The Playlist That Got Me Through Midterms ft. Daft Punk

This week was midterm week at my high school. Testing started on Tuesday (which is why I missed Music of the Week this week), and I had one test every day but Wednesday, the only day I had two in a row. To keep everyone sane, the school lets everyone out right after testing is over for the day. So I came home at around 10:30 AM every day for most of this week. Of course, I spent most of my precious extra time being unproductive. This includes listening to music for hours on end. In doing so, I rediscovered Daft Punk.

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Everybody knows who Daft Punk is. At least, most people do, because of their Summer 2013 hit "Get Lucky" featuring Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers. (That's when I first really heard of them; I might have heard of them before, but it wasn't of any significance whatsoever til then.) And because they just won five Grammys last Sunday. Yeah. No biggie.

Daft Punk hugging after a major win at this
year's Grammys. I can't get it out of my head.
Fun fact: It lasted for eleven seconds. Too cute!!
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In case you didn't know about them: Daft Punk is a French EDM duo consisting of Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo.  Bangalter's father, Daniel Vangarde, wrote the 1970s hits "D.I.S.C.O." and "Cuba" for Ottawa and the Gibson Brothers, respectively. Homem-Christo's parents' occupations were not in music, but they loved classic rock so Homem-Christo grew up listening to a lot of it. Although the duo met early, in the 8th grade, they initially didn't discuss their shared connection with music at all. He and Bangalter began the indie rock band Darlin' while attending secondary school with Laurent Brancowitz in 1992. Brancowitz would later leave and join the indie rock band Phoenix. Left to their own devices, Bangalter and Homem-Christo started Daft Punk in 1993 (That's over 20 years ago!!). Fun fact: They got the name "Daft Punk" from a bad review of their previous group, in which the critic called their music "a daft punky trash". Since then, they've released four studio albums: Homework, Discovery, Human After All, and Random Access Memories. They achieved critical success with their first two albums because of their unique style during the late 90s' house music movement. Human After All took on a more rock-y sound. After its release, they took their focus off of making their own music for a while and instead engaged in projects like Electroma and the Tron: Legacy soundtrack. Random Access Memories, released last year, was their first album in eight years; Human After All was released in 2005. It mixes modern style with 70's and 80's disco. 

Something unique to Daft Punk is their constant disguises. They've said that they wear them because they don't believe in the "star system" and don't want to be celebrities. They also use them as alter egos that visualize their musical mission to blur the line between human and robot. Said Bangalter of their decision regarding their helmets: "We did not choose to become robots. There was an accident in our studio. We were working on our sampler, and at exactly 9:09 am on September 9, 1999, it exploded. When we regained consciousness, we discovered that we had become robots." He also said that the disguises were actually inititally out of shyness. There aren't many pictures of them in public without the disguise of their hands or high-tech helmets. I personally think it's really cool. I love their robotic alter egos; they have an air of power and mystery that you just can't emulate as a human. I mean, we have enough pictures of them unmasked. Plus, they are super attractive as robots. 

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And finally, they're human after all...

Left: Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo
Right: Thomas Bangalter
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Here's what I've been listening to this week. It's not much, but I've had each one on replay. The first three are from Random Access Memories and the second two are from Human After All and Discovery, respectively. I have yet to discover Homework. However, I need to get more into Daft Punk all around because I still don't have an idea of their sound.

   

 So what do you think of Daft Punk?  Just heard of them? Already in the fandom? Leave a comment or email me at leatherandrouge@gmail.com.