Daft Punk's Random Access Memories

how has the term "new jersey" never once been used itt

This first came out just after I was made redundant, and it genuinely "helped me through a difficult time" - I remember thinking of it as referencing the past to offer up a prayer for the future. I'd never been much invested in DP as an album act before, so didn't have any weight of expectation, and was soothed/invigorated/intoxicated by what I experienced as a unique sound-world.

I ended up playing it too often, and got to the point where I no longer got anything from it. So when I read some of the recent criticisms upthread, I wondered whether I'd been over-investing in what had turned out to be a weak piece of work.

Seeing that the vinyl is now worth a decent amount on Discogs, I listed it for sale a couple of days ago, then gave it a farewell play... only to find that it had almost completely renewed itself, and that what had worked as a life-beyond-redundancy soundtrack now worked as a life-beyond-lockdown soundtrack. Now as then, there's something deeply reassuring at its core. None of the songs felt too long or too repetitive (although I've certainly sometimes felt that with some of their all-electronic work), and I luxuriated in its textures. "Touch" into "Get Lucky" still felt like the fulcrum of the whole set, and the positioning of those two tracks on Side Three still felt just right.

Halfway through Side Four, the record sold. If it hadn't, I might have withdrawn the sales listing.

Daft Punk reveals tenth anniversary edition of Random Access Memories with unreleased materialhttps://t.co/wLoXkPxDAn

— Resident Advisor (@residentadvisor) February 22, 2023

...includes nine unreleased tracks totaling 35 minutes. Among the bonus material are alternate versions of "Get Lucky," "Lose Yourself To Dance" and "Give Life Back To Music," unfinished demos and other behind-the-scenes recordings. There's also the 2021 version of "Touch" used in the duo's farewell video.

01. Give Life Back To Music
02. The Game Of Love
03. Giorgio By Moroder
04. Within
05. Instant Crush
06. Lose Yourself To Dance
07. Touch
08. Get Lucky
09. Beyond
10. Motherboard
11. Fragments of Time
12. Doin' it right
13. Contact
14. Horizon (Japan CD)
15. GLBTM (Studio Outtakes)
16. Infinity Repeating (2013 Demo)
17. GL (Early Take)
18. Prime (2012 Unfinished)
19. LYTD (Vocoder Tests)
20. The Writing of Fragments Of Time
21. Touch (2021 Epilogue)

Columbia Records will release Random Access Memories (10th Anniversary Edition) on May 12th, 2023.

10 years? Jfc I'm old

Wait til you find out how old Homework is this year

Homework does feel like a long time ago tho, RAM feels like about 3 years back

A song called Vocoder Tests by Daft Punk excites me.

GLBTM (studio outtakes) out today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiZfLvLU5Jc

oh, and this was out a Month ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYKekR6661o

A song called Vocoder Tests by Daft Punk excites me.

― Psychocandy Apple Grey (Pyschocandles)

It’s not a song. It’s literal vocoder tests for “lose yourself to dance”

why the hell aren't those strings on the actual "Give Life Back To Music"

They are released a "drumless" version of this album. Seems pointless to me, but maybe the drums were a late addition to the album? might as well just put up all the mixing tracks and see what people can do.

Drumless and no-vocals would be interesting

someone's got a contractual obligation to fulfill with Columbia!!!

Discovery (sample less edition) coming up

This idea is wack tbh.

Random Access Memories (4’33” mix)

Within version is out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLa3JlGANuU

^ tbf, that's a pretty great version

I'm weirdly and unexpectedly really digging this version. Sounds like the best produced muzak ever, highlighting stuff i'd never noticed on the original. A bit of an odd flex but nails what it's meant to achieve - making people listen to the album with fresh ears

As I said upthread, if they took the vocals out too, that would be even better

"We took all the music out." "Ah...excellence."

Also most of the music

I also like this version more than I expected to, but I also wasn't feeling especially cynical about it to begin with

Unsurprisingly the uptempo stuff doesn't work that well - Lose Yourself to Dance is agonizingly long and dull - but the maudlin stuff at the beginning sounds really nice, in a 1986 aging yuppie kinda way

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLiG1H9QH_4

session drummer/percussionist on RAM says he was involved with sessions for a new album in 2018 and has heard they're working on that material again recently