guitars, disco drama, a massive breakdown and that classic robotic DP talkbox vocal intoning the title. ‘The Game of Love’ is a smooth downtempo ballad, but De Homem-Cristo and Bangalter have always made those. Pure ‘80s soul, it’s equal parts Zapp, Kleeer and Michael McDonald, with a touch of ‘Thought It Was You’-era Herbie. But it’s track three ‘Giorgio By Moroder’ (featuring, um, Giorgio Moroder) where things really get interesting. Beginning with an interview of the disco producer genius, with the sound of a restaurant’s ambience seemingly around him, he talks of his beginnings in music as a simple live funk groove rotates in the background. But when he starts talking about bringing electronic sounds into his work, as he did with Donna Summer’s ‘I Feel Love’, well... prepare to be excited about what happens.
Much has been made of the sheer number of guests on the record. Pharrell and Nile’s contributions are all absolute winners — ‘Lose Yourself to Dance’, a mid-tempo funk cut, is a definite highlight. Julian Casablancas of indie rockers The Strokes crops up on the excellent ‘Instant Crush’, his voice fed through a vocoder over chugging rock guitars, before a chorus that sounds like disco DP in their prime and a ridiculous, brilliant keytar solo seal the deal. Likely to be a single, though it might alienate some fans. The best collabo is with Panda Bear on the only overtly electronic cut on the record, ‘Doin’ It Right’, a slow 4/4 number with robo voxes mixing with the harmonies of the erstwhile Animal Collective man, with magical results. But few are likely to enjoy the frankly dreadful Paul Williams (Carpenters songwriter) tune ‘Touch’, an ill-advised attempt at blustery pomp prog that sounds like an outtake from a musical, while the DJ Falcon hook-up (yeah, sounds great on paper) is an awful soundtrack breakbeat thing, with crashing drums and church organs and a spoken sample about aliens, which should would have left on the cutting room floor. There are also a few weird soundtrack things which don’t really go anywhere,.
That ‘Random Access Memories’ will sell by the bucketload (or at least be listened to on Spotify in giant numbers) isn’t open for debate. Whether it will alienate large numbers of their fanbase remains to be seen. While Daft Punk clearly want to move on and evolve, ditching the electronic beats, house and techno that first elevated them to fame, it’s that music that forms the bedrock of their best tunes and still what they’re best at making. And there will be a significant number of fans, this writer among them, who are disappointed there’s none of that on the new record. Ben Murphy
djmag.com 007
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