Daft Punk Research Papers

At some point, circa 2014, it became uncool to like Daft Punk. In a flurry of wedding discos choreographed to Get Lucky, the Parisian robots, whose name was once synonymous with the cutting edge in electronic music, seemed to become homogenous and played out; even your nan liked that “up all night” tune. Indeed, to truly understand the context in which this article takes place, we need to go back to February 2001, when the duo’s sleek, sexy sophomore Discovery was first released. The cultural landscape which music both shapes and inhabits was on the cusp of a great change; not only had the world only a year prior seen in the new millennium, but we were mere months away from events which would change the course of history (and by extension,

However, with Discovery, Daft Punk took the filter house trend which had been trickling out of France for almost five years and turned it on its head. French touch, as the style became known, broke free of the chains of cheesy Euro house which dominated the late 1990s in favour of an altogether upmarket sound based on disco loops and a steady, grooving beat. The style wasn’t altogether alien to European listeners; Stardust’s Music Sounds Better with You (produced by Thomas Bangalter, a.k.a. one-half of Daft Punk) was already three years old at that point, and one of the biggest hits of the previous summer had been Modjo’s Lady (Hear Me Tonight). Nonetheless, Discovery was the first true French touch record to have a real impact on the charts – and listening with adult ears, it is clear

Digital Love and One More Time) in a way that makes it an accessible dance record without the overt commerciality of 2013’s disappointing Random Access Memories. For me, some of the best work on the album comes in the form of the slinky, club-ready tracks such as High Life and Voyager, which challenge the notion of house music as a spectacular, fist-pumping affair – Discovery opened me up to a more sedate, yet ultimately incredibly dance-able style of music. Equally, the nostalgic nods to the music that inspired Bangalter and Homem-Christo is both knowing and fresh, and never feels sneering, ironic or dated. Even Short Circuit, a squiggly homage to Prince’s 80s output, has a distinctly modern Daft Punk flavour to it, in the form of an unexpectedly melancholic, electronically tinged second half. Critics of the album may cite the slightly saccharine nature of some of the album’s lyrical work as one of its downfalls, but in order to understand Discovery as a house record, the listener needs to approach it with an open mind and an appreciation for form over function. Discovery is, ultimately, an album of house music – a genre which has never been known for its profound lyrical content. Here, Daft Punk are not professing to spread some great philosophy or critical analysis, and the “shut-up-and-dance” mantra of One More Time is a reflection of