The Controller Sphere: 5/1/13

Given the hype, and the hype over the hype, I was both excited and terrified for this release. It could have turned out to be a total piece of crap, but luckily ended up being an alright Daft Punk album. They were promoting the album and drumming up hype in a genius fashion by dropping mysterious TV ads and posters in strategic places.

Some very nondescript posters in an area of Seattle that I frequent.
The genius in this Ad-campaign is that I needed nothing more to fully understand what was being communicated here.

I was chompin’ at the bit, and regularly checking the web for some leak info. I knew something was up when a quick check of HasItLeaked.com showed the site was down! I think they then released streaming versions of the album a few days ahead of the scheduled release date, in an effort to combat the leak, as they do these days.

As of several listens it sounds kinda, eh. Nothing extraordinarily epic about it, but an alright Daft Punk album nonetheless. It’s got a bunch of filler, and a few terrible songs in standard Daft Punk form, but overall I like it.

My Initial Track-by-Track notes:

Give Life Back to Music Pretty good kick-off. Catchy. I like it.
The Game of Love An alright slow-jam.
Giorgio by Moroder - Giorgio banter which is vaguely interesting, followed by a very catchy synth riff. Maybe a bit repetitive by the end.
Within - Piano ballad about soul-searching. It’s pretty good.
Instant Crush (featuring Julian Casablancas) - Casablancas is heavily vocoded. I like everything he has done, from The Strokes up to (and including) this song.
Lose Yourself to Dance (featuring Pharrell Williams) - Nothing special about this. I don’t like it. Regardless of the word "Dance" in the title, you will not lose yourself to dance, unless maybe you are doing the electric-slide with excessive clapping.
Touch (featuring Paul Williams) - Starts off creepy, gets creepier with the lyrics. The lyrics are terrible and could easily be plucked from a Disney movie... maybe Beauty and the Beast? Then it picks up with some horns, but overall is it terrible.
Get Lucky (featuring Pharrell Williams) - As of now, this is best song I register on the album. It is the one they were using as a teaser “Get Lucky”. It is quite catchy, and consistently good throughout. I like Pharrells vocals.
Beyond - Symphony intro, then a slow-jam. Its alright. At 3:30 some synth work, but overall unimpressive.
Motherboard - Purely instrumental. A funky bouncy-sound intro, then symphonic sound. Followed by a Philip-Glass-esque bit (which I like). That vibe continues. I like it.
Fragments of Time (featuring Todd Edwards) - Funky beat to start. Catchy. This could grow on me.
Doin' It Right (featuring Panda Bear) - They should re-title this track “Doin’ It Wrong”. I was very excited about Panda Bear’s collaboration, and I am quite disappointed in his song. It is so repetitive (and not in a good way), and annoying. Really disappointed that I hate this. I don’t like the way he just speaks some words with weird inflections. I expected great things in that mash-up! He says in his behind-the-album video, that he came up with his song in a rushed 5 seconds or sumthin, so what do you expect.
Contact - Starts with some fitting and interesting banter. My take on the banter is: It’s someone (an astronaut?) thinking they are seeing signs of intelligent life, which most likely ended up being the rhythmic flashes of a Pulsar. I really like the sound-byte and would love to know it’s origins and back-story. The banter then kicks off a nice sci-fi-esque (or Clockwork Orange-esque) synthesizer intro, which continues building. It should have ended at the 4:50 timestamp, but drags on with annoying distortion for another ~1.5 minutes!

Here is someone else’s track by track description, which I haven't read, but it may have more useful information than mine.

Mostly what this album does for me is give a little infusion of some new Daft Punk (which I appreciate), and spark my interest to go back and listen to past Daft Punk songs which I absolutely cherish. I doubt there will be many (if any) off the RAM album that make it into heavy rotation for me, or any that I will absolutely need to revisit often.

The Collaborators Series

Don’t forget to watch The Collaborators series for more information on how this mystical robot rock was created.

After you watch the Panda Bear one (Episode 5), make sure you see this gem of a parody. haha!

Foxygen - We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic

I think we can all agree... that this band's name is fantastic. So good, in fact, that they don't even have to make good music to make it big. It's the best band name I have heard in a loong time.

But extra bonus: the music is good! A throwback to 60's-style, simplistic, chill, psychedelic rock. And they emulate it very well.

I often find myself grasping to figure out what other bands a new band sounds like (and not being able to put my finger on it), but not this one! I know exactly what it is that they sound like. The lead singer is a young Mick Jagger fronting an exact replica of what a modern day Velvet Underground would sound like. When the lead singer is not sounding exactly like a young Mick Jagger, he is sounding like a young Lou Reed ! It uncanny. Maybe Lou Reed and Mick Jagger had a son together, and he started this band....?

Their sound is spot on Velvet Underground. It is like the lost tapes of the Velvet Underground. I love it.

Random Access Memories has been....(wait for it!) ..... randomly accessed.

Colors are what keep me alive.

Weezer - Paranoid Android

David Bowie - The Next Day

Foxygen - We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic

Guards - In Guards We Trust