“an exciting journey, and one that, for all its musical twists and turns, has its feet planted on the dancefloor.”
- The Independent

“It felt like a major event before its release: more incredibly, it still does once you’ve heard it.”
- The Guardian

Daft Punk’s fourth album, ‘Random Access Memories‘ is none of these things. It’s an album that is quite simply, ‘alright’. I have to say I am a bit baffled by the unofficial competition that journalists and musicians related to Daft Punk are having to give the most sycophantic praise to them. They should already know that DJ Falcon has won the competition…

“There were all these handicapped people with their families in the front, and they were so happy,“. “At some point, I was wondering if they were going to stand up and start walking, like a miracle!”
- DJ Falcon, talking about Alive 2007

The album opens with “Give Life Back to Music“, a track that has an intro that is remarkably similar to the Pokemon theme tune, it quickly descends into a track that wouldn’t be out of place in a Sofa advert. It’s alright, I guess. Something a bit odd about a Robotic voice saying, “Let the music come to life, give life back to music“, it just seems to be a contradiction.

“Game Of Love” is a bit like a slower version of “Something About Us”, it’s ok… I kinda skipped it a fair bit on repeat plays. “Giorgio by Moroder” is one of the more above-average tracks on the album. It’s essentially Daft Punk getting a chance at doing their own version of Moroder’s classic track, “The Chase” and they don’t fail, here they deliver a very strong 9 minutes of pulsating synths that ends nicely with touch of strings to add to the ‘epic’ feeling of the track.

“Within” is another slow and sad love song, I’m pretty sure they didn’t intend me to think of “Pearl Habour Sucks” from Team America when listening to it.

‘Instant Crush’” is vocodered pop-rock in the style of American acts like Christopher Cross and Michael McDonald. Again, this is ‘alright’. Maybe this one left me underwhelmed as I’ve heard much better versions of this ‘updated’. Acts such as Nightwaves and Walter Sobcek actually sound better and more polished in my opinion. Whilst ‘Lose Yourself To Dance‘ highlights a problem that runs throughout Random Access Memories. Sometimes, it sounds like Daft Punk are guesting on their own record. This is pretty much a Nile Rodgers + Pharrell Williams track with Daft Punk thrown on at the end, it doesn’t sound that natural, their contribution to the track really does sound like they are having to remind you it’s their album. Once again, it’s not a bad track or anything, it’s just…. ‘alright’.

Not really relevant to this review, still, I wanted to post it.

‘Touch’” is the first moment on the album where I started to feel like they were taking the piss a little. It’s incredibly self-indulgent Jazz-Hands musical stuff. I know in all the press releases that it says the collaborator on this, Paul Williams is a genius. However, that doesn’t mean I have to think he’s a genius on this track, he might be on some other songs, I don’t know…. not really going to adventure that and find out on the basis of this though. It’s also probably not worth saying anything on ‘Get Lucky‘, the arrangement is just as dodgy on the album as it is on the Radio Edit if you wondered.

This still amuses me though, sorry. :p

‘Beyond‘ and ‘Motherboard’ are the definition of ‘album filler’, floaty pieces of music that keep your attention… just. It does make you appreciate the albums final three tracks though, as they are all quite good. ‘Fragments Of Time‘ is Todd Edwards doing a very good impression of The Doobie Brothers and it’s good guilty pleasure pop. ‘Doin It Right‘ sees Panda Bear writing Daft Punk an endearing fan-letter in the form of music and ‘Contact‘ is a nice War Of The Worlds-esque album finisher. This is pretty much the section of the album I suspect everybody is really listening to.

So, overall, Daft Punk returned and it was quite average. In some ways, I would have preferred to hate it because that would mean it elicited an emotion from me and that’s better than nothing, oh well. The only other thing I have to say is… everybody being all smug about people who expected a more ‘dancey’ album… I mean, given their previous material, that’s not really an unreasonable expectation, is it?

Score: blahblahblahblah/10.
iTunes.
This video review is funny, if you have time.

Whilst searching for Ceefax music that was comparable to some of the material on Daft Punk’s ‘Random Access Memories’, as the basis of a joke (LOLOLOL), nobody outside of the U.K would get (LOLOLOL ),  I stumbled across this….

Daft Punk の ‘Random Access Memories’ がCeefax（wikipediaで調べてみてね）の音楽と比較されるっていうイギリス人にしか解らないジョークについて色々調べてみたらこんな物をみつけました。

ビデオのタイトルは ”BBC ceefax music Can you identify it? What a funky tune!“、訳すると、“BBCのceefaxの音楽すごくファンキーなんだけどなんていうトラックか解る？” とでも言っておきましょう。本当にファンキーですこのトラック。そしてこちらどうやら、菊池ひみこっていう日本人によるものらしいのです。discogs を見ると解りますが、サンプルの世界では名が知れているのかもしれません。出会いの機会を作ってくれたDaft Punk に感謝です。

Himiko Kikuchi – Sunburned Hip

Not long till Daft Punk’s ‘Random Access Memories’ is released, due to not that surprising circumstances you can now hear the album in full on iTunes. Just click here or here and if that doesn’t work just go into iTunes and hit Daft Punk’s artist page. Or, just listen in the player below… so many options.

いよいよDaft Punk のニューアルバム ‘Random Access Memories’ のリリースが迫ってきました。 とあるアクシデントもありまして、只今 iTunes にてフルストリームが可能となっています。ココ か ココ、もしも上手くいかなかったら iTunes のDaft Punk のアーティストページに行ってみましょう。若しくはこの下でも聞けます。

Is it any good? Well, lets be honest. It’s too early to say.  However, if it’s a quick snap-judgment you want.  The track with Panda ‘Not A Real Panda‘ Bear, ‘Doin It Right‘ is actually really good. As is, ‘Giorgio By Moroder‘ and ‘Contact‘. Have fun.

さて感想はいかがですか？正直今の段階で感想を述べるのは早すぎです。まぁ敢えて言うのなら、 Panda ‘Not A Real Panda‘ Bear との ‘Doin It Right‘ は予想とは違ってとっても良い感じ。そして ’Giorgio By Moroder‘ や ‘Contact‘ も気になるトラックです。まぁ自分の耳でお確かめくだされ。

Vitalic のちょっと癖ありなアルバム ”Rave Age” でまだイイ感じのトラックのうちの一つなのが”Fade Away“。こちらシングルとしてリリースされていて、素敵なビデオも出来ました。作ったのはRomain Chassaing。タランティーノの”Pulp Fiction” 的な感じもあったり。きっとFacebook上で皆がシェアするようなビデオになると思いますよ。

The EP is out now, backed with remixes from N00b and C2C.

EP は只今発売中で。 リミックスには N00b と C2C が参加。

“Where I Belong” is the second video to be taken from Keenhouse‘s second album, “Four Dreams“. The video was produced by Shinya Sato of Crystal (not the football player) who had previously made the rather entertaining videos for Strip Steve’s ‘Breakin‘ and Shinichi Osawa & Paul Chamber’s ‘Singapore Madness‘. So, you know even if you don’t like the song, it’ll be nice to watch. But, you will like song because it’s great and then you should go out and buy Keenhouse’s album..

このビデオ、”Where I Belong” はKeenhouse のセカンドアルバム、 ”Four Dreams” に収録されているトラックで、ビデオのプロデューサーはShinya Sato of Crystal (サッカー選手ではありませんよ)。この方以前にも Strip Steve の ‘Breakin‘ や 大沢伸一 & Paul Chamber の ‘Singapore Madness‘ 等のビデオも手掛けています。トラックが好みじゃなくてもビデオを見る価値ありますよ。勿論トラック自体とってもお勧めなんで是非ともKeenhouse のアルバムも購入をお勧めします。

I can do a punchline here which references one of their songs*, I won’t.

日本語ver

Phoenix, the band from France who had been around for quite sometime and then conquered America (aka The World) with ‘Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix‘ and deservedly so, it’s an album that’s  easy on the ears and very catchy. They return with their most anticipated album to date, ‘Bankrupt!’ and I was quite excited to hear it. Then, I heard the first single, ‘Enterainment‘ and well, I didn’t like it. This is mainly because it heavily has this strange ‘Oriental‘ gimmick running through it. Originally I had wanted to describe this as being ‘Dodgy YMO vibes’… However, after a bit of discussion, somebody pointed out to me it was basically an updated version of The Vapors ‘Turning Japanese‘ and that actually is a rather good comparison.

Stop. AZN TIME!!

Luckily, after ‘Entertainment‘ (which is the albums first track), things improve a little bit with ‘The Real Thing‘ and ‘S.O.S In Bel Air‘ two tracks which have the very catchy hooks in them and no doubt, must work rather well in a live context. Although, it’s immediately noticeable that the lyrics are a bit weird, even by Phoenix standards. The way I look at it is they’ve chosen to say words that sound pleasing next to the music, even if it doesn’t make a whole bunch of sense. Like a wonky-hipster Brian Wilson… or something.

If to make me eat my words, the ‘Oriental thing’ works perfectly on ‘Trying To Be Cool‘, it’s easily the best track on the album for me. It all comes together for them and it has the elements which make them a great band. I hope it gets a proper single release… like, without boringpals remixes (looking at you Entertainment remix package!). Click that play button already. This is rather good.

Other highlights on the album include; ‘Bankrupt!‘ which is nice neo-classical instrumental piece, ‘Drakkar Noir‘, which has got a bit of a stick for it’s, “It’s a jingle jungle/ Jingle junkie-junkie jumble” lyric, it’s actually pretty good though, so there :V and ‘Chloroform‘, which sticks out a little on the album, but, it’s a nice change of pace. I didn’t really think much of the albums final three tracks; ‘Don’t‘,  ’Bourgeois‘ and ‘Oblique City‘. Actually, that’s a lie. I thought that Housse De Racket’s album, ‘Alesia’ did what they were going for on those tracks a whole lot better..

TL:DR
If ever an album was a 7/10, it’s this. Approach with caution. The bonus cd filled with iPhone recorded demos is a gigantic waste of time that gives you an insight you can live without, honestly.

You can purchase it here.

*it was this, gosh.

Mighty Mouse が何とも彼らしいディスコタッチを加えた、Keljet の ’Love Of A Life‘。シングルは5月にOn The Fruit からリリースとの事。そして嬉しい事にリミックスは無料でゲット出来ちゃいます。たまにはSoundcloud にて感謝の言葉を残してみましょう。

蘇格蘭人(この漢字凄いね)プロデューサー、 Grum は恐らくブログハウスなんて言葉が流行った時代から残っている数少ないアーティストのうちの一人でしょう。そんな彼のセカンドアルバムは今年発売。しかもアルバムからのファーストシングルはよくある80′s な雰囲気ではないと来たもんだ。これは一体どういう事でしょうか!?

I’ve recovered from the shock, phew.  Because, it still sounds like a Grum record. I can highlight this quite easily actually.

It has sparkly sounds.
It has cute synth bits.
It catchy. It doesn’t quite hit you immediately, it will though.

とは言えども勿論 Grum らしいサウンドなのでご安心を。ポイントをまとめると、

活き活きしたサウンド。
キュートなシンセもあり。
一発目からは解らないかもしれないけれど、とってもキャッチー。

It’s out on Beatport next week, I wonder what genre will be bestowed upon it?

Here is a recent mix that he did which we were alerted to. This is actually the first mix we’ve posted in a bit, which hopefully says alot.

来週 Beatport にて発売されますが、なんというジャンルにはめられるのでしょうか。

因みにこちらは彼の最新ミックス。ミックスをポストするなんてとーっても久しぶり。勿論ポストする値があるからするんです。

Tracklist
1. Cahill – Feel The Love (Grum Remix)
2. Sophie – Nothing More To Say (Jackmaster Dub)
3. Crue 003A
4. Duke Dumont – The Giver (Locked Groove Remix)
5. Future Four – Into Orbit
6. Marvin & Guy – Sunday
7. Alex Metric & Mark Yardley – Ilium
8. Grum – Everytime (Club Mix)
9. Lana Del Ray – Summertime Sadness (Adam Freeland Mix)
10. Orbital – Time Becomes
11. Golden Girls – Kinetic (Broman VIP Mix)
12. Haim – Falling (Duke Dumont Remix)

I’m aware that Marcus Marr‘s ‘The Music‘  was released a month ago, well, I wasn’t till recently. It was recommended to me with the glowing praise of, “the best nu-disco thing I’ve heard in ages“. I’m not sure what ‘nu-disco’ is these days, or if I knew what it meant in the first place…  I knew what the person meant though, it has that creativity and playfulness originally associated with the genre a couple years ago. It holds it’s length of 8 minutes rather well too and the strings bit makes for a delightful surprise. Not even me spoiling and building it up a little can do it justice, so, I’ve not really spoiled it.

Marcus Marr の ’The Music‘ が既にリリースされていた、というのを実はつい最近知りました。こちら以前に“ここ何年もの間に聴いたニューディスコで一番良かった”ってな感じでお勧めされたんですが、ニューディスコ自体一体なんなのか最近良く分からなかったり…。勿論お勧めしてくれた人の言いたい事は分かるんです。クリエイティブで遊び心のある感じは本来ニューディスコというジャンルの特徴で、ことトラックにはそれがちゃんと残っています。8分はあるこのトラックですが、ストリングがまた良い感じのサプライズになってます。これ以上言うとお楽しみがなくなっちゃうんで後はチェックしてみてください。

Available on on vinyl.
And also on digital.

このバージョンはアナログオンリーになっています。こっちの方が個人的にはお勧め。
とは言え、デジタルバージョンだって勿論ステキでっせ。

どうやら昨日出回っていたDaft Punk の ’Get Lucky‘ は今日リリースされたものだったようです。実は昨日の時点ではこのバージョンは誰かが適当に作ったものだと思ってたんですが、まさかこれが本当のRadio Edit だったなんて…。まぁどうしようもないんですけど。

It’s alright and of course, it’s nice to have them back.  But, the song seems to have suffered a little from being structurally butchered for the radio edit (I hope that’s the case anyway) and that synth so-lol at the end, jesus.  =/

まぁ少なくとも彼らは本当にカムバックしたわけで、所が（Radio Edit だから、と信じたいけど）なんだかストラクチャーはイマイチな感じ。そしてシンセの最後は笑っちゃう…。

I really hope there aren’t remixes and if there are, they aren’t teased to fucking pieces like this ended up being….

You can purchase it here.

そしてこのトラックにはリミックスがありません様に。そしてもしもあるならば、こういう展開になりません様に….

ここでゲット出来ます。