Daft Punk
On Daft Punk’s Amazing Musical Legacy, 1993-2021
“Daft Punk made dance music in France, sung in English and aimed at the whole world,” said Universal Music France A&R and Label Manager Antoine Ressaussière in the now-retiring duo’s 2015 documentary Daft Punk Unchained. As noted by their publicist today, Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo have parted ways as Daft Punk.
The news was announced with an 8-minute video “Epilogue,” excerpted from their 2006 film Electroma.
Disco music’s turn of the 1980s rise was built around the idea that the music was bigger than the creator and that the audience’s ability to experience incredible euphoria via music was the formulaic sound’s true winner. To wit, the duo always pushed the image over the sound. Slickly suited robots in glistening electrified helmets created music so ironically iconographic that — especially in the case of the group performing in front of tens of thousands at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival in 2006 and 2013 — it was described as “the return of the future,” serving up “magical, trans-dimensional, electrified funk” that signaled the “dawn of a new age.”
Moreover, it was the group’s ability to synthesize and globalize the influence of 70s funk, 80s disco, and 90s house into a soulful metronomic thump that inspired artists as diverse as Chic‘s Nile Rodgers, Swedish House Mafia‘s Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso, Kanye West, and Pharrell Williams. In inspiring these five artists, the archetypes of what bleeds into modern pop music’s undefinable, genre-free, open-format style emerge.
For electro house’s leading Swedes, it was attempting to mirror the blend of hip-hop breaks and synthpop in Daft Punk’s 1995 single “Da Funk” that unified them as friends and young producers. For Kanye West, it was hearing A-Trak play the duo’s 2001 hit “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” that inspired the sample for his 2007 global breakout hit “Stronger.” The single ultimately keyed West’s growth from a backpack rapper favoring sped-up soul samples into being the 2010s most avant-garde and sociopolitical zeitgeist-challenging creator. As for Wiliams and Rodgers, their pairing with the robots for “Get Lucky” revitalized the latter for a new generation of music aficionados, while for the former, it allowed his seamless blend of fashion and music to have a timeless soundtrack that extended beyond the boundaries of keyboard-enabled boom-bap production excellence.
On the duo’s final 2013 album Random Access Memories, the vocals from the track “Beyond” offer a quote that sums up Daft Punk as a source of inspiration, now and forever:
“You are the light behind a cloud. You are the end and the beginning.”
Check out Beatsource‘s 100% Daft Punk playlist here.
Related Post: ‘TBT Hits’ Feat. Daft Punk, Black Sheep, and More
Watch The Weeknd’s ‘I Feel It Coming’ Video Ft. Daft Punk
The Weeknd has shared a video for “I Feel It Coming,” the second of two Starboy collaboration with Daft Punk. The track was one of DJcity’s most downloaded tracks of November and is currently number 11 on Billboard’s Hot 100.
Watch the visual above, which features a cameo from Daft Punk at the end, and download the single on DJcity.
Related: Watch The Weeknd’s ‘Reminder’ Video
The Weeknd Releases Video for ‘Starboy’ Ft. Daft Punk
Wasting no time, The Weeknd has dropped a video for his new Daft Punk-assisted single, “Starboy.” The track debuted this week at No. 40 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and is currently No. 1 on DJcity. Watch the visual above and grab the song on DJcity.
Related: The Weeknd Releases New Single ‘Starboy’ Ft. Daft Punk
The Weeknd Releases New Single ‘Starboy’ Ft. Daft Punk
Just hours after revealing the title and artwork for his upcoming album Starboy, The Weeknd has released the project’s first single. The 93 BPM title track features production from Daft Punk, marking the singer’s first collab with the duo.
Starboy is the follow-up to The Weeknd’s breakthrough album, Beauty Behind the Madness, and is expected to be released on November 25.
Stream the single below and download it on DJcity.
Related: Future & The Weeknd Rep for That ‘Low Life’ in New Video
BBC Releases Trailer for Daft Punk Documentary
BBC has shared a trailer for Unchained, the first-ever documentary film about Daft Punk. The movie first aired back in June on French TV network Canal+ and is expected to roll out in international markets before year’s end.
The one-minute trailer features commentary and rare footage from Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, Paul Williams, and Nile Rodgers.
Related: Chilly Gonzales Explains the Genius of Daft Punk’s ‘Aerodynamic’
Chilly Gonzales Explains the Genius of Daft Punk’s ‘Aerodynamic’
We’re a big fan of Chilly Gonzales’ “Pop Music Masterclass,” a YouTube series that explains why hit songs are popular. The classically trained musician has dissected anthems such as Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky,” Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy,” Drake’s “Hold On, We’re Going Home,” and recently, ILoveMakonnen’s “Tuesday.”
Taking a break from the series, Gonzales sat down with 1LIVE, the channel that hosts his videos, to discuss the genius of Daft Punk’s 2001 song “Aerodynamic.” He explained how the instrumental track makes use of an arpeggio and how the technique has been used throughout the centuries. Watch the three-and-a-half-minute clip above.
Related: Why ILoveMakonnen’s ‘Tuesday’ Is So Catchy
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