This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/may/14/daft-punk-random-access-memories
The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| Daft Punk's retro album Random Access Memories gets Shard debut | Daft Punk's retro album Random Access Memories gets Shard debut |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Reading on mobile? Click here to view video | |
| Shortly before sunset on Monday night dozens of guests made their way up to the top of the Shard for the UK launch of Daft Punk's latest album, Random Access Memories. | Shortly before sunset on Monday night dozens of guests made their way up to the top of the Shard for the UK launch of Daft Punk's latest album, Random Access Memories. |
| Guests in the landmark skyscraper at London Bridge were heard to remark that it felt like a throwback to a more affluent era, when record labels could regularly afford such flamboyant gestures. | Guests in the landmark skyscraper at London Bridge were heard to remark that it felt like a throwback to a more affluent era, when record labels could regularly afford such flamboyant gestures. |
| Everything about Daft Punk's fourth album stands out from the rest of the modern industry like the Shard does from the London skyline: bold, divisive, unfeasibly big and impossible to ignore. | Everything about Daft Punk's fourth album stands out from the rest of the modern industry like the Shard does from the London skyline: bold, divisive, unfeasibly big and impossible to ignore. |
| Daft Punk's feverishly debated promotional campaign would be spectacular coming from an established superstar. It is the more remarkable for being conceived by two shy Frenchmen who have not been photographed without their robot helmets since the 90s and who made their previous three albums (Homework, Discovery and Human After All) at their homes on modest budgets. />Only David Bowie's comeback has generated equivalent excitement this year. It is typical of the attention to detail and insistence on creative independence that has defined Daft Punk's career since their first single 20 years ago. | |
| "The only secret to being in control is to have it in the start," Thomas Bangalter, one half of the Daft Punk band, tells the Observer Magazine this Sunday. "Retaining control is still hard but obtaining control is virtually impossible." | "The only secret to being in control is to have it in the start," Thomas Bangalter, one half of the Daft Punk band, tells the Observer Magazine this Sunday. "Retaining control is still hard but obtaining control is virtually impossible." |
| Daft Punk have said that Random Access Memories is an attempt to revive the "magic" of the event albums that soundtracked their childhoods. Professing themselves bored with electronic music, they worked with crack session musicians and some musical heroes in various studios and cities. | Daft Punk have said that Random Access Memories is an attempt to revive the "magic" of the event albums that soundtracked their childhoods. Professing themselves bored with electronic music, they worked with crack session musicians and some musical heroes in various studios and cities. |
| The promotional campaign is similarly interested in looking back in order to go forward. A teaser video released on Monday – showing a robot lovingly dropping the needle onto a vinyl copy of the album – sums up the duo's retro-futurist aesthetic. | The promotional campaign is similarly interested in looking back in order to go forward. A teaser video released on Monday – showing a robot lovingly dropping the needle onto a vinyl copy of the album – sums up the duo's retro-futurist aesthetic. |
| Daft Punk's sense of heritage explains their alliance with Columbia Records, which celebrates its 125th birthday this year. They approached Columbia last summer – having already financed the recording of the album themselves – with detailed promotional plans, including vast billboards on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. | Daft Punk's sense of heritage explains their alliance with Columbia Records, which celebrates its 125th birthday this year. They approached Columbia last summer – having already financed the recording of the album themselves – with detailed promotional plans, including vast billboards on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. |
| "We wanted it to be a campaign of weight, like when record companies had the confidence that they had a big, big, record," Columbia Records' chief executive, Rob Stringer, recently told Billboard magazine. | "We wanted it to be a campaign of weight, like when record companies had the confidence that they had a big, big, record," Columbia Records' chief executive, Rob Stringer, recently told Billboard magazine. |
| Secrecy was enforced by withholding key information and making everyone who came into contact with the record sign strict non-disclosure agreements. | Secrecy was enforced by withholding key information and making everyone who came into contact with the record sign strict non-disclosure agreements. |
| A fascination with enduring American cultural institutions led the duo to break the news of the album with an advertisement on Saturday Night Live, on 2 March, featuring a 15-second loop of the single Get Lucky. Eager fans quickly posted their own extended versions on YouTube. | A fascination with enduring American cultural institutions led the duo to break the news of the album with an advertisement on Saturday Night Live, on 2 March, featuring a 15-second loop of the single Get Lucky. Eager fans quickly posted their own extended versions on YouTube. |
| "The internet allows for a very interactive and playful connection with the audience," said Bangalter. "It's almost like a striptease where you see something gradually instead of uncovering it as a whole." | "The internet allows for a very interactive and playful connection with the audience," said Bangalter. "It's almost like a striptease where you see something gradually instead of uncovering it as a whole." |
| There has been little traditional promotion by the pair themselves, who dislike interviews and have decided not to tour. They outsourced much of the press publicity to guest performers such as Pharrell Williams and the loquacious Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers. | There has been little traditional promotion by the pair themselves, who dislike interviews and have decided not to tour. They outsourced much of the press publicity to guest performers such as Pharrell Williams and the loquacious Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers. |
| Each key musician on the record filmed an interview for the Collaborators series on the band's website, shot using 16mm film stock by the veteran cinematographer Ed Lachman. | Each key musician on the record filmed an interview for the Collaborators series on the band's website, shot using 16mm film stock by the veteran cinematographer Ed Lachman. |
| On 14 April, a clip from the video for Get Lucky was debuted at the Coachella festival in California, inspiring more buzz in 90 seconds than most of the bands on the bill. | On 14 April, a clip from the video for Get Lucky was debuted at the Coachella festival in California, inspiring more buzz in 90 seconds than most of the bands on the bill. |
| Get Lucky, an unusually straightforward disco anthem, had the hardest job of all: setting up the album with a bona fide hit single. | Get Lucky, an unusually straightforward disco anthem, had the hardest job of all: setting up the album with a bona fide hit single. |
| So far it has topped the UK charts for three weeks and broken Spotify's record for the most streams in a single day, attracting the kind of new listener who does not get excited about Saturday Night Live commercials. | So far it has topped the UK charts for three weeks and broken Spotify's record for the most streams in a single day, attracting the kind of new listener who does not get excited about Saturday Night Live commercials. |
| The only apparent deviation from Daft Punk's plan was the worldwide streaming of the album on Monday, which replaced an eccentric scheme to debut it at the Wee Waa annual show in New South Wales, Australia, on Friday. | The only apparent deviation from Daft Punk's plan was the worldwide streaming of the album on Monday, which replaced an eccentric scheme to debut it at the Wee Waa annual show in New South Wales, Australia, on Friday. |
| It is uncertain what lessons the industry will draw from the success of Random Access Memories, because no other band has Daft Punk's influence (on other performers such as Madonna, Kylie Minogue and Kanye West) and mystique. | It is uncertain what lessons the industry will draw from the success of Random Access Memories, because no other band has Daft Punk's influence (on other performers such as Madonna, Kylie Minogue and Kanye West) and mystique. |
| The pair's last album, in 2005 and entitled Human After All, flopped; their 2007 art movie Electroma was little seen, and their score for the 2010 sci-fi film Tron: Legacy, had mixed reviews. | The pair's last album, in 2005 and entitled Human After All, flopped; their 2007 art movie Electroma was little seen, and their score for the 2010 sci-fi film Tron: Legacy, had mixed reviews. |
| Only their groundbreaking 2006-7 tour, a pivotal influence on America's subsequent electronic dance music boom, was an unmitigated triumph. | Only their groundbreaking 2006-7 tour, a pivotal influence on America's subsequent electronic dance music boom, was an unmitigated triumph. |
| Yet here they are in 2013, looking very much like one of the biggest bands in the world. Perhaps the only lesson is that it is, after all, possible to make a huge impact by being bold and doing things differently. | Yet here they are in 2013, looking very much like one of the biggest bands in the world. Perhaps the only lesson is that it is, after all, possible to make a huge impact by being bold and doing things differently. |
| Critics of the industry dismiss hype as a kind of brainwashing imposed from above, but hype only works if the excitement is widely and genuinely shared. | Critics of the industry dismiss hype as a kind of brainwashing imposed from above, but hype only works if the excitement is widely and genuinely shared. |
| Guests at the Shard party wondered whether Daft Punk themselves were there – anonymous without their helmets. | Guests at the Shard party wondered whether Daft Punk themselves were there – anonymous without their helmets. |
| They were not, but then they did not need to be. In an era obsessed with celebrity, these two canny Frenchmen have somehow managed to create an unprecedented sense of occasion while staying in the shadows. | They were not, but then they did not need to be. In an era obsessed with celebrity, these two canny Frenchmen have somehow managed to create an unprecedented sense of occasion while staying in the shadows. |
| Read an exclusive interview with Daft Punk in the Observer Magazine this Sunday. | Read an exclusive interview with Daft Punk in the Observer Magazine this Sunday. |