Daft Punk - Random Access Memories

[Sesquipedaliantique]

http://www20.zippyshare.com/v/23235319/file.html

It's here

Edit: not sure what's going on here. Quote my post and copy the url.

 

[rollie]

It's a mixed one I feel. Although I've only listened to it once, a listen which couldn't not be influenced by my ridiculous anticipation.
At the moment chunks of it just feel a bit samey and flat. The album is very focused on the 70s/80s disco revival of the last few years and it does have some great examples of that style. However, by sticking a little rigidly to that it leads to several songs sounding very similar to each other, and they also sound similar to plenty of songs that have come out in this 'revival'

On the positive side, I think Touch and Contact are fantastic. Touch takes all the disco-ey stuff into some really interesting places, and uses a much wider palate than many of the other songs. I think Paul William's vocals are easily the best on the album (not a huge fan of Pharrel's vocal stuff and the vocoder gets a bit over used). Contact sounds like nothing else on the album but it's still a really strong, fun, poppy number except with buckets of intensity (which many of the other tracks lack). I really like the last four tracks, particularly when played in order, Motherboard is an nice instrumental taking us from the Pharell singles to Fragments of time and Doin' it right which are both interesting variations on the disco-ey style (one beefs it up, the other slows it down) and finally ending with Contact.
The track with Giorgio Moroder is tons of fun too - definitely the first point in the album I sat up an really took notice (obviously I've heard Get Lucky plenty over the last two weeks and the first two tracks are very much in that vein)

I fully intend to listen to it a good few more times (I do find samey albums work better over a few listens as you notice more and the smaller differences between songs tend to stick out) It's think it's a great dance / party CD at the very least. Part of the problem is just due to who they are. Homework and Alive completely blew me away because they sounded nothing like anything else I'd heard at the time. They contributed a lot to getting me into electronic music, and almost because of that this album doesn't come across as well - if I hadn't gotten into the genre I wouldn't have so much to compare to.

 

[Sesquipedaliantique]

Knocked me out on first listen. I love the smooth 70s radio rock guitar riffs and general disco vibe. Not a bad song amongst the lot, imo.

It's 2013 and the best albums I've heard all year were released by Daft Punk and My Bloody Valentine, LOL.

 

[FLAM]

It's good, not great. At least on first listen. Maybe my opinion will change. The Moroder is my favorite so far. I'd like it if they release an edited version without the long intro. Also, I was surprised I enjoyed the Julian Casablancas song as much as I did.

 

[Sesquipedaliantique]

I can't think of a better place to mention that I also bought 'Lanzarote' on wax from Idle Hands and it's another killer release.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnbMucJqCP0

Yes, that Idle Hands. You live very close to me, iIrc.

 

[FLAM]

Damn, didn't even know about that one. Love Lindstrøm.

 

[rollie]

Cheers for the tip on Lanzarotte, had not come across that yet and I generally love Lindstrøm and Todd Terje's individual stuff (you weren't at his set on New Years Day were you? was rather good, if a little odd given that it was 6pm on NYD)
Yeah I'm pretty close to Idle Hands - often grab tickets from there - although moving to Clifton in the nearish future (buying a flat, not a huge fan of Clifton but it's an awesome flat and very reasonably priced given it's location - plus it's Bristol so all the fun things are still a short walk away)

 

[Mickey Massuco]

I've heard this is shit, but Alfie has me intrigued. He has p. good taste, imo.

 

[Sesquipedaliantique]

That's odd. I've discussed Random Access Memories on a few forums and most seem to regard it as a masterpiece, with a vocal minority thinking it's good but not great.

 

[FLAM]

On second listen, Touch is probably the best song on the LP.

I have mixed feelings on the over abundance of vocoder on this album though.

 

[Big Beard Booty Daddy]

I listened to it twice yesterday. I really didn't like it that much the first time and decided to give it a second listen later in the day to see if that's how I really felt about it. Yup. Don't really like it that much. There are a couple of solid tracks, but overall, I don't think very highly of it.

 

[Incandenza]

Nah, this album is really, really good. I put off listening to it because I assumed I wouldn't like it, but holy shit.

 

[Agent of Oblivion]

Even I love this

 

[Incandenza]

Good job, Daft Punk, on managing to make Pharrell and Julian Casablancas not annoying.

 

[FLAM]

Haha yeah, I was pretty skeptical when I saw all of the big name guest vocalists on the track list, but those songs are pretty good. The Casablancas track is one of my favorites.

 

[Sesquipedaliantique]

Good job, Daft Punk, on managing to make Pharrell not annoying.

Huh. All I really know is In Search Of... and a few select singles in between that and this, all of which are pretty good. Feel like I'm missing something here...

 

[Incandenza]

I love In Search Of..., but shortly after that Pharrell fell in love with the sound of his voice and started laying his cringe-inducing falsetto* over everything, be it N.E.R.D.'s subsequent work—Fly or Die was putrid, though it should be said not just because of him—and on his many unwelcome guest appearances on other people's tracks.

I don't know if he's gotten better in recent years—I stopped paying attention to him awhile ago—but I certainly have no problem with him on "Lose Yourself to Dance" and "Get Lucky."

*This is charming in moderation, as it was on the first N.E.R.D. album. And on the first Clipse record, but there he was pushing it at times.

 

[Sesquipedaliantique]

John Cale thought that 'Drop It Like It's Hot' was a towering success of modern production/composition in the same league as Beck's 'Loser'.

 

[Incandenza]

My problem was never so much his production.

Anywho, that RAM being as good as it is helps makes up for just how blah this year's Phoenix and The-Dream albums are.

 

[Baby Shoes]

I listened to most of this on my drive into work. I was enjoying it but there was that one song, and I can't remember the name, that just sounded like a show time. Threw me off a little but overall, good stuff.

 

[Sesquipedaliantique]

That would be 'Touch'.

 

[rollie]

Touch definitely seems the most divisive song on the album. I've seen reviews cite it as a standout track or as a completely out of place black spot on the album. I really enjoyed it but have heard many friends refer to it as "the annoying musical number". I guess that's a result of it being both very different from the rest of the album - people will either appreciate the change or find it a weird diversion.
You gotta give them credit for playing around with things rather than taking the safe route though (although one could argue that statement applies to the entire album) Paul Williams was a very unusual choice to bring in as a collaborator (and the reason the track sounds like a musical track is that he's a large background in the genre) but I think he brought something really awesome and different to the table

 

[Incandenza]

"Touch" is awesome. The whole stretch of "Giogoro by Moroder" to "Get Lucky" is awesome.

 

[Baby Shoes]

Yeah, I though "Touch" was interesting and just showed how much they were able to change sounds track to track. I just did a double take at first because it seemed like something completely different came over my iPod.

 

[Byron The Bulb]

This is really great it makes me want to take drugs and walk around neon-soaked streets at night.

 

[Byron The Bulb]

Listening to it makes me feel like I'm living in the movie Drive even more than listening to the soundtrack for the movie Drive does

 

[Byron The Bulb]

"Beyond" makes me feel like I'm in Miami and have been up partying for 72 hours and am watching the sunrise while sitting on the beach next to a pretty girl who's having trouble keeping her eyes open.

 

[Sesquipedaliantique]

I think you should start the 'Songs that make you feel like you are in Miami' thread. I'll supply the Reggaeton.

 

[Big Beard Booty Daddy]

Decided to listen to this album again today on the way home from work. I would like to take back my previous post. This album is fantastic. I don't know if it was just that I was expecting something like what they've previously put out and was just surprised by the sound of the album, but after a couple weeks of not listening to it, it sounds so much better.

 

[Mickey Massuco]

lol