073: Daft Punk - Random Access Memories (2013)

June 01, 2021 / Amanda Rodgers

"We wanted to do what we used to do with machines and samplers … but with people."

—Thomas Bangalter

Buckle up and run a systems diagnostic, because this is a long one. Where do you go after revolutionizing electronic dance music twice in a row? Daft Punk’s albums Homework and Discovery spawned a whole generation of imitators, way too many of whom were content to just copy their source code. The duo’s response was to load up Random Access Memories, an album that looks back to the sounds of the great synth and disco pioneers while envisioning a bold future for music that mixes the analog and digital. The music industry chose not to pursue this future, in part because this album was just too damn expensive, but it resulted in some great music, and one of the most Discord & Rhyme-ready albums we’ve covered. So get ready to get lucky and lose yourself to dance, as Daft Punk give life back to music.

Miscellany

Jen forgot to give a shoutout to Daft Punk’s performance at the 2014 Grammys (performance starts at 1:00), featuring an Alive 2007-style mash-up of “Get Lucky” with elements of “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” and “Around the World,” as well as Chic’s “Le Freak” and Stevie Wonder’s “Another Star” (which we discussed in our Songs in the Key of Life episode) featuring Stevie himself on keyboard and vocals. It is very much worth watching.
For those who want a visual of the Phantom of the Paradise costume Jen described, the Dissolve (RIP) covered the movie as a Film of the Week in 2014 and provided many screenshots, including this one featuring the Phantom (right), Paul Williams (left), and TONTO (everywhere else).
Rich neglected to mention that “Contact” is a co-production with DJ Falcon, who previously worked with Thomas Bangalter in the duo Together. He’s interviewed as part of the YouTube Collaborators series that accompanied the release of the album.
For more information about the vocoder than you ever knew you wanted to know, Mike recommends the book How to Wreck a Nice Beach: The Vocoder from World War II to Hip-Hop by Dave Tompkins.

Discord & Rhyme Roll Call

Rich Bunnell (host)
Mike DeFabio (moderator)
Chris Willie Williams
Jennifer Carman (special guest)
Amanda Rodgers (special appearance)

Random Access Memories tracklist

Give Life Back to Music
The Game of Love
Giorgio by Moroder
Within
Instant Crush
Lose Yourself to Dance
Touch
Get Lucky
Beyond
Motherboard
Fragments of Time
Doin' It Right
Contact

Other clips used

Daft Punk:

Darlin (as Darlin’)
Around the World
One More Time
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
Da Funk
Arena
Daftendirekt
Human After All
Something About Us
Teachers
Flynn Lives
Face to Face
Veridis Quo
Digital Love
Crescendolls/Television Rules the Nation (live)
Alive

Others:

LCD Soundsystem - Daft Punk Is Playing at My House
Chic - Good Times
Santana feat. Michelle Branch - The Game of Love
Grant Green - I Want to Hold Your Hand
Unknown - Daisy, Daisy
Donna Summer - I Feel Love
Karlheinz Stockhausen - Kontakte
Opeth - Burden
The Strokes - 12:51
Kraftwerk - Computer Love
The Alan Parsons Project - Eye in the Sky
Nelly - Hot in Herre
Daftside - Lose Yourself to Dance (remix)
Nicolas Jaar - Colomb
Jim Henson (as Kermit) - Rainbow Connection
Laura Nyro - Luckie
“Weird Al” Yankovic - Now That’s What I Call Polka!
The Moody Blues - Beyond
Michael McDonald - I Keep Forgettin’
Animal Collective - My Girls
The Sherbs - We Ride Tonight
Butthole Surfers - The Last Astronaut
Justice - Fire
Neon Neon - I Lust U
Giorgio Moroder - Faster Than the Speed of Love
Jeff Wayne - The Eve of the War

Band/album personnel

Daft Punk – vocals (tracks 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9 and 12), modular synthesizer (tracks 1, 3, 7, 10, 12, 13), synthesizer (tracks 2, 5, 8, 9, 14), keyboards (tracks 3, 4, 5, 11), guitar (track 5), production, concept, art direction
Julian Casablancas – vocals, lead guitar and co-production (track 5)
Todd Edwards – vocals and co-production (track 11)
Panda Bear – vocals (track 12)
DJ Falcon – modular synthesizer and co-production (track 13)
Chilly Gonzales – keyboards (track 1), piano (track 4)
Giorgio Moroder – voice (track 3)
Nile Rodgers – guitar (tracks 1, 6, 8)
Paul Williams – vocals and lyrics (track 7), lyrics (track 9)
Pharrell Williams – vocals (tracks 6, 8)
Greg Leisz – pedal steel guitar (tracks 1–3, 9, 10, 14), lap steel guitar (tracks 7, 9)
Chris Caswell – keyboards (tracks 1–4, 7–11, 14), orchestration, arrangements
Paul Jackson, Jr. – guitar (tracks 1–3, 7–11, 14)
Nathan East – bass (tracks 1–6, 8, 11, 14)
James Genus – bass (tracks 3, 7, 9–11, 13)
John "J.R." Robinson – drums (tracks 1,2, 4–6, 14)
Omar Hakim – drums (tracks 3, 7-9, 11, 13), percussion (track 10)
Quinn – percussion (tracks 1, 3–5, 7, 10, 11), drums (track 7)
Thomas Bloch – ondes Martenot (track 7), cristal baschet (track 10)
Bob Ludwig – mastering
Chab (Antoine Chabert) – mastering
Mick Guzauski – recording, mixing engineer
Peter Franco – recording engineer
Florian Lagatta – recording engineer
Daniel Lerner – digital audio engineer

Credits

“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of:

Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf
Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste
The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...
Faith No More - Midlife Crisis
Herbie Hancock - Hornets
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen
Daft Punk - Lose Yourself to Dance (this episode only)

You can buy or stream Random Access Memories and other albums by Daft Punk at daftpunk.com, your local record store, or the usual suspects such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Twitter @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Editing and production is by Rich, and special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio, the Other Leading Brand, for production assistance, our theme song, and original music. See you next album, and keep as cool as you can.

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tags / Rich Bunnell