76. Daft Punk-Discovery (2001)
Favorite Song: “One More Time”
“One More Time” is #24 on my top 100 songs list.
Daft Punk is one of those bands that I just find fun to listen to. There’s no deep meaning in any of their works. They’re just all catchy pieces of house music.
Discovery is their big hit of the 2000s, and where their most popular songs come from. Daft Punk added in a ton of influences from the late-70s and 80s, making a distinct mix of house and disco.
The album opens with “One More Time,” the ultimate party song of the 2000s. There’s just so much energy packed into this song. From the simplistically memorably lyrics, to the pounding drums, to that epic synth. I love the simply unrelenting use of auto-tune on this album. Where other bands use it to hide their lesser singing skills, Daft Punk uses it to make it better fit their music. It’s one of those things that shouldn’t work, yet it does so well.
“One More Time” is followed by “Aerodynamic,” the first instrumental piece of the album. After a series of bells ringing, it opens with a simply groovy beat, before being replaced with a ridiculous guitar solo. It reaches a high point where these two things from different worlds clash, a rhythm from a funk song mixed with a guitar that belongs in a heavy metal song. Then, this fades away to this electronic classical piece. It’s essentially Daft Punk showing off, but it somehow works.
This is followed by one of the other two big hits off this album, “Digital Love.” The lyrics are a traditional love song, and the whole thing feels like it comes out of the disco era. But then, near the end, one of the greatest guitar solos (of course, being a Daft Punk album, I’m not sure if it’s actually a guitar or a synthesizer, but it’s convincing enough) of the modern era. It seems strange that it takes a house band to make a memorable solo in the modern day. It’s like something you’d expect off of Boston’s first album.
This leads into the obnoxiously popular “Harder Better Faster Stronger.” This is the most lyrically simple song on the album, just repeating a few simple phrases throughout. This is another one of Daft Punk’s numerous uses of the voice as just another instrument, and this is their best use of it. With so much modulation going on, there are points in the song where the vocals seamlessly become another instrument before returning to its standard form. Add in another fun synthline, and you get another great hit by Daft Punk.
Discovery continues with a bunch of great, catchy songs, almost never quite reaching the level of the first four. However, there are two high points with the slower paced “Something About Us” and the simply catchy “Face to Face,” a song that probably should have been chosen as a single over “Aerodynamic.” There are also quite a few amazing instrumental tracks, the best being “Short Circuit,” though I do greatly appreciate the bass in “Voyager.”
Discovery is one of the great electronic albums. It works so well as its music is so relatable. They mix the new musical styles and capabilities with the attitude of the old. It’s surprising just how much things like hard rock and electronic can clash. This is one among many early 2000s albums that didn’t get anywhere near as much recognition as it deserved on release, though people soon caught on to just how original and magnificent this album was.
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