The robots have done it! With their Random Access Memories album, Daft Punk have locked down Album of The Year as well as just about every other award under the sun at the 2014 Grammys, and there’s a damn good reason why. I despise disco. Born among the cocaine-comedown afterglow of the world’s fixation with mirrorball dance music, I learned very early on the difference between music made for dilated pupils & grinding jaws and a genuine artistic statement. But what happens when the disco kids have kids of their own, without translating the need for soul?
Watch Daft Punk and Stevie Wonder’s medley of “Get Lucky” and “Freak Out” at the 2014 Grammy Awards!
The result is the modern EDM movement, rich with soulless dub-by-numbers bass-dropping molly pandering. Naturally, true art finds a way, and just as there will always be outliers pushing the envelope of evolution, there’s also the occasional name who will use their place in the nucleus of the EDM lexicon to vault the entire game to a new level. Enter: Daft Punk.
French duo Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, the men beneath those amazing helmets, are godfathers of the today’s electronica, though their diagnosis of the current EDM landscape is one of bemusement. Random Access Memories is the sound of maestros recoiling from the dumb glut of the EDM scene that owes everything to them. Rather than meeting the modern musical equivalent of the Idiocracyworld with cynicism and damnation, however, Bangalter and Homem-Christo simply turn over the stone and celebrate the organic life crawling beneath – with beautiful results. Live instrumentation, exquisite arrangements and magnificent production are centerpieces of evidence that, when you insist on originality with a perfectionist edge, even flirtation with campy disco can hit like a live-wire of thrashing passion.
Random Access Memories is a musical Rorschach test – it is many things to many people, and its complex variety will keep the conversation going well beyond the Grammy win on Sunday night. But to the genre inspired so largely by the architects of this album, this is an impossibly high new bar, one that has rendered the play-button hand-waver DJs painfully and obviously flaccid. Congtatulations, boys.
Grammys 2014
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Grammys 2014
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Grammys 2014
Imagine Dragons perform onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Rapper Kandrick Lamar and singer Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons perform onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Singer John Legend performs onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Musician James Hetfield of Metallica performs onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Singer Beyonce (L) and rapper Jay-Z onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Singers Steven Tyler (L) and Smokey Robinson speak onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Singers Miranda Lambert (L) and Billy Joe Armstrong perform at the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Recording artists Thomas Bangalter (L) and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo of Daft Punk perform onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Musicians Daft Punk; Nile Rodgers, Stevie Wonder and Pharrell Williams perform onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails performs onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Recording artist Pink onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Pink performs onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Lorde performs onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Singer Lorde (L) and accepts the Best Pop Solo Performance award for 'Royals' onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails performs onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Musician Lindsey Buckingham performs onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Singer Katie Perry onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Musicians Paul McCartney (L) and Ringo Starr onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Singer Ringo Starr performs onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Singer Robin Thicke performs onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Kirk Hammett of Metallica onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Larry Busacca/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Singer Madonna performs onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
(2nd L-R)Musicians Macklemore, Mary Lambert, Madonna, Ryan Lewis and Queen Latifah perform onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Recording artist Macklemore and singer Mary Lambert perform onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Larry Busacca/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Musicians Lang Lang (L) and James Hetfield perform onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Actor-singer Jared Leto speaks onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Dan Reynolds performs onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Musician Dave Grohl performs onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Musical group Queens of the Stone Age perform with Nine Inch Nails onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Musician Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age performs onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Musicians Daft Punk accepts award for Album of the Year onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Singer Katy Perry performs onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Singer Katy Perry performs onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Singers Nate Ruess and Pink onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Actor/singer Jamie Foxx and rapper Jay-Z onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Musicians Alicia Keys (2nd L) and Yoko Ono (3rd L) present Paul Williams, Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk, Nile Rodgers, and Guy-Manuel De Homem-Christo of Daft Punk with the Album of the Year award onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Singers Nate Ruess (L) and Pink onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
Musicians Paul McCartney (L) and Dave Grohl onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/WireImage)
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Grammys 2014
(L-R) Musicians Krist Novoselic, Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl and Pat Smear speak onstage during the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/WireImage)
