Daft Punk
Random Access Memory
Oh boy, here’s a big one. It’s funny reviewing this, because I was completely oblivious to the anticipation surrounding this album and only picked it up with a lot of hesitation. I have said this before (and love repeating it), but punk rock is mostly my forte so I was quite surprised to find myself enjoying this album. So, looking at Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories, what do we have?
I can’t help but think of the Spits when I think of Daft Punk. Get it? They pretend to be robots and so modulate and autotune their voices, but as everyone can guess, they are real people. And while the Spits are robot garage punk rock, Daft Punk are robot dance music. That’s the schtick here. And the font on RAM looking strikingly similar to Michael Jackson’s Thriller hints at a disco/club vibe. So, one can tell a lot by the cover alone. But what about the album itself?
First, let’s address the elephant in the room at least which is that the song order on RAM hurts the pacing tremendously. RAM is loaded with catchy upbeat songs broken up by slower ballads which honestly, aren’t that noteworthy. The album is over 74 minutes long, which is almost a death sentenc, so why the band didn’t choose to group the songs more accordingly (by building to the dancier songs or vice versa, instead of placing the songs in the order of fast-slow-fast-slow), I’ll never know. Still, in spite of this unfortunate incident, and its apparent lingering at the end, RAM has plenty of excellent songs to keep you interested, like “Give Life Back to Music,” “Giorgio By Moroder,” “Lose Yourself to Dance,” and of course, the song of the summer “Get Lucky.” In short, I’m kind of surprised here. Surprised, at what an enjoyable album this is, and surprised that this is one of those albums I’m recommending people check out this year.
The vinyl itself is quite a beautiful and fitting package. You know, you can’t half-ass an album as glammy as this, right? Coming in at a little higher than $30 (depending on where you get it), you get a double 180 gram vinyl, a gatefold cover, and a cool booklet with art and lyrics (!). A package as sleek and grandiose as the music itself.
