Hugely influential and highly successful, Daft Punk not only have the highest selling vinyl release of the year with their latest album Random Access Memories, but the records’ brand of ‘future nostalgia‘ has also arguably turned a new generation onto the legacy of the funk and disco forefathers that inspired the Parisian pair of robots.
Beneath those chromed silver and gold helmets certainly lies the beating brains of two music fanatics, but if you’ve ever wondered what actually enters the ears of those same masked craniums, wonder no longer.
Thomas Bangalter, the taller, silver-helmeted dancedroid of the pair, has given an insight into the duo’s listening habits by curating a playlist for streaming service, Spotify, as Consequence Of Sound points out, showing that the pair are ‘Human After All’ and fare more interested in rock, indie, pop, and yes, disco, than anything their EDM offspring are churning out.
There’s little surprise that many of the collaborators from Random Access Memories – a love letter to Daft Punk’s musical influences that “just so happens to have the very same people it’s addressed to, help pen it” – appear on the 20-track song mixtape, with Bangalter plugging plenty of cuts from his musical guests.
Bound for Australia’s Meredith Music Festival and a string headline dates this December, Nile Rodgers and Chic open the playlist with disco anthem ‘Good Times’, while Rodgers’ hit-making touch also features in Sister Sledge’s ‘He’s The Greatest Dancer’ and Diana Ross’ ‘I’m Coming Out’.
There’s two selections from legendary producer Giorgio Moroder (‘Chase’ and ‘Tears’), Pharrell Williams (in N.E.R.D.’s ‘Hypnotize U’), Julian Casablancas (The Strokes’ ‘Tap Out’), Panda Bear and his Animal Collective cohorts (‘You Can Count On Me’ and ‘My Girls’ respectively), piano virtuoso Chilly Gonzales (‘Knight Moves’), and ‘Touch’ crooner Paul Williams (‘Bugsy Malone’).
The Daft Punk playlist also includes fellow French nationals (and close friends) Phoenix, psych-pop bizarros MGMT, and classic film composer Bernard Herrmann’s swan song work for director Martin Scorsese on Taxi Driver. The robots also show their sensitive side by including UK post-dubstep sensation James Blake’s ‘Retrograde’ and Bon Iver’s auto-tuned mini-masterpiece ‘Woods’.
Meanwhile, Daft Punk’s marketing juggernaut may have slowed somewhat since keeping the entire Internet on edge in the lead-up to the launch of Random Access Memories in rural Australia, but it hasn’t stopped completely. With the dance duo’s non-appearance on US late-night TV causing a stir before showing up at MTV’s VMAs in sequinned suits to silently hand Taylor Swift an award alongside premiering the teaser clip for latest single, ‘Lose Yourself To Dance’.
