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Posts Tagged ‘Daft Punk’

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The Studio and the Stage

Saturday, October 17th, 2009

Dance Music Live

 

You know that awful feeling you get when you finally score tickets to see your favorite band perform and, after months of listening to their album in hopeful anciticpation, their live show just totally sucks? I’m sure you do; we’ve all been there at some point or another. The guitarists misses the chord, the lead singer can’t hit the right notes. Go to enough concerts and you’re bound to leave a few of them unsatisfied. The letdown of a live show is one of the worst feelings in the world. If you’ve ever stood at a concert thinking “I wish I had stayed home and listened to this in my room,” then the artist has, in some sense, failed.

Live DJing

The cliché ”I heard they suck live” translates to “the band isn’t talented, their producer is.” But the expression takes on a new meaning with electronic musicians because most of them are producers. Even the musical acts that aren’t strictly DJs but still have an electronic feel to them, think Animal Collective or LCD Soundsystem, still do a lot of the production work themselves. Every musican leads a double life: the studio where he makes the music, and the stage where he performs it.

Both are important in different ways, and there’s obviously a difference between being a great live performer and a studio wizard. Live shows combine lights and visuals; there’s a lot more to a concert than just the music. The context of a performance can have a huge effect on the experience, too. But great musicians still have to be great performers above all else. And the best musicians are doubly talented at both producing and performing. The line is becoming blurry, thanks to software like Ableton Live that allows both in-house production and live performance. But the old adage is still true: live shows prove who’s really got talent. At a time when record sales are falling, concerts are especially important.

It’s funny to think of the Bloody Beetroots wearing their masks alone in the studio, or Daft Punk working on the new album from inside the Pyramid. But both of those groups are as popular for what they do in front of an audience as for what they do alone in the studio. Sure, they make great stuff behind the scenes. But let’s not forget about the live show.

 

Laidback Luke

Laidback Luke

Here’s a great example of an artist who knows how to work the studio and the stage. It’s hard to “put on a show” as a DJ, unless your name is Steve Aoki and you spend most of your time standing and screaming into a microphone. Laidback Luke stands out as one of the premiere producers and performers working today. The Netherlands native has really taken off in the last couple years. His success is well-earned. He’s ridiculously talented at making original songs and remixes; and he performs with an energy you won’t find many other places. Listen to some of Laidback Luke’s stuff below. Then do yourself a favor and go see him live.

 

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MSTRKRFT – Heartbreaker (Laidback Luke Remix) UhOhDisco.com

 

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Major Lazer – Pon De Floor (Laidback Luke Remix) UhOhDisco.com

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Perhaps Our Compass is Broken?

Monday, September 14th, 2009

Over the past four years since the mass popularization (so to speak) of modern dance music took place, we’ve been a part of an extremely dynamic and evolving industry. In fact, I do believe that the major contributor to the success of the genre was the plethora of new ideas and sounds found lurking around every corner, seemingly having something with which to cater to everyone’s own personal taste. Artists like MSTRKRFT and their (now nearly classic) album “The Looks” drew public attention through their ability to build electronic, dance music with strong rock influences, while at the same time Ed Banger, Dim Mak, and even just Daft Punk toured the world to show people that the term “electronic” can simply be about the party, and that it does not always have to be associated with “trance” and “rave.”

ed banger dim mak

Indeed, over several years, this little disco genre grew out of it’s status as an underrepresented and disrespected fad and began to earn itself a name, each day garnering a wealth of newfound believers. And the best part about it was the fact that everyone who chose to participate was able to build off of something someone before him had already done, and to keep us all moving forward. Boys Noize’s debut album, for example, taught the world that a loss of bit depth is not necessarily a loss of quality; Oi Oi Oi was full of beautifully destroyed, and often times disgusting sounds that, when combined with an appropriate beat, came together seamlessly. And it certainly was not just Alex doing the work. For a while, it seemed like every new album release was a revolution in itself, and that dance music itself had become untamable.

boys noize power

Unfortunately, this “booming prosperity” (if I may) seems to have changed as of late. And while I’ve heard from many different people on many occasions that, “everything has been done, and it’s all just boring now,” this isn’t what I mean in the slightest. Rather, it seems that all the artists that we’ve grown fond of over the years have continued to provide a steady stream of great quality, creative compositions, but that they’ve somehow lost the ability to build off of and be influenced by other artists, and have become stuck making music in the exact same vein as all of their past work. To put it concisely, it’s almost as if the creativity and originality is still working strong, but that we’ve lost our compass, and with it, our sense of musical direction. Thus, for the last several months, we’ve been stuck wandering in circles like a line of ants with a stick strewn across its path. Sure, the music still sounds great, but where is it–and where are we–going as a collective?

Fake Blood Fix Your Accent

If anyone feels compelled to share thoughts, ideas, or even music, I’m confident that the rest of us would welcome your ideas with open arms.

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Fake Blood – Think I Like It

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Felix Da Housecat – Kickdrum

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Boys Noize – Kontact Me (Removed as per request)

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Boys Noize – Gax (Removed as per request)

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Boys Noize – Nerve (Removed as per request)

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To Norway and Back on a Tangent

Wednesday, March 18th, 2009

So, would you rather sacrifice your vision or your hearing?

I’m sure the question’s been presented to all of us at some point in our lives (granted many of you are far less bizarre than I, and have likely managed to avoid the inquiry upon graduating the fourth grade), but in all honesty, have you ever been able to answer it? I mean, yes, there is the possibility that you happened to stumble upon this page at random, in which case your answer is likely an immediate, “I’d sacrifice my hearing, no contest,” and in fact, this is likely a good thing, seeing as the prevention of Soulja Boy’s voice from emerging from any form of speaker is always a win for humanity. However, for the rest of us (especially those of us who aren’t consoled by fast cars and football), it’s hard to imagine living life without either one.

Photo Contest

camera

I can’t quite recall what got me thinking about all this, but I’ve been thinking nonetheless, and in doing so, I slowly became aware of a fundamental flaw in this lowly old website: Seeing as the disco scene is built around music and dance, I foolishly made the assumption that the best way to make a connection into this world was to share music, and though I wasn’t entirely wrong to do so, I had failed to address the many other fundamentals that make our nights out complete. Sure, Daft Punk does an incredible performance, but what would it be if they did the whole thing in pure darkness? They would lose the sparkle that transforms a simple collection of songs into an experience. Clearly, music alone is a mere slice of the pie we call disco, and as such, I have decided that UhOhDisco shall no longer lack the ingredients necessary to facilitate such an experience, and will, from this point onward, cater both to those who lack the support of a worthwhile tune, as well as to those who could use a visual compliment to complete their experience.

Children of the blogs: Photos @ UhOhDisco is born, and with it, I hope to bring the spirit of photography and the energy of the moment to UhOhDisco. I encourage you to check it out by following the link at the top of this page, or by clicking here.

Binärpilot

In all my enthusiasm, I do tend to get carried away sometimes, and what better remedy for a particularly disorienting tangent than a soberingly original artist?

binarpilot

He works out of Norway under the alias Binärpilot, and seeing as his sound is clearly inspired by more than just the collection of standard influences that have come to make less admirable artists produce bleak and uninteresting music, it would be among the most epic of fails in history to try and fit him into any currently existent genre. Where most artists manage to define their particular approach to music within the realm of a single track or two, Binarpilot keeps himself apart from his music, and though he certainly has a characteristic style, his sound and overall direction refuses to be in the least bit predictable. If I had to guess, I would likely go for something along the lines of 80’s hit single meets Aphex twin, however the drastic changes from track to track continue to thrust me into a state of pleasurable confusion.

Don’t you worry about this first one. I assure you, he hasn’t worsened the bedroom producer awful Daft Punk remix epidemic.

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Daft Punk – Aerodynamic (Binarpilot Remix)

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Binarpilot – Tokyomatrix 3000

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Binarpilot – Bend

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What’s With All These English Speakers?

Thursday, December 4th, 2008

There’s a certain aspect of the indie electronic scene that I’ve never been able to understand: Why is it that (in a large number of cases), the country that an artist comes from has almost nothing to do with the language in which they do their work? For a genre of music that holds some serious power in a huge number of countries around the world, it seems we’ve developed an overabundance of English speakers. I mean, obviously, there’s some sense in a British, Canadian, or American artist putting out an English record, but look at Daft Punk, Justice, Digitalism, and The Bloody Beetroots; All huge names from non-English speaking countries, and yet all of their albums, lyrics, websites, and promos are done in English.



In a certain respect, I suppose there is a bit of sense in the concept of “appealing to a larger audience”, but who’s to say that English speakers would not buy it if they couldn’t understand it? Justice doesn’t seem to have much trouble making their way throughout the rest of the European countries. And I realize that some of your minds are likely filling up with fury at the fact that I would think to complain about having so much music written for me to listen to, but personally, I feel that though it is indeed nice to hear and understand words in my native tongue, that I have lost a part of music that’s even more important to me.

Think about it this way. Musicians (and don’t hold me to this, because I’m sure there are several significant exceptions), do not become musicians because of their overflowing need to deliver their poetry; They would otherwise simply have become poets. Musicians become musicians because they want to create, feel, understand, and live for the music, and as such, I don’t believe lyrics need to be understood for the message in a song to be delivered. Sigur Ros, for example, chooses to make use of their native Icelandic, a language spoken by less than 300,000 people worldwide, for most of their music, and this has allowed us as listeners to devote attention to the emotion in their vocalist’s voice, without the worry of being distracted by his words. Needless to say, the success of the band has, in no way, been hindered by the choice.

I suppose my goal here was to address this matter, rather than to provide an explanation. Considering I don’t have any real evidence with which to draw conclusions, I’d be delighted to hear from anyone who’s got anything to say on the subject, however, before you go commenting, I should leave you with my latest discovery to ponder…

Familjen

I’m entirely thrilled that a simple stroke of luck put me in touch with Familjen, a curious producer and vocalist from Stockholm, Sweden. His work, though it makes use of the expected driving kick drum like so many these days have come to know, captures a style that I believe its fair to say has not been heard before. His tracks develop in a fashion that could be considered highly simplistic, and yet the huge amount of invisible detail in them gives them a bit of a spark that moves them into an unusually satisfying dimension. The best part about it, however: His vocals (and just about everything else for that matter) happen to be composed entirely in Swedish.

Quality beats, indeed.

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Familjen – Det Snurrar I Min Skalle

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What’s Happening to Our Producers?

Monday, October 27th, 2008

I can’t say I’m not a little frustrated. The normal process by which I write a majority of my updates seems to have fallen through; In the past, my time was very rarely spent actively searching for new tunes to cover. In fact, the case was actually quite the opposite, in that most of the music I choose to share has found it’s way to me, simply due to the tendency of high quality music to spread rather easily through our tightly linked disco districts. Recently however, I’ve been lucky to encounter a track or two that I can even bring myself to listen to, much less love. Maybe it has something to do with this supposed “recession” we’re in. Maybe the contracting money supply is also contracting the creative pool of the many producers that most of us rely on to keep our spirits lifted. And yes, I can see how one might point out that my guess makes little sense, but how else should I account for the drastic change in the quality of music output? Seriously, check this out:

Two of my favorite artists of all time are Daft Punk and (to a somewhat lesser extent, due to their having not been around for quite as long) Crookers. Both artists have managed to put out works that far exceed the standard, to the point that they’ve created miniature revolutions within their respective niches, and both have done it on more than just a few occasions. After listening to their latest, however, I’ve found myself stumped (not to mention nearly brought to tears) as I wonder whether either will make a recovery from the extremely questionable tunes they’ve released.

Crookers

Crookers have always kept their style plain and simple. Their clean beats are well cut, and feature an exceedingly minimalist nature, but despite this, they’ve always managed to keep their tracks progressive enough that upon reaching the end, one feels as though he or she has been taken through the song, and not simply exposed to a couple of bland beats for three minutes. Their remix of Isa Gt’s “Pela O”, however, turns their reputation upside down. Literally none of what’s mentioned above is present in this track. In fact, with random loops that simply repeat and alternate back and forth providing the sole bit of substance for the track, it’s hard to find anything interesting at all.

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Isa Gt – Pela O (Crookers Remix)

Daft Punk

As much as I hate to say it, I think the Daft Punk track I’m about to include is even more of a failure. I’m actually banking on the off chance that perhaps some lonely bedroom producer discovered how to recreate the Rollin’ and Scratchin’ synth line, and then proceeded to use the Daft Punk name to promote his mix, because I find it incredibly difficult to accept the fact the both Guy Manuel de Homem Christo and Thomas Bangalter would find this take on Franz Ferdinand’s Take Me Out suitable to release.

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Franz Ferdinand – Take Me Out (Daft Punk Remix)

Please children… work your magic. Make me feel better.

Edit: I can’t explain to you how relieved I am to have discovered that this “Daft Punk remix” is, in fact, a counterfeit. As such, in an attempt to halt the spread of an undeserving bedroom producer’s pilfered track, I’ve removed the download link. The stream, however, will remain up for some time, in order to make an example of this unfortunate experience.

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It’s About Time We Start Rubbing Our Tummies Again

Thursday, October 16th, 2008

I realize the Lemur’s probably going to egg my home for saying this, but I feel I owe you all the deepest of apologies for having nearly disappeared from the blogging world for more than a week! *Cringe* Now, I could go on and spend a bit of time assuring both myself and the disco starved kids around here that my excuse is within reason, however, I feel that it makes more logical sense to simply satisfy the collectively lustful hunger for audio that I’m sure we’re all likely experiencing, as soon as possible. (My excuse would have been lame anyway) As such, I’m proud to present to you, without further ado, Roger… Seventytwo!

Rogerseventytwo

So I realize I’ve I’ve been doing quite a bit of genre classification recently, and I’m not entirely too proud of it. Genre’s tend to be based more off of the mathematical side of music (how many beats in a bar, different repetition styles, etc.), and it’s only thanks to my rediscovery of this particularly festive Rogerseventytwo track that I’ve been able to regain control over my mind, so that I might return to appreciating and grouping songs based on the way they make me feel, and not the title that iTunes assigns them.

You might ask why it was this particular track that jarred me back into reality, and I could definitely spend some time answering that question if I wanted to. I could mention the sparks that flew the first time it came on. I could mention the peak hour, euphoric feeling that only a certain few tracks have ever allowed me to feel. I could mention how it was instantly categorized in the holy archives of my mind among the likes of Daft Punk’s One More Time, and Voodoo Chili’s I Need, as one of those triumphant, blissfully sustained cries of joy where no matter how many times you’ve heard the same 4 second loop, you’re always disappointed when the track winds to a close. But in this case, I don’t think there’s any better way to experience the wonder that our humble little Dutch friend has fabricated than first hand. I would, however, recommend that a buddy agrees to keep an eye on you before you let this little kicker do it’s thing. You’re going to want someone to find you when you get lost in your head.

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DJ DLG – Paramount (Rogerseventytwo Remix)

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