Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories Review

Hello ladies and gents and welcome to my first album review in just over a year, today I’m gonna be talking about one of my most anticipated albums of the last few years, Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories. Now  love Daft Punk and I’ve been waiting for a new studio album from them for what seems to be an eternity and while I loved the Tron: Legacy soundtrack I wanted another studio album. So just before the album’s worldwide release on May 20th, iTunes streamed the album for free on Wednesday May 16th and I had a listen. And so after listening to the album a second time though today I think I’m ready to give my review.

Now people going into this album expecting the same old Daft Punk sound will be surprised by what they come across. This album is a totally different kettle of fish. Random Access Memories is really a callback to the older days of music with a heavy influence from the disco and funk genres and feels very reflective of the 1970s time of music. Even with these new influences there is still that electronic sound that Daft Punk are known for sprinkled around and the way it all comes together is beautiful.

Obviously Daft Punk aren’t alone in this new album as they have collaborated with several different musicians to acquire their new sound and those artists are as follows: Panda Bear, Julian Casablancas, Todd Edwards, DJ Falcon, Chilly Gonzales, Giorgio Moroder, Nile Rodgers, Paul Williams and Pharrell Williams. Each of these collaborators brings a different flavour to this album and it is great treat to have so many people come together to creat something so unique.

Okay now let’s get into the tracks themselves. The album begins with a great funky disco sound with “Give Life Back to Music” that gets you in that groove for busting out some moves on the dancefloor. Then we have “The Game of Love” which is definitely a slower groove and feels like an electronic slow love song, I get some Tron: Legacy vibes from this song. “Giorgio by Moroder” is one of the longer tracks on the album but it’s still pretty awesome and features a nice monologue from Giorgio Moroder and an awesome breakdown and build up near the middle of the song which sounds so impactful and grand. “Within” is a nice track too, it’s another slower song but it has its moments of beauty. And there’s “Instant Crush” which features some beautiful vocals from Julian Casablancas and a wonderful sound to go along with it. Now we come to “Lose Yourself To Dance” one my favourite tracks on the album, as soon as Pharrell’s vocals come in I fall in love. This song is an instant favourite due to Pharrell, the layered electronic vocals and Nile Rodgers guitar work. It all works in a sexy and groovy fashion.

“Touch” featuring contributions from Paul Williams is a fairly dramatic song featuring some piano work, a choir and very emotive sound. Then we move onto the now-famous track “Get Lucky” hearing it in its full entirety is a great feeling, it’s still awesome if a tad repetitive. The song is probably the most uplifting and dance-based song on the album so people expecting more tracks as fast paced as this song may be disappointed, but I say it works in context of the rest of the album. “Beyond” definitely starts out in an incredible and dramatic fashion and then settles into softer, more funky sound with electronic vocals. “Motherboard” for me is where things start to get very interesting, I just loved the use of instruments and electronic sounds, the slow down and build up, the only problem I have is that there’s some weird ass liquid noises in this track too. “Fragments of Time” is a lovely upbeat tune that really feels good and features some nice vocals from Todd Edwards. “Doin’ It Right” featuring Panda Bear is a lovely track which I like due to the simplicity, electronic beats and vocals. And lastly “Contact” has an introduction with a recording from the Apollo 17 mission, but then it moves onto a beastly electronic sound which is heavy on the beats and percussion and is a fantastic finish to the album.

My personal favourite tracks:

• Giorgio by Moroder
• Instant Crush
• Lose Yourself To Dance
• Touch
• Get Lucky
• Fragments of Time
• Doin’ It Right
• Contact

So to conclude Random Access Memories a great album and I think I’ll be listening to it for a long while after my first listen. Honestly this album is an experience and one of the most interesting, diverse and groovy sounds I’ve come across in a while. It is totally from an older time but also sounds totally new and fresh at the same time. Daft Punk have crafted something that I think in time will capture the ears and hearts of many in months/years to come. I say do yourself a favour and have a listen, Daft Punk are back and their sound is totally out of this world!

Rating: 9/10

So have you heard the epic sounds of Random Access Memories and if so how do you feel about it? Do you love Daft Punk’s return to music or do you hate it? Whatever your thoughts are drop them in the comments below and I’ll see ya around yo! 😀

 

Daft Punk “Get Lucky” Review

Ah yeah, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! I have waited for this moment for days! I only found out about Daft Punk’s return to the musical world just over a week ago and when they showed off a preview of their first new single “Get Lucky” that features Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers I started to freak out. I watched the preview video several times over the last week and have watched the Daft Punk’s The Collaborators videos that can be found on The Creators Project on YouTube. So today on April 19th we finally have the first official release of the single, well at least the radio edit and all I can say is I am in love! Just have a listen below:

The full version of the song sounds pretty much like an extended version of the snippets we’ve gotten the previews so far but that’s by no means a bad thing. I love the way this song sounds, it’s got a classic, disco/funk/electronic sound to it. It feels like it’s from the 70’s yet it retains that memorable Daft Punk style and it’s one of those sort of songs that anyone can groove to. I love Nile Rodgers guitar work here, it definitely has style and that unique kind of sound that’s all him, and then there’s the accompanying vocals of Pharrell Williams, one of my favourite artists/producers and he is wonderful. I love the lyrics and the way he sings over the track, as bad as this may sound this, this is the best thing he’s done in ages since N*E*R*D’s Seeing Sounds album in 2010 (Nothing was only half decent by comparison). But regardless of that Pharrell does great here as does Rodgers and the robots who come together to form this super sexy sound of awesomeness.

During parts of the song I could tell it was a radio edit due to some areas of the song not lasting as long as I’d thought so I REALLY can’t wait to hear the full version when that eventually arrives. And if this is the kind of sound that Daft Punk are working on then I can’t wait to here the whole of Random Access Memories. The song sounds like it could actually fit into any time era and I feel in a few years or maybe even decades I could potentially be still bouncing to this song.

Overall “Get Lucky” by Daft Punk sounds like the kind of music we need in this day and age, something that’s old but new at the same time and has a subtle beauty about it. So what do you think of Daft Punk’s new sound? Are you on the hype and loving it or do you dislike it or had you hoped for something better? Whatever your thoughts drop them in the comments section below! As for me I’m gonna keep jamming to this song so more!

 

The Game Has Changed

Just like the name of the song by Daft Punk from the Tron: Legacy Soundtrack, I see that the game which I call my life has changed. You see I’ve been living in Sheffield now for just under 2 months and have taken in a lot of different things and experienced many aspects of life in this new city like university, bonding with me new flatmates, leaving me family and friends back home, adjusting to a bigger location, taking in the ridiculously extreme nightlife and having to establish my whole identity all over again. It’s a lot to do and really does impact the way in which you operate in your daily life.

Trying to establish my identity was a very different experience after I arrived here in Sheffield.

The cool thing that I’ve experienced while being here is the level of freedom, compared to being back home where most things felt restricted and weighed down by some form of invisible gravity. Sheffield feels weightless, like you could walk on air. I love it. Being in uni feels fresh and exciting, the course, the students, heck even the building of Sheffield Hallam itself is awesome and represents so much promise for the future. But what’s probably more impressive is the nightlife, I know uni is more about the educational side of things, but from my first 3 weeks here it was clear that the nights out were not only miles ahead of anything I got back home, but they even outshone the course I’m on. I guess compared to my home, Sheffield is stupidly massive and on my first night out I went to West Street, and was totally freaking out with all of the possibilities that could be created. Then take into account that my student accommodation is one of the most mental places I’ve ever been in, people always making noise, parties always going on, people always going out and it has a lively atmosphere. Its one heck of an introduction to university lifestyle. And it was that initial feeling, that feeling of fresh new experiences that made me so happy. I loved my life, it was like getting to start over with new people and doing things that I loved but on a whole new scale!

Unfortunately this is very true.

However nothing lasts forever especially when it comes to new experiences, eventually the people in the accommodation started to slow down and the pre-parties started to die down and that initial spark for the first time started to flicker. During week 4-6 me and my flatmates found regular places to go and found ourselves going out randomly just to kill time because we were bored or we just felt like it and surprisingly enough those nights were pretty darn interesting, sometimes even fun and memorable. Although from there into week 7 (last week) things started get really messy, sometimes the clubbing went from being okay-ish to downright awful with questionable music, dodgy company and a bad atmosphere normally being the problems that stopped us from having fun. It seemed that when we started going out with no plan, things just seemed to work themselves out, but it wasn’t always good and in recent times there has been a steady decline at 2 of our regular clubs that’s lead my flatmates and I to believe that we have to try out some new locations.

Though hope is not lost, because in my 8th week (this week) I have seen a glimmer of hope as the Monday night just past in one of our regular clubs we happened to meet one of our mates from uni and we got introduced to his mates and we all went crazy. It was madness and there was a level of happiness in the air that was undeniable and it totally changed up the night completely. Even the playlist held up pretty well and I was having epic fun for the first time in ages. And the fun didn’t stop there. Me and my good flatmate Craig attended a friend’s house party for his birthday. After a gaming session at our uni games society we headed up with a good few regular people, and honestly the night was amazing. We went up to a secluded location and went to our mate’s house, but since there were too many people inside his house we moved to their common room. And so the night started out okay, people chatting and drinking, you know the basic stuff while the main birthday man constantly disappearing and being on the move. However after a while things just changed and then the party completely descended into the kind of awesome chaos that can only be shared with good friends at a good house party. I won’t go into details but needless to say it was pretty crazy yo 😀

House parties do bring out that awesome party feeling!

Another interesting thing is that while me and my flatmates have been out partying together, we’ve never done anything social-wise like go to the cinema, have lunch together, you know just hang out. Besides the times we’ve chilled in the flat together, gone shopping in town or chilled with the gaming society, as a cohesive unit we’ve never just spent our time doing things regular friends do and it’s a darn shame. Don’t get me wrong, even without those social activities we’ve bonded fairly well, but in the 6th to 8th week period we had come to the conclusion that we don’t hang out as much as we should do as a group. So while we don’t have the money to tackle that venture yet, we said that we’d definitely have to put some time aside for those kinds of activities to build even stronger bonds between us.

So at this current point in time me and the guys are chilling out from all of the usual amount of partying we do so that we can be financially safe until the next big event at the end of this year which should be mental. Hopefully nights like Wednesday just gone aren’t going to be too far apart and I’ll still be able to have fun and bond with my flatmates for many nights out to come!

 

The Brutality of Quasar!

It’s totally amazing how something as simple a game of Quasar (Laser Tag) can become so much more, and then turn into something out of this world… Given the right circumstances. And luckily enough we were under some of those “circumstances” yesterday when me and several other people ventured through the streets of Sheffield to the local Quasar place for some good old fun. There was so many of us, but we all got in with a game of 17 people versus 17 other people on the red and blue teams. We got the suits on, picked our sides and were told the rules of the game. Most it was obvious and standard procedure, though there was a funny rule that was mentioned was when we were told that “This isn’t Call of Duty, so don’t take it too seriously.” And everybody just laughed and roared in excitement, so you could already tell that the atmosphere had changed to ‘First Person Shooter mode’. We then proceeded upstairs and while heading up someone said exactly what I was thinking, that we all looked like people from Tron: Legacy and that we were heading to “The Grid”. At that point I was totally thinking “Sweet!”

To be honest going into Quasar I felt our battles were going to be as brutal as the disc wars from Tron: Legacy.

So we loaded our guns, walked into the dark, low lit room and started getting into position with a mix of excitement and fear in our minds. That’s the impression that I got personally and what I could see in eyes of my comrades (the red team). So then around 5 minutes later the other team (blue team) came in and the shooting began and I lost a life almost immediately after it started and I was like “What the hell!?!” So then most our team defended our forte from enemy fire while taking out any enemy who ran into our side. We defended pretty well, but the blue team had mad tactics and were pretty crazy and moved around the area in a kamikaze-like fashion, so it was hard to read their movements. Sometimes they just came running in groups and shot down our base with only 3 people. It was mental! And there I was running around like a nutcase trying to avoid enemy fire, but also just going crazy at the same time. I went over-the-top with the acting, yelling all over the place and telling my teammate that I got hit and I was injured. It was hilarious. And all the time there was Daft Punk playing in the background from the Tron: Legacy Soundtrack, it felt so good and felt like it fit into our scenario so well.

Daft Punk you saved my life again! 😀

And so the battle continued and at one point I went corrupt with power and went on a shooting streak and actually shot down a few people and I felt incredible, but then got hit soon after 😦 Eventually the battle ended and the blue team won, much to my dismay; however I felt obliged to do well for the next round. So feeling lonely on the red team I converted to the blue team with the rest of my mates and hoped to bring a new type of pain on a different team.

And so… Round 2 Began!!

With faster shooting ammo and much swifter settings put in place we went in and strangely enough the Daft Punk sounds had left the stereo, but what was playing at the time was even more incredible, it was a heavy metal cover of the Lance Theme from Pokémon Red & Blue. It sounded amazing and I was freaking out. However amidst all of this nerdy freaking out I was getting destroyed, I was losing lives even faster than I before which bugged me immensely. I was even getting hit while behind walls, I was like “What is happening!?” So after around 3 minutes I just gave up and became even more corrupt than the last round and ran out to shoot anyone on the red team, I even ran into their base area and got a few hits in here and there. But unfortunately I was still getting owned and losing lives fast. While this was going on the music that was playing via the stereos was awesome! Firstly I could hear the song “Encounter” from the first Metal Gear Solid and people were getting well happy and then there was the classic battle music from Final Fantasy VII, when that came on I was totally living in memories and felt totally energized to defend our base.

But then the unimaginable came happened… They played the main song from the first live-action Mortal Kombat film. And everybody on the blue team went mad! Me included.

Mortal Kombat FTW again, it’s totally invincible!

We all just started dancing and raving out to the music! Regardless of whether the enemy was firing at us or not we danced away. Obviously we did our job and got shooting, but we were mainly dancing the entire time. Whether we were on our own or in small group, we just ran to where the party was and just started dancing and giving high fives. It even came to the point where there was a massive group of us dancing and then we lead a charge into enemy territory dancing the whole way, it was just incredible. And not long after the battle ended. And when the our team (blue team) saw the score we thought we’d won by a landslide score, however it was misleading scoreboard as we found out that the red team had acquired around 400 more points than we had, hell even my score was worse than the last time. Even though I had a ridiculous amount of fun bouncing along to the sounds of Mortal Kombat, the fact that I lost twice on both teams lead me to believe that I shall never succeed in any form Quasar lol. Oh well at least I still have gaming and sketching 😀

Well that’s it for a another blog post, hope you enjoyed reading it ladies and gents. Peace out! 🙂

 

 

 

 

As the Rain Falls…

At this point in time I chill within the confines of my flat as I think back on my day. And to be honest it’s been alright to be honest considering all of the rain that’s been falling. Technically speaking it’s not raining now because the sun has finally come out, though I wonder for how long. The weather up here in Sheffield has been pretty crazy, constantly shifting from normal dry weather to patchy and continuous downpours, when I left to go to uni it was patchy, but still sunny and I happened to catch a rainbow on the way down too. Alas I didn’t have my camera to take a picture, it was a really nice big one too.

I love a good rainbow!

So when I went to do life drawing today it actually turned out again to be a good lesson, though not as good as last week. The lesson was long in a good few areas simply because there was nothing to do after drawing the same skeleton like 5 times, but again it was a good lesson and the only coherent and consistent lesson I’ve had all week. I think this is gonna become my favourite module. Even though I’m by no means a great sketcher when it comes to life drawing and it frustrates me to no end when things aren’t going my way, in the end I can’t fault life drawing because without it I wouldn’t be where I am now.

So other than falling rain and my uni class today I’ve just been chilling listening to Daft Punk’s Discovery album via the anime film called Interstella: 5555 which is totally sweet. The anime on its own is alright, but it’s really a lot of things in terms of character and story that I’ve seen before. That’s not to say it isn’t without its merits, but it’s really the music that makes this awesome.

Daft Punk we salute you!!!

The film is like an hour-long music video just moving from scene to scene filling your ears with the awesome sounds of Daft Punk’s Discovery album which is known by many as their most famous and best work (Well next to the Tron: Legacy Soundtrack.) It reminds me of how much love I have for Daft Punk and how much I’ve listened to their music over the years and it doesn’t seem to ever get old or boring.

Well that’s it for another blog, laterdays people!