inner nerd

As thrilled as I am by the prospect of pretending to be the fellas from Daft Punk, I’m not sure the thousands of imminent mash-up train wrecks are worth it. Daft Punk and scratching? Really? I’m skeptical at best.

Now if, for example, I can mix components of their tracks freestyle using this funky setup, then we’ve got something to talk about. Riddle me this…Why not make a serrato-compatible version so people can use real decks?

For the truly hardcore: Before Alive 2007, or even Alive 1997, there was Thomas Bangalter rockin’ live acid tech, supposedly at Even Further in Wisconsin on May 26, 1996. This is 30 largely unknown minutes of musical genius. All the hallmarks of Daft Punk’s signature composition and sound are there, just 11 years before most people ever even heard of them.

SCHEMATIC: The complete Interstella 5555 and a fantastic Daft Punk interview from Japan… Read the rest of this entry »

HI-A-TUS OV-ER

Snow White and the Seven Daft Dwarfs.

Back in 1980, these Italian brothers gave Daft Punk a blueprint for combining vocoder-laden electronic music, cosmic story lines and robot animé. Be kind, please rewind.

SCHEMATIC: Candid photos, original cover art and record scans…

Read the rest of this entry »

HARDER, BETTER, FASTER, STRONGEUR! Don your robot helmet and climb aboard your psychadelic pyramidal spaceship. This funky little web app allows you to perform Daft Punk’s Harder Better Faster Stronger or Technologic live using your computer’s QWERTY keyboard! It has advanced considerably over time and now has built in beats and pitchbending. Even available as a free iPhone app through iTunes.

Anybody else spot a Daft Punk Technologic sample in this, particularly once the lyrics kick in around 0:40? The 2+ minute breakdown at 3:48 is some robotic funk video game pinball madness!