Daft Punk - Human After All

this is a good album. If you stop comparing it to past glories long enough to listen to it properly you might find that you enjoy it.

my thoughts:

Human After All - This strikes me as a pure Daft Punk single. I love the subtle guitars here and in a way i wish they had used that guitar tone from the left channel a lot more on the rest of the record. I smile everytime that riff comes in and the vocoderised vocals kind of gurgle 'we are human after all'. The notion of such a robotic voice repeating 'we are human after all' for so long before going nuts at the end is so simple but it works; and that is the 'Daft Punk magic'.

Prime Time Of Your Life - Abrasive is the word that has been tossed around by some about this album. A feeling definately captured in this. Such a slow awkward build up until the vocal dualing just collapses into a drone and the track is destroyed. It's almost as if they are toying with us.

Robot Rock - Ha, i love that intro. It's even better with the knowledge that it's the first single back. The guitars seem to be singing 'rock robot rock' even before the vocals come in. It just makes so much sense.

Steam Machine - INDUSTIAL! woah. I like the repetativeness (here and the rest of the album). The riff is so strong that the subtle changes throughout bring all the momentum crashing back in when the motif finally returns in its original guise. The track is too long though. But...

Make Love - After the assualt of 'Steam Machine' here is Daft Punk effortlessly pouring a billion emotions into what appears to be a very repetative (why can't i spell that word right now?) song. Get out a pen and some paper and just write down what emotions are here. It's bittersweet, it's wistful, it's celebratory almost. Yes, My Bloody Valentine did the same trick in places and i don't think for a minute Daft Punk are trying to emulate that band but they are tapping into the same vein in a different era and a different genre. And what's more it comes across as being produced with such effortless ease.

The Brainwasher - This track was built to destroy the dancefloor.

On/off - I think this is just here to make up the '10 tracks' for an album.

Television Rules The Nation - This is actually one of my favourites, the kick drum has a slight squeak in it and it sounds great set against those guitars. And i know they use the same sound everywhere but when that bass finally comes in it makes me happy. Happy to be alive and listening to Daft Punk.

Technologic - That vocal is so hot. And funny. I can't wait to learn this by heart. If they were teasing us at the start of the album they are laughing with us now. They are extending their hands - "come on, join the Daft Punk party!"

Emotion - Parts of this album do seem inhuman. It's like all of it has been pulled aside and emotion is what reigns above all. It's so hypnotising and shoegaze. I can hear so many different sounds in here. And that bassline, simple as it is, is fucking killer.

Well yes and no. I was thinking about this the other day and for me Daft Punk (having reached this Kraftwerkian level) demand total affirmation. It's religious music in a way. Why even bother criticizing it? It's like criticizing the sky.

I'm firmly on the Toby side of things like this. Even Steam Machine has clicked with me now - I think its the bit half way through where the loop sounds like its being turned inside out that does it for me.

The way the piano goes for when the voice comes in going "looooove" is really amazing, like kind of romantic and sad and uplifting all at once.

it's as much a house record as 'Love Lost' tho...so yes and no! it reminds me a lot of the soulful Chicago house of old, an echo, without actually saying it is that, or saying anything really. and it doesn't do anything a whole bunch of other records like that don't. i still like it tho!

makes it seem like something at the back of their minds since 9/11

It is about having TERROR SEX.

We'll make a proper Anglophile out of you yet. Um, guv'nor, gorblimey etc.

God. This album is such a fucking plod. Anyone who calls this a top ten album gets a confused shake of the head, anyone who calls this the best album of the year gets my derision, and anyone who calls this better than Discovery is my eternal enemy.