Tuesday, March 20, 2001

On Saturday afternoon I bought the Daft Punk CD, having one of those 'I'm a witch' moments and thinking that it would turn out to be one of my favourite albums for a while. I put it on the Discman on the train back from York yesterday, and have so far probably listened to it through about 9 times. In less than 24 hours. Interesting. Maybe I am a witch. All the more bizarre as I didn't really have any great passion for One More Time at the time (though now it seems fab). 14 tracks. Probably less than half with (intelligble) lyrics. Synthesized, vocodered and over-produced to within an inch of its life, I can't remember having such aural pleasure in a long while (well not since someone misunderstood my reference to aural pleasure at the Vauxhall one evening!). Sure some of the sounds are so multi-layered and distorted that your ears seem to not only be bleeding but that they grabbed the razor blade themselves. This is perfect for me right now. For someone that listens to music in a number of different ways, the 24 track (minimum) production of each song is perfect for the 'lose yourself in the sounds/layers and don't think of what's going on in the rest of your life' mood I'm currently in. White noise with tunes. Sometimes. This is fun, kitsch, and by turns very now, very 80s and more besides. It samples Barry Manilow. Whole sections of it could have been the music bed from those awfuls bits in the middle of 'Kids from Fame' when they donned their leg warmers and did an impromtu breakdancing set in between lessons. It sometimes sounds like the Buggles have been dusted down and brought out of retirement for the 00s. It's music for drugs. It's music for after drugs. I'd be very surprised if it were recorded and mixed without drugs. Tunes range from sublime and lush to funky and mad. Plus, a couple of the tracks have lyrics that are so apt and poignant it's as if they're helping me personally through the confused mass of thoughts and feelings that passes for my brain right now. Highlights? Too many. Q mag always does that clever 'Best bit' thing in reviews which always seems to start '40 seconds into track 2 when the whole string arrangement seems to degenerate into a cat's cradle of string plucking that succeeds in its minimalism' kind of thing. Yeah, whatever. The apparent death knell of the bell tolling coming straight after the up-ness of One More Time works very well. Track 3 - Digital Love is the Buggles. Track 4 seems to have the percussion played on pots and pans. Crescendolls (well English isn't their first language) wouldn't be out of place at the Vauxhall. It's Bits and Pieces by Artemisia meets Blue Monday by New Order with a bit of Malcolm McLaren thrown in for good measure. And so on. Until the last track 'Too Long'. It lasts for 10 minutes exactly. You've got to admire their nerve. Particularly as the song itself is repetitive and builds and breaks down and builds and so on, inciting you to wonder at its naming. An album that makes you happy, sad, grin, wryly appreciative and feel just downright fantastic. Well done.

I'm glad I bought it. I am a witch. If you have it, lemme know what you think. If you don't have it I suggest you go and buy it immediately. Maybe from here.

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