Daft Punk have created a huge stir with the release of several teasers for their new album, which is due out in May, and the first official album released by the French duo since Human After All, which came out back in 2005 (discounting the 2010 soundtrack to Tron: Legacy of course).
The premier of a single image last week, suspected to be the album art for their new release, created so much traffic that it crashed the website of the electro pioneers. Now that teasing image has been followed up with a sixteen-second video teaser for their new album.
As Stoney Roads reports, the super short track debuted exclusively on last week’s episode of Saturday Night Live (which you can view in the banner), and showed distinct influences from the disco genre with a glitter ball version of the band’s logo and a distinctly glamorous disco ball soundtrack.
Which makes a lot of sense when you couple it with the suspected album art, the same picture that sent the internet into a spin and created so much traffic it overwhelmed Daft Punk’s website. The two half-helmets in the centre of a black background, looks fairly similar to a disco ball. (Also Saturday Night Live, Saturday Night Fever. That is almost too close to be coincidence).
Adding to the limited information that has already been released about their new record, all this comes together to confirm the suspicions that Daft Punk’s newest album will have a definite disco sound.
Daft Punk have been confirmed to be collaborating with Chic frontman and funk legend, Nile Rodgers on the new record. Which might seem a strange combination but where did dance music start if not disco?
Rogers was very excited about the collaboration, saying that when he and the French duo jammed together “Every track they played I just ran across the room and got my guitar and started playing and we were all dancing around my dining room having the time of our lives,” says Rodgers.
Italian producer Giorgio Moroder also revealed that he worked with Daft Punk on the new album. Moroder is most famous for his work in the disco genre, particularly with Donna Summer.
“Saturday Night Live, Saturday Night Fever. That is almost too close to be coincidence.”Moroder’s contribution to the album is his own life story. He confirmed that he was asked to go into a booth and speak about his life.
There were various microphones in the booth, ranging from the ’60s to more modern equipment. The concept was that the recording of Moroder’s voice would change depending on the decade he was talking about, giving a definable sound to the moments as he recalls them.
It might seem like a small detail that a listener might not actually notice, when Moroder questioned that himself an engineer assured him: “They will know.”
Rumours are rife with even more collaborators being linked to the electronic duo. Namely Oscar-winning singer-songwriter Paul Williams – best known for penning the Kermit The Frog hit ‘The Rainbow Connection’, Feist collaborator Chilly Gonzales and Animal Collective’s Panda Bear.
The supposed artwork for the new album also features the logo for Columbia Records in the bottom right hand corner, confirming the French duo’s departure to the new label.
The follow up to 2005′s Human After All will be the pair’s first release with Columbia Records after 17 years at EMI’s Virgin Records. The new deal comes after EMI was snatched up by Universal Music last September in a $1.9 million merger.
Fans of the French pair have been waiting for a new LP for some time with the last instance of new material heard being courtesy of a Yves Saint Laurent fashion show last year, in which the French duo produced a 15 minute track that heavily sampled blues artist Junior Kimbrough for the Parisian show.
The news of Daft Punk’s new disco-influenced LP is the latest in what is turning out to be a string of exciting new releases in 2013 from international acts, including a new record from Iggy and the Stooges, new material from Brooklyn outfit The National, the latest from Parisian indie popsters Phoenix, the fifth LP from New Yorkers The Strokes, David Bowie’s first new album in a decade, and anticipated releases from the likes of Vampire Weekend, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and The Knife’s 98 minute opus, Shaking The Habitual.
Similarly we can see brand new tunes from Australian hopefuls including the Cat Empire’s latest, the second album from Melbourne twosome Big Scary, and a heap of new albums from the likes of Bernard Fanning, Birds of Tokyo, Hermitude, Airbourne, Super Wild Horses, and new material from Perth outfit Pond.
You can view the slick new artwork below:
