Daft Punk's Random Access Memories

these guys might have a grasp of how repetition works in electro/techno/whatever you want to call it, but I don't think they know how to effectively employ it in other contexts. like, say disco-prog.

what makes something that is repetitious boring or not? is it the length of the repeated part? is it the repeated part's quality? how similar does a part need to be to the previous part for it to be labeled 'a repeat'? can you please isolate a section of a song that you think is boring because it's repetitious? do daft punk really want to employ repetition? because fact remains that the taxes they would levy on disco-prog would ultimately hurt repetition, no?

okay, take Give Life Back to Music, which has essentially two parts: a turnaround/breakdown and a simple four-chord verse. The only melody to speak of is the vocoder line, which pops up and gets repeated ad nauseum with no variation when it does. This is all there is to the song, yet it goes on for 4 1/2 minutes, waiting for something else to happen. It's structured like a pop song, but contains none of pop's dynamics, no narrative, no building of tension followed by release, the instrumental elements don't build on each other. After the fourth or fifth time I've heard the vocoder refrain, I'm sick of it.

and like all the individual elements are pleasant enough, the guitars sound great, the drums sound great, the bass is rubbery, the vocoder melody is serviceable, but all of the parts just kind of lay there.

AROUND THE WORLD A-ROUND THE WOOOOORLD AROUND THE WORLD A-ROUND THE WOOOOORLD AROUND THE WORLD A-ROUND THE WOOOOORLD AROUND THE WORLD A-ROUND THE WOOOOORLD AROUND THE WORLD A-ROUND THE WOOOOORLD AROUND THE WORLD A-ROUND THE WOOOOORLD AROUND THE WORLD A-ROUND THE WOOOOORLD AROUND THE WORLD A-ROUND THE WOOOOORLD AROUND THE WORLD A-ROUND THE WOOOOORLD AROUND THE WORLD A-ROUND THE WOOOOORLD AROUND THE WORLD A-ROUND THE WOOOOORLD AROUND THE WORLD A-ROUND THE WOOOOORLD AROUND THE WORLD A-ROUND THE WOOOOORLD AROUND THE WORLD A-ROUND THE WOOOOORLD AROUND THE WORLD A-ROUND THE WOOOOORLD AROUND THE WORLD A-ROUND THE WOOOOORLD AROUND THE WORLD A-ROUND THE WOOOOORLD AROUND THE WORLD A-ROUND THE WOOOOORLD AROUND THE WORLD A-ROUND THE WOOOOORLD AROUND THE WORLD A-ROUND THE WOOOOORLD AROUND THE WORLD A-ROUND THE WOOOOORLD AROUND THE WORLD A-ROUND THE WOOOOORLD AROUND THE WORLD A-ROUND THE WOOOOORLD AROUND THE WORLD A-ROUND THE WOOOOORLD AROUND THE WORLD A-ROUND THE WOOOOORLD AROUND THE WORLD A-ROUND THE WOOOOORLD AROUND THE WORLD A-ROUND THE WOOOOORLD AROUND THE WORLD A-ROUND THE WOOOOORLD AROUND THE WORLD A-ROUND THE WOOOOORLD AROUND THE WORLD A-ROUND THE WOOOOORLD AROUND THE WORLD A-ROUND THE WOOOOORLD AROUND THE WORLD A-ROUND THE WOOOOORLD AROUND THE WORLD A-ROUND THE WOOOOORLD

this is the first daft punk album I've ever listened to btw, so appealing to "older, better" stuff basically means nothing to me thx for playing

Then maybe Daft Punk generally aren't for you. I mean, if this is how you feel about 'Give Life Back To Music', then listening to the full version of 'Around The World' is severely going to test your patience.

I like prog disco and moroder and paul williams and whatnot so I thought hey maybe this one WAS for me but what do I know

these guys might have a grasp of how repetition works in electro/techno/whatever you want to call it, but I don't think they know how to effectively employ it in other contexts. like, say disco-prog.

― the Spanish Porky's (Shakey Mo Collier)

Once you free your mind about a concept of harmony and music being correct, you can do whatever you want.

otm

lol

as someone who has played the album a little too much, the weakpoints are: pharrell, that lose yourself to dance is more 80s than 70s nile (not that i dont like lets dance, etc, i just think 70s nile would fit the rest of the album better), the limp EQing of too many of the drums, that string sample on beyond, the slightly dated 90s and compressed dj shadow-sounding drum breaks on contact (the original version from a decade back is so much better), the bombastic conclusion to the moroder song (l absolutely love the rest of it though). dont get the complaints that give life back to music is repetitive - it is, but in a good way, plus i just see it as replicating chic songwriting structure, plus its such a good riff/hookline, i really dont mind. i could also do without some of the cluttering/pro-tool excess on touch, even though the song has ended up being one of my favourites. i notice that more when you place it next to a song like fragments of time or the casablancas song, though i understand that not every song can have that kind of production clarity.

may I posit, just a little theory I'd like to throw out into the wind, that people who think "Lose Yourself to Dance" is undanceable are total dumbfucks?

lose yourself to dance is more 80s than 70s nile

this is otm tho

xpost - yeah, that riff is one of the funkiest guitar parts ive heard in years.

Yeah I definitely get a more late 80s vibe from Lose Yourself to Dance than a 70's vibe. Like I keep get reminded of late 80's funk-rock bands when it first starts up and half expect Mike Patton or Anthony Kedis to start rapping.

Lose Yourself to Dance remains my favourite song on here. It's strange because it is essentially the same all the way through and does last six minutes but in the last ten seconds when you hear Pharrell start to sing "I know you don't get a chance to break this often" (for the fourth time!) I'm always sad it fades out at that moment and most times I have to put it on repeat. There is something about that song that is just so addictive and it's not just Pharrell's wimpy little "Guitar" moments which are still my favourite thing about the whole album. That and Giorgio's "I know the synthesizer, why don't I use the synthesizer"

i love giorgio's monologue but my brother hates it. quote: "how is this pleasant, catchy music abandoning any idea of 'harmony' or how music is supposed to be???"

your bro is geir hongro?

lol.

What would Geir make of an album such as this, pop in theory but oddly rockist in execution?

How does this work? Say his name three times in front of the mirror. Hold on...

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS2DFD69hQhHADZeehnSf8QK2loLtYeYR43ba6jL9qJpr5BbhNKQw

Shit, that wasn't it.

I've been away for a year and a half, where did Geir go anyway?

Random Geir Memories

Geirorgio Moroder

What would Geir make of an album such as this, pop in theory but oddly rockist in execution?

― Josh in Chicago

This is Geir's 18th favourite album of the year. He rates it behind Beady Eye, Ocean Colour Scene and Spock's Beard(?) amongst others. He does rate it higher than The Knife, Vampire Weekend and Phoenix though. Not sure what this all means but I don't think he loves it. It probably sounds like I'm making this all up but let's just say discovering he is on Rate Your Music has brought me a lot of joy.

lovely. i am FPing you like fuck as we speak.

Painting is the tenth studio album by Ocean Colour Scene, released on 11 February 2013.[1] The album charted at #49 in its first week of release.

Huh.

I was considering posting his profile but I'm not sure how fair that is to him. It's pretty easy to find. He has lists of his 100 favourite albums of each year since the 60's, spoiler alert ...Crowded House do very well.

well at least somebody is prepared to give his important liberal views a platform

lovely. i am FPing you like fuck as we speak.

― The drone that was played caused panic and confusion (Noodle Vague)

I had to look up what this meant..ha!

come on now you can't fp a poster who took an associates song as their screen name

Thanks!

Geir once described the Associates as being ruined by Billy's screechy vocals (or something along those lines) Oh Geir..

Hasn't he been off this whole time building a Norwegian version of ILX or something?

i love giorgio's monologue but my brother hates it. quote: "how is this pleasant, catchy music abandoning any idea of 'harmony' or how music is supposed to be???"

― Treeship, Monday, June 24, 2013 8:37 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

your bro is geir hongro?

― The Reverend, Monday, June 24, 2013 8:39 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that doesn't sound like a geir viewpoint, and anyway his bro is otm

naw, that's dummy shit

i googled Geir Hongro and stumbled across a rateyormusic thread where he was being discussed disparagingly, but in a more mean spirited way than i've seen on ilx. i wonder why he hangs out over there. the level of discourse seemed.... low.

This is what he wrote on his RYM homepage.

My musical taste will always be all about genre. If it has certain stylistic elements, I will love it. If it has certain stylistic elements I prefer music not to have, I will hate it. Simple as that. So anything that has interesting (but catchy) melodies and harmonies that go just slightly beyond the typical harmonic structures, I will love, particularly if it also has a polished production, perfect playing and beautiful vocal harmonies mixed all the way in stereo. Plus as few rough edges as possible.

On the other hand, music that is noisy, has little or no sense of melody or harmony, screaming or growling vocals or any other kind of exaggerated express of emotion (anger or depression in particular) I will probably hate. This goes for virtually all hip-hop and most of today's metal, for instance. Plus the majority of acclaimed "classical" music from around 1920 or later.

Otherwise, my lists tell more about my musical taste than the ratings do. But to make the best impression, read the year lists from the top and don't care too much about the albums near the bottom. An album that makes #92 in my year list is usually not an album that I consider to be particularly good, at least not unless it was an unusually good year for music like the first half of the 80s tended to be.

very clinical taste. such objective criteria.

Poor Geir, it's time for him to come home.

pouring one out for geir and also markers, who is "taking a break" iirc. pouring two out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1tAYmMjLdY

for at least a year i thought Geir Hongro was Gear!'s pseudonym

not to say that i assumed the latter could wield such arrogant challops

I love the giorgio track, both the music and the spoken words.
after so many times, it still cracks me up and gives me joy : the moment when the synth kicks in after "everybody calls me giorgio", the lounge-party break down, the scratching/snare hits crescendo...

Now that we're 6,000 posts in or whatever, I guess it's ok for the dilettantes to weigh in. I'm a casual DP fan (i.e. I only have Discovery and the 2007 live album) and I grabbed this off emusic mostly because I like "Get Lucky." I listened to the album the first time on a warm morning while I was mowing my lawn. It was close-to-perfect lawnmowing music. I am looking forward to playing it on our annual pontoon-boat outing later this summer. (Pontoon rock!) My 8-yr-old son likes the album and put "Game of Love" on his most recent mix CD. Which is to say, I think this is a very pleasant record and I think "Get Lucky" will still be around in 20 years.

Neil Tennant:

Q:What did you think of the Daft Punk album?

A: It’s very ambitious. This has been the year of two amazing marketing campaigns: David Bowie’s, and Daft Punk’s. They both revolve around neither artist having made a record for a while and creating a lot of anticipation.

Q: He says, releasing his second album in the space of a year.

A: Exactly! (Laughs) The total opposite of what we’ve done. But they’ve also been about selling an idea. If you compare it with us, we go to Los Angeles, we make an album, we use the people who sang on Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ and all the rest of it, but we don’t make a big deal of that. We mention it in passing – we don’t say ‘we’re making a classic Los Angeles album and we’re drawing upon the history of Los Angeles to do that’. We don’t like to do anything that’s retro. We like to think, in our own way, that we’re moving on. Although with Daft Punk it’s exciting to think they’ve worked with Giorgio Moroder and Nile Rodgers. It’s a soft rock album really, isn’t it?

Q: It’s interesting that people have said ‘oh here come Daft Punk showing the EDM lot how to make dance music’, because it’s not really a dance album. It would have been great if they’d stormed back with a smart electronic album to show the world that yes, you can actually make bright and brilliant dance music… This feels a bit like backing away from the fight. I mean if you walk away from a fight you win in a way, but not as much as you win by knocking someone out.

A: I mean on Nile Rodgers’ tracks he’s really earning his share – the first track is really just Chic, isn’t it. Have you read the Nile Rodgers book? It’s very good. He defines a pop song: the verse is only an excuse for the chorus, and the chorus is only an excuse for the breakdown. I said to Chris, ‘we should paint that on the wall of the studio’. It’s totally true. What I like on the Daft Punk album are the ballads: track two, for instance. They sound like Art Garfunkel is about to come on and sing. It feels like a very interesting and luxuriously created and expensive record and the idea is presented that this isn’t the sort of thing people do nowadays, although if you go to Los Angeles or Nashville you’ll find people doing that seven days a week. But they don’t have a computerised vocal on it.

"the verse is only an excuse for the chorus, and the chorus is only an excuse for the breakdown"
Love this !

neil sounds peevish abt the success of other people's marketing. market better. and yeah, nile otm. about the verse anyway...

"get lucky", "give life back to music" and "instant crush" and "lose yourself to dance" still sound great on a sunny day with the windows down. the rest have dropped out of regular rotation.

at this point, i'm somewhat torn about this one. i like it and had a very good time getting acquainted, but i'm not sure i can call it a "great pop record". though the production is seductive and the hooks appealing, the emotional interior seems rather sparsely populated. it just doesn't have much tangible personality. that's clearly the point, both of random access memories and of daft punk in general, but RAM's pop ambitions seem somewhat at odds with this. suspect that the mechanical insubstantiality will rob it of staying power. suppose i'll be better able to say by the end of the year.