Daft Punk - Random Access Memories

While you're up all night dancing to Daft Punk's single "Get Lucky," please note that the full CD is available for immediate download through the library's Freegal database. Since Random Access Memories' May 20th release, the album has been in constant rotation on my iTunes playlist. I spent a long time digesting the album, a far cry from the other electronic dance music I've consumed this past year (Burial's ghostly dubstep / Kaskade's dance-floor beats). My final opinion: Random Access Memories is a stellar album, a superb mixing of disco, electronic, off-Broadway, and funk. I can see how fans yearning for the rush of Alive 2007 might find R.A.M. shocking in its pacing, but I encourage you to explore Daft Punk's latest for yourself. Here is a simple guide to the tracks to get you started:

Who is Daft Punk - In 1999, a freak studio accident turned Frenchmen Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter into robots bent on making the world dance.

1. Give Life Back to Music - I love this funky opening track. Daft Punk's signature robot vocals, "Let the music in tonight/Just turn on the music" showcase their passion for making timeless music.

2. The Game of Love - Bubbly synth-pop song with sugary sweet lyrics. It straddles a strange line between "too fast for background music" and "too slow to dance to."

3. Giorgio by Moroder - This nine minute epic gives Daft Punk a chance both to pay homage to producer Giorgio Moroder (a pioneer of dance and pop music that worked on the Top Gun soundtrack) by using interview clips as the foundation for the song, while expanding on his influence with electrifying beats on their own.

Daft Punk - Get Lucky!

Daft Punk is one of those musical groups that everyone loves. And for good reason: who can resist two dance-crazed robots who fill our lives with glorious electro-disco-synthpop? As the two members of Daft Punk (French producers Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter) tell it, "We did not choose to become robots. There was an accident in our studio...when we regained consciosness, we discovered that we had become robots." And luckily for us, these robots did not want to enslave the human race in a cycle of pain and misery (I'm looking at you, Skynet)...instead, they only want us to dance. With a dash of disco, a scattering of funk, a pinch of groove, and a whole lot of electro love, Daft Punk have created over sixteen years of dance hits for the world to enjoy.

And after much too long, they are back.