what it's trying to emulate or whether I'll be listening to it in 3 weeks time....All I know is I'm really enjoying it at the mo which I guess is kinda the point.......or is it??.......

Excellent post Pastiche, describes my feelings.

Yeah, I've always been a casual Daft Punk fan. Enjoyed the robot shtick, the pyramid live show, the singles, videos, etc. Never have I made it through an entire album though. I've listened to RAM about 8-10 this week. I think it's great. Well sequenced OTM. Moves along well and I never feel the need to press the skip button.

have been listening to this album pretty much constantly; i think it might be keeping me alive. generous+loving+unpompous. i didn't know it existed until a couple days before it leaked, when this thread was getting bumped a lot. following the hype and anticipation around a record can be fun in itself, of course, but if it's not fun for you... idk, it's not that hard, guys.

I stopped myself listening to the stream after a few spins to make it more exciting when I went and bought it. I'm now back on it and I just love this album. It's an album full of great moments, right now the strings in Giorgio and Pharrell going "guitar" in that really wimpy voice on Lose Yourself are my favourite bits on the album. Tough to say what my favourite song overall is, Instant Crush, Touch and Fragments of Time are all up there along with the two I mentioned. Surprisingly there aren't any songs I want to skip right now.

i like this "album" but it feels wrong putting it that way since I can hardly hear this an "album." it doesn't seem to flow in any meaningful sense, each song is like a world unto its own. or maybe it's just very poorly sequenced. but i really admire several songs (so far) but can't really get a coherent picture of this as an "album."

fuck outta here with this; say what you want about the individual tracks, but this is one of the most beautifully sequenced albums ever.

really? some of the transitions don't seem to make sense to me.

or rather there don't seem to be many transitions; it's like a vaudeville show... "bring on the next act!"

that's not necessarily a bad thing, it just keeps me from easily comprehending it as a totality rather than a collection of individual tracks

sorry if i offended you, jones

the tracks are definitely connected, although in kind of subtle ways. e.g. "Within" has the same chord progression as the chorus of "Instant Crush," "Touch" has the same chord progression as "Get Lucky" in certain places

it's possible i need to listen straight through a few more times.

I think ending the record Motherboard --> Fragments --> Doin It Right --> Contact is pretty amazing from a sequencing perspective.

The synth arpeggios that knit these songs together are sublime.

This album is deeper than their others, many fans can't get this and are irate cos their sports team has let them down. And some others just never watched this sport.

Actually thinking about the harmonic cycles they use on this album + the "melancholy" people keep talking about -- the only songs (iirc) that contain a proper major tonic chord are Fragments of Time and Contact, and Fragments is the only one where there's a real sense of resolution to that major I. The other songs float around the ii, iii, IV, V, and vi chords, which keep it in a moodier vibe.

yeah the first time i heard it i was on drugs and def felt real sad + melancholic. happy to report that album doesn't sound that sad anymore

this is probably

the worst album I have heard in many an age

*shakes head in disgust*

i love how divisive this album is

they should call this the newest joy division album amirite

well I certainly won't be "hanging" around to listen to it

This album is deeper than their others, many fans can't get this and are irate cos their sports team has let them down. And some others just never watched this sport.

― ... (LocalGarda), Friday, May 17, 2013 8:21 PM (18 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that's kinda condescending

I wish I could pick out chord sequences by ear other than super-obvious I-IV-V stuff :(

xps to crut

This is a really enjoyable album with music that I really like and I'm not sorry that they conducted an effective marketing campaign which appealed to my sensibilities then used the power internet streaming to allow me to listen to it several times that "so I would take my car, would go to a discotheque" keeps kicking about my head.

However, I appreciate this is a totally incorrect opinion and will cleanse myself with the realness of Taylor Swift, whose music speaks for itself and does not need require shady marketing gimmicks.

Also: can you get a Daft Punk Showbag at the Wee Waa Show or what?

My favorite lex fallacy here is actually kind of the inverse of the one everyone's jumping on him for. Rather it's the assumption that because we are listening to something hyped up and popular, we can't be bothered to listen to anything that doesn't have this kind of momentum behind it, as if I haven't been listening to Clipping and RP Boo all week too.

is it just softcore 70s chillin that's making me associate this with kaputt, or is it something else

dunno, but kaputt is softcore 80s chillin

honestly don't understand that comparison

i like this "album" but it feels wrong putting it that way since I can hardly hear this an "album." it doesn't seem to flow in any meaningful sense, each song is like a world unto its own. or maybe it's just very poorly sequenced. but i really admire several songs (so far) but can't really get a coherent picture of this as an "album."

― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Friday, May 17, 2013 4:09 PM (2 hours ago)

everybody else otm, the sequencing & flow are jaw-dropping. there's a sense of constant channel-switching, but it's not at all arbitrary. it feels inevitable, even necessary, and the vibe never falters. "yes, of course this is where that door leads, has always led." contrast can be more satisfying & meaningful than smooth continuity. the trick is to make the contrasting elements build on one another, which i think random access memories does extremely well. tbh, i don't think i've heard a more successfully "album-oriented" album in years.

had a weird experience w "touch" earlier today when trying to listen to it in isolation. it wasn't bad, but it made me feel like my hair was on backwards. i couldn't quite make sense of it without the buildup (though i'm sure that'll change in time).i like this "album" but it feels wrong putting it that way since I can hardly hear this an "album." it doesn't seem to flow in any meaningful sense, each song is like a world unto its own. or maybe it's just very poorly sequenced. but i really admire several songs (so far) but can't really get a coherent picture of this as an "album."

― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Friday, May 17, 2013 4:09 PM (2 hours ago)

everybody else otm, the sequencing & flow are jaw-dropping. there's a sense of constant channel-switching, but it's not at all arbitrary. it feels inevitable, even necessary, and the vibe never falters. "yes, of course this is where that door leads, has always led." contrast can be more satisfying & meaningful than smooth continuity. the trick is to make the contrasting elements build on one another, which i think random access memories does extremely well. tbh, i don't think i've heard a more successfully "album-oriented" album in years.

had a weird experience w "touch" earlier today when trying to listen to it in isolation. it wasn't bad, but it made me feel like my hair was on backwards. i couldn't quite make sense of it without the buildup (though i'm sure that'll change in time).

:?

putting "Touch" right between the two Pharrell jams is just perverse. I still haven't decided whether that track is awful or brilliant

Yeah, anyone who says this isn't well sequenced is nuts. That fast zoom from the end of Giorgio which feels like watching a building explode to the mouse-on-the-keys-carl-craig-it's-sounds-massive-because-it's-near style of Within is super fun. If anything I'm not entirely convinced we needed both Fragments of Time and Doin' It Right, but that's okay. Also, they pulled out the old Discovery robot model for the end of Fragments of Time.

honestly don't understand that comparison

― controversial vegan pregnancy (contenderizer), Friday, May 17, 2013 9:14 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i don't either! it just...sorta made sense to me at the time? i think it's the slick production and nostalgia or something

i think it makes sense. it is evoking nostalgia for the slicker end of 70's music, and not all albums do that.

you guys know Paul Williams album with the Holy Mackerel I hope? such a great album. Paul and Roger Nichols and Richard Perry an unbeatable team. Roger Nichols more of a hero to me than just about anyone mentioned on this thread. more than Nile. maybe tied with moroder. ha! shit sorry just brought things back to steely dan. sorry! I wasn't even trying to.

scott if i come to yr shop with a hundo will you load me up with sweet records

I got lots of records. good ones too.

wait no I didn't actually bring it back to steely dan. I was talking about Roger Nichols songwriter/arranger. not Roger Nichols superstar engineer. though I love him too. those two dudes confuse me. they both worked with the carpenters! what are the odds? anyway paul and roger were amazing together. I listen to the sandpipers way more than I listen to chic.

If anything I'm not entirely convinced we needed both Fragments of Time and Doin' It Right, but that's okay.

― Popture, Friday, May 17, 2013 7:28 PM (17 minutes ago)

"fragments" is still the only track i don't need. throws me out of the groove, deposits me briefly in a clean and well-lit waiting room well-stocked with nice magazines, but i can't escape the feeling that i'm missing some essential happening down on the lido deck.

but i'm sure daft punk are Roger Nichols fans. all cool people are.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwBuXQy1MD4

"Fragments" and "Doin' It Right" are prob my two favorite tracks on the album

the engineer Roger Nichols did this for show biz kids by steely dan. always thought this was really cool:

"It was just one of those tunes that that was so very difficult to play exactly in tempo, with every instrument in sync. ... There were no drum machines in those days, so we made a 24 track, eight bar tape loop, which at 30 ips was a considerable length of tape, trailed it out through the door into the studio, around a little idler which was set up on a camera tripod, back into the studio and then copied that to a second 24 track machine. Everything was on tape except the lead vocal and the lead guitar. It worked like a dream.

but anyway my fave song on the the daft punk album is the 2nd one. the game of love. its pretty.

Everytime it goes "Giorgio" --> "Within", I feel disappointed that the synth pulse at the end of the former doesn't become the beat for the next track.

i love within though. would you want to move it somewhere else on the album or get rid of it?

ehh, I like it's definitely one of the lesser tracks here

I just want that beat to continue is the point, more than anything to do with "Within"

It feels like a lost opportunity

If anything I'm not entirely convinced we needed both Fragments of Time and Doin' It Right, but that's okay. Also, they pulled out the old Discovery robot model for the end of Fragments of Time.

― Popture, Friday, May 17, 2013 7:28 PM (17 minutes ago)

but that pulse leads off into THE FUTURE! it is extra-dimensional, like that kid with bruce willis face. you have to wait and see where it goes.

and no fooling some of the downbeat stuff really does remind me of daft punk's dad! I would have actually loved to hear more piano on the new album. I will always love the mix of acoustic piano and electro stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hy6l_VbPhxc