So it’s finally out. Yetserday, Daft Punk’s latest album Random Access Memories leaked, then appeared as an official stream on iTunes after being widely discussed as one of the year’s most highly anticipated releases.
None the less, the touted global album Wee Waa album launch, scheduled for this Friday 17th May will still go ahead, though for anyone making the trek to NSW’s north-western slopes, the event no longer possesses the exclusivity it once offered.
The record will still be played in full, a unique, electronic addition to the cotton capital’s annual Wee Waa Show, and for the 4,000 ticket-holders making the journey, be warned – the police have announced they will be targeting Daft Punk attendees as part of Operation Hadrian.
As The Courier reports, there will be around 30 police in attendance at the event, backed up further by 80 private security personnel that were brought in at the organisers bequest. Operation Hadrian will be targeting alcohol and drug-related crime, underage drinking, drunk drivers, and overall will attempt to maintain social crowd behaviour.
Operation Hadrian Commander, Superintendent Jenny Hayes said, “officers will be out in force at the event and local licensed premises and there will be no hesitation in taking action;” noting the police presence was to ensure safety and security of music fans at the Wee Waa Show and the wider Narrabri community. “As you can gather, there will be quite a strong police presence in town because there will be upwards of 4,000 people descending on [Wee Waa].” – Rory O’Connor, Police Spokesman
Speaking to ABC News, Police Spokesman Rory O’Connor also insisted that the force’s local Barwon and New England command units would unite and support each other for Friday’s big event. In addition to Operation Hadrian’s multiple police teams, O’Connor said there will also be riot squads, traffic and highway control officers, mounted police and dog units, all ready to combat any antisocial behaviour or public misdemeanours.
“As you can gather, there will be quite a strong police presence in town because there will be upwards of 4,000 people descending on the town of Wee Waa,” Mr O’Connor concluded.
Such intense measures are rarely undertaken by even Australia’s largest festivals, such as Future Music Festival, which this year employed the Passive Alert Detection (PAD) dog operation as its strongest deterrent to drug-related offences, and hosted around 50,000 punters in Melbourne alone.
But the public airing of Random Access Memories is still a highly anticipated event for Wee Waa show president Brett Dickinson, who tells ABC News that he is not disappointed by the early and unexpected leak, and that “it’s hard to have a party on your own when you download a song off the internet.”
Dickinson also added that he was looking forward to the light spectacle and around 4,000 guests that will accompany the album’s airing, and according to him, by Friday night, “… it’s the place to be.”
The Daft Punk album leak also follows the news that Weekend Vines, the proposed weekend long afterparty to the then Wee Waa global launch of Random Access Memories ran into serious issues with securing permits from local council that led to its cancellation.
Daft Punk have been hyping the release of Random Access Memories through several teasers, as well as the online making-of series ‘The Collaborators’, featuring interviews with the record’s list of A-grade musicians, including Giorgio Moroder, Todd Edwards, Nile Rodgers, Pharrell Williams, Panda Bear from Animal Collective, Chilly Gonzales, and most recently, Paul Williams.
Alongside intensive teasing, full album streaming is becoming an increasingly popular tactic for large releases, with notable examples being David Bowie’s first album in a decade, The Next Day and Justin Timberlake’s comeback album The 20/20 Experience, which were both streamed on iTunes ahead of release before going on to sell extraordinarily well when they were “officially” released for sale.
It’s worth noting that it was Sony who ‘leaked’ Timerlake’s album, which went on to sell 968,000 copies in its first week, and that the French duo are signed to Columbia Records, a Sony imprint, suddenly making the early leak seem less coincidence and more specially determined marketing strategy.
Listen to Random Access Memories on iTunes HERE. Alternately, if you’re some kind of traditionalist, you can pre-order Random Access Memories on CD & vinyl here, read Daft Punk’s own track-by-track run down here, and view the album art and tracklist below:
Random Access Memories tracklist
Album line-up:
1- Nile Rodgers (Guitar), Paul Jackson, Jr. (Guitar) – 4:34
2- Instrumental – 5:21
3- Giorgio Moroder (Synth) – 9:04
4- Chilly Gonzales (Piano) – 3:48
5- Julian Casablancas (Vocals) – 5:37
6- Nile Rodgers (Guitar), Pharrell Williams (Vocals) – 5:53
7- Paul WIlliams (Vocals and Lyrics) – 8:18
8- Nile Rodgers (Guitar), Pharrel Williams (Vocals) – 6:07
9- Paul Williams (Lyrics) – 4:50
10- Instrumental – 5:41
11- Todd Edwards (Vocals) – 4:39
12- Noah Benjamin Lennox (Panda Bear, Animal Collective – Vocals) – 4:11
13- DJ FALCON – 6:21
Tracklisting:
01. Give Life Back to Music (ft. Nile Rodgers)
02. The Game of Love
03. Giorgio by Moroder (ft. Giorgio Moroder)
04. Within (ft. Chilly Gonzales)
05. Instant Crush (ft. Julian Casablancas)
06. Lose Yourself to Dance (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers)
07. Touch (ft. Paul Williams)
08. Get Lucky (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers)
09. Beyond
10. Motherhood
11. Fragments of Time (ft. Todd Edwards)
12. Doin’ It Right (ft. Panda Bear)
13. Contact (ft. DJ Falcon)
