Daft Punk
Discovery
- Virgin Records
Release Date: 2001
Daft Punk Discover the Funk
Finally, four long years after Daft Punk blitzed the world of dance music with an electro-techno-disco bomb called Homework, they're back. Album number two is called Discovery, and the first time you hear it, you'll probably be very disappointed. It's different, it sounds retro, it even has squealing electric guitar in it. In short, Discovery is not an album for the purists. Nor for the trainspotters. Except that, in a very real sense it is. On your second listen to Discovery, the initial culture shock begins to fade, and from the weirdness, genius begins to emerge. Daft Punk have pulled off something which very few dance producers are capable off. After four years, they've finally proved that they deserve the hype. The true genius of Discovery, is that, as Guy-Manuel explains to explains to Andy Pickering, Daft Punk have broken the rules. They've released house from its shackles and announced to purists that music can be fun, it can be different and that most of all, the only person you have to be true to, is yourself.
Anway…… So the interview is with Guy-Manuel De Homem-Christo, half of Daft Punk and the one who owns French uber-disco banging house label Crydamoure. You know, the one that didn't write 'Stardust'. That was Thomas Bangalter, who also owns French uber-disco banging house label Roule. I think about asking Guy what's it like to be known as the one who didn't write 'Stardust' but quickly decide that would be childish and stupid. Definitely gonna ask him then. My next concern is the pronunciation of his bloody name. Guy-Manuel De Homem-Christo. What the fuck. I mean reallllllllly.
A quick consultation with the girlfriend confirms my worst suspicions. It's pronounced Giii-Maaanwel. Except with more of a French accent that is probably immediately apparent from reading this. Not for the first time the girlfriend calls me a Philistine.
I decide to call Guy Gi and wait for the phone to ring already.
The phone rings and after being put on hold by some bored French telephone operator on an obvious power-trip, eventually Guy comes on the line. Phew.
"I'm in the Virgin office in Paris," he says.
No shit, buddy, I'm in the REMIX office here in Sydney, I tell him.
After an eerie silence from Guy, I quickly pull myself back together, give myself a good hard slap in the face and remember that it's only wankers like Harry Knowles at Ain't It Cool News that get away with writing self-obsessed navel gazing articles like the one this is rapidly turning into. You're talking to Guy from Daft Punk man, I think to myself. Have some respect for god-sakes.
Pulling myself together in the nick of time, I cross the 'Stardust' question off my list in a hurried scrawl and stammer out…Long day of interviews huh Gi?
"Yes very much so," he says. "It is something to get used to. It's quite intense, there is very a big demand from many countries from people wanting to talk to us. But it is part of the process, people want to know about us and about the album, so that is okay."
Daft Punk are notoriously media shy. We know this because following the success of Homework, they took to appearing in photoshoots wearing masks. They stated that they didn't really want to be famous, and they just wanted to let the music speak for itself. The first interview published to promote the new album was in The Face, in which they appear on the cover, wearing masks. Well, robot helmets to be precise. In the feature in The Face, Daft Punk claim to have been turned into robots. It turns out that The Face originally requested the interview three years ago. Being the stand-up integrity filled chaps that they are, rather charmingly, Daft Punk obliged and stuck by their three year old decision.
"The Face got in touch with us three years ago," confirms Guy. "They asked then if they could be the first magazine to cover our next album after Homework. So since they were the first to ask, we thought ok sure, we would do The Face first."
And the robot ideology, that was your idea presumably?
"It's not even an ideology, it is as you read it in the Face. We had a small incident in the studio on the 9th of September 1999. When we woke up we had become robots, and we don't remember anything of what happened. So this is our story, it was not The Face's idea, it is what happened to us!"
The minor inconvenience of being turned into robots aside, Daft Punk managed to finish the new album last year, and finally after much secrecy, it is out. Presumably this is something of a relief to Daft Punk.
"Yeah, we are very happy to have finished it. It's been four years since Homework, and we've been very busy since then. This album took us two and a half years to make. We did it in our home studio. We really wanted to do what we wanted and to be sure that when it was finished it was exactly how we wanted it to be, which is why it took so long."
Referring to the album's title, Guy says that it, "refers to many things. It is new music to discover and it is made by robots!! Also here is another thing to discover. When you buy the album, you will get a card in the CD, and it will have a number on it. If you go to Daftclub.com, you can put in your number, which is your password, and every week we'll be putting new music up there, music by us and by others also. Exclusive remixes and films, things like that. It will be a Daft Punk community."
Discovery is one of the oddest albums you'll hear this year. It's dance music, but not as you've heard it before. It's retro, it's disco and it owes a lot to Giorgio Moroder. Discovery has a thick electro-disco pulse that runs right through it, but it's also hot-wired to a joyously glam-rock sense of performance, fun and showmanship. Most of all, this album has smile on it's face. It's the Daft Punk you've heard before, but now they're mainlining high octane nitrous oxide. Laughing gas….. Put simply, this album will astonish you with it's energy, audacity and commitment to getting off it's face and having a good time.
"We brought many influences to Discovery," agrees Guy. "But it is more than us being inspired by disco or electro or glam rock. What we wanted to do was go back to the music we liked when we were kids. Put yourself back in that state when you listened to music as a kid. You don't say this is underground and cool so I like it, or this is mainstream so I'm not allowed to like it. You don't judge it, you just like what you like so your relationship to the music is very spontaneous, and instantly enjoyable. That is what we wanted to try and get with Discovery. Some people might think that the guitar solos on 'Aerodynamic' are in bad taste, but for us, it's all about being true to ourselves and not caring what other people would think. We really tried to include most of the things we liked as kids, and bring that sense of fun to it."
And for me, Daft Punk have succeeded. In fact to me, Discovery sounds exactly like it was recorded by two slightly daft robots from the future. Obviously these robots were on some pretty out there drugs, and it sounds like maybe they hadn't really slept for a while, but then…
This obviously pleases Guy. "I am happy you think like that! We want our music to have a sense of humour. It is fun to see that people get it and enjoy it for what it is. I am not the best one to judge it, but we just try and make quality music with a sense of fun. It's entertainment and we want people to have a good time listening to our music. We really enjoy being able to do what we do as Daft Punk, so why should it be too serious?"
Couldn't agree more. After all this is dance music right? And it is allowed to be fun after all…Hell, it's supposed to be fun!! This is Daft Punk we're talking about here, not the fucking Cure mate…
"Right! Exactly. This album was also an attempt by us to break the rules again. Compared to when we did our first album, house music is now very established around the world. It's like when house first came along it broke the established rules of rock music and it was a really exciting new force in music. But now, electronic and house music has made up it's own rules and limitations which is not what house was originally about. What we wanted to show, is that house music and electronic music can be made with different influences besides Chicago house, or Detroit, or synthesizers. We wanted to put warmth in it, and to make technology disappear and just do something different from what you find in house music today. There are no rules! We want to throw dance music open again! It's about having a free spirit and making whatever you want to make!"
Daft Punk's Discovery came out March 12 on Virgin. It really is very very good. Go buy it, get your password and then log onto Daftpunk.com
--Andy Pickering
remix2@ihug.com.au
This Daft Punk interview was conducted in secret under the secure watch of the Sydney branch of Daft Punk's undercover robot agents.
Interview by Andy Pickering, the Sydney based editor of REMIX Magazine.
