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Daft Punk's Random Access Memories album

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Posted

I didn't make anything look like anything

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Posted

I more brought up deadmau5 as an aside because I was talking about how stale the industry's gotten lately. It happens all the time to various things, and Daft Punk are always going in new directions without really jumping the shark, even if they retain their sensibilities about their previously established musical ideals; this was counter to Phanta saying they sound the same as they have since '97, which as we've established multiple times, is really clearly not the case? Like yeah his impressions might be valid to him, as legitimate impressions, but my impressions, from actually listening to the music, are that those impressions are not valid. Validity is subjective to each person, but if you get the impression that a toaster is a microwave, there's something objectively wrong here. You can't just stick with your first impression for things if you've just skimmed over it. Yes he does need to listen to the whole album without preconceptions to get a valid impression of the album. You don't have a valid impression of people until you've met and talked with them, so why should it be different for music, or any artistic medium?

 

I think saying "X wouldn't be as popular if it wasn't by Y" is pretty invalid as a criticism, too. Of course it's going to be more popular. I've heard plenty of tracks that could stand up to popular pieces of music any day, yet they're not popular. Why? Because A) It's not by a popular artist B) It's not doing the popular thing. Artists gain recognition over their careers. An artist stops being good when their music stops being good. An artist grows stale when they stop changing. Daft Punk has done neither thing, and they have popularity. I listen to disco house. If I asked anyone on the street from which time period they thought some of the tracks might be from, they might tell me anything from the 70's to the 90's, but it was made within the past five years. Going in a direction reminiscent of older styles is risky because people somehow invalidate music older than their generation. Get Lucky would be risky to put on the radio if it wasn't by Daft Punk, true. That's what's great about it. The music around us has gotten so stale, that people of notoriety have to come in and try to change it. Not in a way that might be abrasive or weird to people, but in a way that has preestablished trust in that music still holds a value we need to think and feel about, not just cranking out the same stuff. Like "I wouldn't normally listen to something that's so disco-y, but it's by Daft Punk, so I'll give it a shot", and then they end up liking it a lot. I want to know that music with that kind of substance plays on the radio. So they needed popularity for that, and I respect them greatly for their decision to use it in order to try and change things rather than to just live a comfortable life putting out the same stuff every once in awhile until it doesn't work anymore. But honestly, I think if it was released by some unknown artist, it might have gotten popular too, because it's actually really good.

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Posted (edited)

Some people may think Deadmau5 is changing, too. They would call your judgment of him invalid because you don't listen to him. Fans of things will interpret things however they like. It isn't wrong or right.

Kind of relevant example: There was a Radiohead album that came out called King of Limbs. I despised it. It seemed like it was trying too hard to be different. My friends and I generally had the same impression. And in other circles, the album was getting great reviews. Same thing with Zelda. I found Skyward Sword underwhelming, as many people did. I disliked the new direction and did not like the DS games at all. Many people liked them, however. If I had been more of a fan of these two things, then I'd be trying to understand and justify these underwhelming releases in a larger scope of a body of work.

I just think that as a fan, people will jump through hoops to avoid saying "oh man, maybe this new album is kind of a let down" and they'll say "they're taking a new direction". Fans see what they want. It's not wrong or right. A person who isn't necessarily a fan of Daft Punk is going to have a different interpretation of the album than a fan would. Neither is more valid.

I'm not denying that Daft Punk may be taking a different direction. I can kind of relate to a person who wants to fight back against fervent fans, honestly. That's not cool to rain on people's parades, though. I'm not adding much to this thread currently. I'll probably download it later and give my impressions as a person who doesn't really listen to house or dance music.

Edited by ∟ ∟ (see edit history)

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Posted

I'm more of an Eagles fan, myself. 

 

Come to think of it, nobody ever analyzes Eagles music except for the actual band members; what's up with that? What makes these Daft Punk fellows deserve all this discussion while people just look at Hotel California and go "eh, it's about devil worship or the price of fame. move along."

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Posted

When Daft Punk were making the album, they actually said they wanted it to have a kind of west coast vibe, "kind of like the Eagles".

 

And it's not really even about the direction to me, LL, I just listen to pretty much everything they do and I'm always astounded at how well they do it. This is actually the first album that I've had expectations for other than the Tron: Legacy soundtrack, because I didn't start being a fan of them until like 2008. I didn't have any preconceptions, I just listened to their albums, and gathered my opinion on the fly. I didn't get absorbed in their mythos or anything, I came to respect them as musicians and artists.

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Posted

See, that's how you make a good album :)

 

Also LL mentioned in the post above my first one:

 

I just think that as a fan, people will jump through hoops to avoid saying "oh man, maybe this new album is kind of a let down" and they'll say "they're taking a new direction". Fans see what they want. It's not wrong or right. A person who isn't necessarily a fan of Daft Punk is going to have a different interpretation of the album than a fan would. Neither is more valid.

 

I feel like the "taking a new direction" excuse used by some people is cheap. Nothing stays exactly the same album after album, so you can always point to a difference and say "hey look, so and so is taking a new direction!" On the basis that there are cheap arguments like the "they're taking a new direction" one, I would say some opinions are more valid than others, or at least more discussion-worthy.

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Posted

Only among people with the same opinions.

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Posted

Some people may think Deadmau5 is changing, too. They would call your judgment of him invalid because you don't listen to him. Fans of things will interpret things however they like. It isn't wrong or right.

Kind of relevant example: There was a Radiohead album that came out called King of Limbs. I despised it. It seemed like it was trying too hard to be different. My friends and I generally had the same impression. And in other circles, the album was getting great reviews. Same thing with Zelda. I found Skyward Sword underwhelming, as many people did. I disliked the new direction and did not like the DS games at all. Many people liked them, however. If I had been more of a fan of these two things, then I'd be trying to understand and justify these underwhelming releases in a larger scope of a body of work.

I just think that as a fan, people will jump through hoops to avoid saying "oh man, maybe this new album is kind of a let down" and they'll say "they're taking a new direction". Fans see what they want. It's not wrong or right. A person who isn't necessarily a fan of Daft Punk is going to have a different interpretation of the album than a fan would. Neither is more valid.

I'm not denying that Daft Punk may be taking a different direction. I can kind of relate to a person who wants to fight back against fervent fans, honestly. That's not cool to rain on people's parades, though. I'm not adding much to this thread currently. I'll probably download it later and give my impressions as a person who doesn't really listen to house or dance music.

 

Am I the only one that actually liked king of limbs? Sure, it's no kid a, but damn, dat codex. 

 

Also, having listened to RAM about 5 times now, it's actually totally grown on me, and I think it's actually a fairly solid album. This album was /always/ gonna polarize fans, and this thread is turning into an opinion war. 

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Posted

King of Limbs is mucho coolio.

At one point when I'd only started listening to Radiohead, it was the one I knew best.

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Posted

so i only just found out about romanthony (voice of one more time and other dp cuts) dying, that really sucks. RIP.

Sahaqiel likes this

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Posted

This has been my desktop for the past couple weeks since I think it's really classy, not because of Daft Punk hype. I mean maybe that too idk

 

post-5864-0-66559500-1369452374_thumb.pn

 

ah my name is there, oh well

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Posted

this made me laugh

tumblr_mnbrngAxVs1qft31ko1_500.png

 

There is actually some kind of tribute group called Daft Punk'd. I only know they exist, and that they perform in the robot costumes, and that the one thing I've seen from them is just them playing unrelated music from a Mac.

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Posted

I've been enjoying

 

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