Dyl’s DIscog Dives

Artist: Daft Punk

Genre: EDM/French Club/Techno/Jazz/Disco/Funk/Acid House

Projects: 5 Albums

Active:1993-95-2021

Hello everybody, welcome back to the No Skip Show! This is Dylan Tormey, Co-Creator and Lead Writer, introducing a brand new series of me listening through artists and bands entire discography and laying out my thoughts for everyone to read, or listen to, and enjoy in their entirety. This series will of course be my own personal opinions and criticisms, there will be obvious bias at times, so any counter points or debates are welcome, just please keep it civil. For the very first discog dive, to no one's surprise, will be influential French house, techno, EDM, powerhouse duo Daft Punk themselves!

Those of you who follow the channel, especially through our socials, you may already know that Daft Punk is one of my all time favorite musical artists. With a career spanning from the early-mid 90s all the way to the very beginning of the 2020s, with over 26 nominations in various musical categories for differing award shows and many wins at the World Music Awards, as well as a few Grammys under their belt and producing for many hit artists like the Weeknd and Pharell Williams, it's no surprise that I am obsessed with them.

Although having a previous indie-rock band named Darling in the early 90s, Daft Punk was formed shortly after in 1993, gaining the name from British music critic Melody Mark’s dismissive comment about a Darling album, stating its “daft punky thrash”. The electric duo consists of Thomas Bangalter (silver helmet) and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo (gold helmet), who met early on in life in 1987 while attending secondary school in Paris, France.

I figured for the very first entry into the series to start with someone not too extensive in length or background, with only 5 albums through their storied history, but also just as impactful as a dozen albums and multiple EPs, if not more so. Almost every album is just a little over an hour long however, but don’t let that intimidate you because every second is very much worth it! Every album has its own story to tell with each of the songs being their own separate chapters in a different book. So, without further ado and to stem my yammering, let's dive in!

Da Funk, Single: 5min 34sec (Released: May 8, 1995):

Now this isn’t an album, but this is the very first release the duo put out under the Daft Punk name, along with the single Musique, Da Funk being featured on their 1997 debut album that's next on this list and Musique making cameo-like appearances throughout the record. It is a perfect introduction for what early Daft Punk is all about; chill, groovy, experimental, funky, house bangers, budding EDM. This wasn’t the first song I heard by them however, that being either Around the World or Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger, but still quite an influential one in my listening. The 5 and a half minute runtime is a breeze as this song goes down like a cold glass of water; being very smooth, transcendent, funky, and filled to the brim with noise or something to grab your attention. In its base form it is some of the earliest, and most perfected, house/club music in the mid 90s. 

Homework, Album: 1hr 14min (Released: January 17, 1997):

As one can expect for late 90s EDM/house/techno; it is very experimental, weird at times, can be slightly repetitive, but best described as a masterpiece of abstract art; that's Daft Punks Homework. If you aren’t including the TRON: Legacy soundtrack as an official Daft Punk Album, which I am, then this record would be tied for the longest release by the band. However, it goes by in a breeze. The main, perfect quality Daft Punk possesses in my opinion is the ability to make gorgeous, long, drawn-out, works of art that seemingly pass by in an instant. This album, along with Discovery and R.A.M., entrap you in the story they are attempting to tell and take you on a soul-shattering journey. As soon as you begin to just faintly grasp the overarching meaning of life you find yourself lost in the tracks, zooming through time and space, hitting replay by the time you phase back to reality to experience it all again, at least that's what I do.

While Homework isn’t as psychedelic or transportative as Discovery or R.A.M., there are still songs and moments where you can find yourself just staring off at the wall and lightly bopping your head along to the rhythm or lost in deep thought, but then there’s other moments where you straight up feel like the embodiment of an early 20 year old on ecstasy, dancing your heart out at a local underground rave sweating all over everyone. This record, as per its time, leans more into the punk-like, underground, noise-filled, jam tracks, something you’d hear in a club in 90s Berlin. The focus is more on the music and instrumentation more so than lyrics or length as this album features minimal lyrics outside of the few tracks featuring a robotic vocalist, a staple throughout their entire discography. 

The duality of this album, and the band themselves, is what I love because you can really find a song that speaks directly to you, including any of the hits from it like the aforementioned Da Funk, the infamous Around the World, or Revolution 909 and Rollin’ & Scratchin’. These four songs, along with maybe a few others, could perfectly embody the entirety of this album if you were looking for a sparknotes version, each being on average 7 minutes long making each song a journey in of themselves. As opposed to any of their later releases, the “story” of this album is more elusive and less linear than future works but still maintains a loose structure geared towards maintaining your independence, youth, freedom, and ability to party and have fun, with a few music videos and promotional works reinforcing the point of not letting the establishment get your mood down. For a starting point into the duo, Homework is the pinnacle of what you can expect down the road; masterpieces composed to make you feel, think, and experience a wide range of emotions within a little over an hour but wanting more.

Discovery, Album: 1hr 1min (Released: March 12, 2001):

Now this album is a complete 180 compared to their first release, and also the album that would cement the duo as a powerhouse in the EDM, techno, house, pop, etc. markets for years to come. This also happens to be the album where I fully learned about and dove into Daft Punk, all thanks to one of my childhood best friends showing me the music videos in middle school. And it happened to be my favorite before I discovered R.A.M. My tiny brain was blown away at the thought of an animated, literally anime, series telling a full, fleshed-out story through EDM music videos. I never even heard of the band or their music up until this point but man was it a snowball effect. If you were to listen to Discovery first then Homework, kind of like I did, then you wouldn’t even know it's the very same duo. I mean just from the first two tracks you are blasted into an entirely different atmosphere and setting compared to Homework.

One More Time itself being the introduction tells you that you are in for a very pleasant and fun ride in the next hour but will be exploring completely different genres of music. As Homework was more French house and club inspired, Discovery rockets right into the bedrock of what modern EDM, techno, drum n bass, and other adjacent genres would sound like but also fused with 80s inspired pop, techno, and disco. Another great note I’d love to give to Daft Punk is their seamless transitions between songs throughout their entire lifespan. Going from One More Time straight into Aerodynamic with the tolling bell is a chefs kiss as the latter hits you with the more “whacky”, fast-paced, EDM/techno side of this album by starting off with a banging, head-bumping, dance beat that leads into a face-melting guitar solo Van Halen would be jealous of. But, my absolute favorite song of the album, and one of them overall along with Something About Us also from Discovery, Digital Love winds down the introductions to the album, and the story itself, by introducing us to the more straightforward pop and disco elements in the album as well as notes of hopeful vigor and glamour in its story. I call it a love letter to the 80s, as the corresponding video is a love letter to one of the main characters, but also it is one of the more straight 80s sounding songs.

I have my preferred songs of the album but this is truly one album where not a single track is bad whatsoever, each one is worth it in their own respects and could not be removed or replaced without destroying the DNA of the record. I could dissect each and every song but we would be here just as long as it takes to listen to every Daft Punk record. To simply put it, there is a reason these guys were so revolutionary from the day they put the helmets on to the day they would eventually retire and it mainly all stems from this piece of work. If Homework was the album that introduced the world to Daft Punk, Discovery is the album that made them stay in it. This album really pushed the game further for the duo as its success is what exploded them into a mainstay for the music industry and cultural relevance. Even 25 years after its release Discovery still holds up like it was released just this decade. The quality and the extra mile of an insanely well-written series of animated music videos made specifically to each song for an overarching story is what makes this album, and Daft Punk, one of my favorite artistic creations ever.

Human After All, Album: 45min 38sec (Released: March 14, 2005):

This album is a little bit of a black sheep in the discography, but that doesn’t mean it's bad or any lesser compared to the others. It's the shortest of the duo's albums and one with the least amount of hits or commercial success, but it is still very much worth the listen and discussion. The only main difference between this release and the others is what I already mentioned, its shorter and didn’t have as wide an impact as their other works, however to say its the worst or bad or anything would be straight up blasphemy. The best way to describe this album for me would be as if the band tried to go back to their roots and recreate Homework almost ten years later.

There’s a lot of experimentation on this album like with the heavy industrial, steampunk type inspired beats, and a lot of similarity to sounds and styles on Homework but still keeping the 80s influences from Discovery. The biggest example of this being the largest track from the album, Robot Rock, featuring simple, straight-forward 80s inspired drums and guitar interpolated from Breakwater’s Release the Beast mixed with their signature robotic vocals and tons of added synthetic enhancements to make it their own. I like to stylize it in the way that Human After All is more of a sequel to Homework than Discovery, like if they were to release Homework, Human After All, then Discovery it would make perfect sense. Other well known singles attributed to this record are Human After All, Technologic, and Make Love, two of the three featuring the famous robot vocals with the latter of the three being a chill, silky smooth, angelic instrumental that you could well, make love to. Like I said, this album isn’t as significant as the others in terms of breaking the mold or changing the game, but it is still one that you should listen to, being the shortest of the bunch you should jump at it actually.

There are a few things to note before moving on as well, especially the stylistic choice for the heavy robotic/synthetic theme, which is pretty much Daft Punk's whole thing, this album would be the one to fully embrace the robotic persona. While they had the costumes after Homework and during Discovery, this album would be the one where they blur the lines between musical character and real life identity as the whole “story” of this record is robots learning how to be human. This point is driven home as this release actually did accomplish more than the rest in that there is actually a full avant-garde indie film directed by and starring the duo, with the album as some of the soundtrack, titled Electroma. As far as I can recall, there are no speaking lines whatsoever, just the duo in their gold and silver helmets going through a series of shots and scenes on a quest to become human. Just like their music, while there is no immediate path to follow or vocals to guide you, the story and emotion can be felt miles away.

TRON: Legacy, Album/OMPST: 1hr 23min (Released:Released: December 03, 2010):

As I stated briefly above, I do in fact count this as a full separate Daft Punk album simply because they composed and produced the whole damn thing! I won’t spend as much time on it as all the others however, but it is still very much worth the effort and listening. I know movie soundtracks are a bit of a weird area for critics and enjoyers and whomever due to them being related to a piece of visual media and whatnot, but regardless of if you have watched TRON: Legacy or not, or liked it, or hate Disney, or whatever, it does not need any of that to still be perfect. While the movie does infinitely add to the feel and aesthetic of the record it isn't necessary, you can simply listen without it as I have done countless times. However, I happen to love the movie almost as equally as I love the music so I’ll talk about both.

Outside of Star Wars and the Marvel movies there wasn’t much competition or varying media in the way of fun, cool, compelling sci-fi action to entertain a prepubescent boy in the late 2000s-early 2010s, so when I stumbled upon TRON: Legacy in middle school, who happened to have the soundtrack made by my recently discovered favorite robot EDM/techno duo, I immediately fell in love. It's to the point now where I’ve watched the movie well over 50 times and it's just over two hours, but I will continue to watch it till the day I die. When I look back on my hazy childhood whenever I listen to music or write or think about my love for visual media two things are always consistent, Daft Punk and TRON: Legacy. I think about it often that without either I probably would be interested in completely different subjects or hobbies.

As for the soundtrack itself, it is honestly angelic. It is as if Bach knew how to work a laptop, perfectly blending together strings, horns, and classical drums with synths, techno, and electric instruments. For a record that obviously has no vocal lyrics throughout it does an amazing job of invoking certain emotions and conveying the message of the corresponding scene without ever witnessing it. It is the perfect background music to have on while doing any type of homework, as I have, or chores, or art, or even just grounding yourself to the world. It is one of the few albums I can put on and just exist to, do nothing else with my time but sit and listen, because it transports you right into the orchestra that is performing each song, letting you get lost in the adventure.

Random. Access. Memories, Album: 1hr 14min (Released:Released: May 20, 2013):

This. This album. This album changed my life, and not in that hyperbolic, dramatic way. This album actually cemented my love for various different genres as well as gave me my first, solid, #1 favorite artist of all time. To say this album is a masterpiece is an understatement, to even say its their magnum opus wouldn’t do it or the band any justice. It is that good. That timeless. That monumental. Daft Punk are that influential and radiating with genius. This album is by far the most successful of their entire discography, when you think of Daft Punk you think of Random. Access. Memories., Get Lucky, and Lose Yourself To Dance. Remember how I mentioned that if Human After All is a sequel to Homework, then that would make R.A.M. the technical sequel to Discovery. While none of the albums actually share any real story or plot points with each other, you can divide them up in that way for different sonic variations and genres used on each release. R.A.M. is the 80s techno, disco, pop, jazz influences from Discovery mixed with their standard twist of electronics and synths dialed to 11, everything they did on Discovery, and even Human After All, was just a test for what this album would culminate to.

Just like they did on Discovery there is a seeming pattern of going from a song with lyrics to an instrumental song then keep switching out, which is actually really neat, but with more vocal features in R.A.M. than any other release by far. It gives you that blast of both worlds but it makes those instrumental breaks feel so much larger and more impactful. The vocalist throughout R.A.M. are top tier at what they do, with the likes of Pharrell Williams and Julian Casablanca, as well as others, adding their very unique vocal flares and styles to make each featured song they’re on that much more grandiose. But, vocalists aren't the only ones featured throughout the album. One of the most influential parts of this record outside of the music itself is the collaborators throughout the project, like bassists and founding member of famous 70s disco act Chic, Nile Rodgers and the grandfather of EDM and disco, Giorgio Moroder. This album was a culmination and celebration of EDM, house, disco, jazz, and all those who came before that gave their blood, heart, and lives to this craft. If Digital Love is a love letter to the 80s, R.A.M. is a love letter to music in general.

This album is what, in my opinion, separates Daft Punk from any other type of techno or EDM act out there today. They transcend the act they have created to preserve and teach music and what it means to the lives of everyone it touches, whether it be the listeners, the composers, the singers, or the instrumentalist. At its base level music is for everybody, and everybody has their own opinion and taste. This album is perfect for varying tastes as it can go all the way from pop ballad, to standard EDM, all the way to even straight up disco you’d hear off Soul Train. You can listen to Lose Yourself for your typical smooth, chilled-out, disco track, Instant Crush for your synth-laced, sappy, 80s pop love ballad, or even Doin It Right featuring Panda Bear for your retro, bass-boosted, feel-good, club song, the album has a song for everyone. Each song may be different in their very own way and can be listened to singularly but they definitely work ten times better together in a linear path like they were meant to be. The listening experience for any Daft Punk work can vary person to person which is what's so awesome and adaptable about their various genre surfing and themes of each album, it's accessible to anyone who's willing to give them a chance!

Conclusion:

EDM, techno, and the wider varieties of electronic music have always had a sort of stigma ever since its conception much like other more niche genres of music, but to the detriment of all those who don’t listen instead. Whoever is too scared to or unwilling to give it a try is only doing yourself a disservice as this is some of the most fun and diverse music you could get into. 

Just like all other genres there are different styles, artists, and subgenres you can latch onto and make your own but if you don’t get into the ones who started it or paved the way then you risk getting lost at sea in an incoherent downpour of noises and sounds. For anyone truly thinking about giving any adjacent electronic genres a try, Daft Punk is certainly a pretty standard and safe option to begin with as they are the pioneers within their respective genres and as talked about, the absolute GOATs at what they do. 

Are you a fan of Daft Punk, or have you ever heard of them before this discog dive? Are you considering giving them a try now? What genres of music do you prefer? If you have any artist that you think I should listen to every piece of music they have, make sure to follow us through our socials and let me know! And if you want a deeper, more picked apart look into any of these albums or Daft Punk themselves then comment and a video could go into the works! As always, thanks for reading and happy listening!