1.One More Time - the perfect party track! a thick thumping bassline and everybody-that's-not-a-raver's-view of the raver world lyrics -:)-, catches your attention immediately.

2.Aerodynamic - by far, the most significant bit on this track is the squealing pseudo-guitar solo. It may be simple, but it sounds REALLY COOL!

3.Digital Love - early 80's motivational tapes samples with cheesy vocoded lyrics = something still meaningful? To be honest, it's still fun to listen to, despite it's cheesiness.

4.Harder, Better Faster, Stronger - one of my favorite songs on the record. Easy to dance to, but it features one of the most incredible things I've ever heard. To understand you have to know what a vocoder is. A vocoder is a device that takes your voice, specifically the vibrations in your voice, and converts it to the tone of the instrument it is attached to, which is almost ALWAYS a keyboard for simplicity. What's really neat about Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger, is that at 2:25, the vocoder is switched over to an odd device that triggers it by a guitar. It's especially obvious at certain points, where the player is playing a really neat solo. Truly interesting to hear.

5. Crescendolls - A little odd at first, but it's got the throw-your-arms-in-the-air "HEY!" sample going on. A lot of fun, eh?

6. Nightvision - a slow, short instrumental track, but still extremely well put together. I wish it were longer with some vocals.

7. Superheroes - When I looked at the sample list for the record, and saw "Barry Manilow - Who's Been Sleeping In My Bed?" I wondered "what the heck?!" But when you hear the track, and the thumping bassline and beat and "love is in the air" echoing over and over it really makes sense and the song is a lot of fun.

8. Night Life - Brings back memories of disco! And that's always a good thing, right?

9. Something About Us - Listening to the beginning of the track I was expecting Barry White to start singing. A nice slow mellow groove.

10. Voyager - A little distortion on the bassline kept it interesting.

11. Verdis Quo - After you get by the somewhat slow intro, it starts getting kind of neat, and you want to keep listening. The layers get thicker each minute, and by the end it's a real sonic jubilee.

12. Short Circuit - I can't really say anything in favour of this song, neither could amazon.

13. Face To Face - This will HAVE to be the next one on the radio! I've already remixed this into an extended version and played it at some parties where we play a lot more old-school funk and stuff. The version on the record is about 3 and a half minutes, my version was nearly 9 minutes, and still when it ended people acted dissapointed because they were getting so into the groove. I love this song!

14. Too Long - when I first saw the length of the song, I thought the title was a joke! Ten minutes? An epic pop-techno song? But yes, it's an incredibly well done track, and as Romanthony says in the lyrics, it's really been "too long" since we've heard from the Daft Punk.

In all, this is truly a fantastic record with a lot of vision. A combination of funk, pop, disco, and techno, this isn't techno up front, and it doesn't claim to be. In fact, it doesn't CLAIM to be anything. Whatever it is, it's REALLY good at being it.


Dance, Dance, Dance...   June 20, 2001
Knyte (New York, NY)
14 out of 15 found this review helpful

Every song on Daft Punk's 'Discovery' is unique - no two songs sound alike. Daft Punk (in my opinion) really knew what they were doing when they put this album together; it's a wonderful expression of their love for dance music. My two favorite songs on here are "Digital Love" (#3) and "Face To Face" (#13).

"Digital Love" combines disco themes with classic rock a la Manfred Mann's 70's hit, "Blinded By The Light" - there's even a virtuoso guitar solo in the middle of the song. I hope "Digital Love" ends up being a single; I really, really like this one.

"Face To Face" is pure 80s, with a millenial feel to it. It combines elements of early Prince with a touch of New Order. This is my favorite song on the album...I wish it was longer.

Other tracks I must mention are "Aerodynamic" (#2), "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" (#4), and "Crescendolls" (#5) [this song is zany, but I like it anyway]

If you enjoy songs like "Lady" by Modjo (sounds like George Michael to me), "I'll Fly With You" (Gigi D'Agostino) or ATC's "Around The World (La, La, La, La, La) - you'll appreciate this. Most (if not all) dance music fans are already familiar with track #1, "One More Time" by now; when you listen to it, it does feel like a celebration, doesn't it?

Just close your eyes and let this album take you away...

C.H.R.


Superb!!   March 21, 2001
Ian Creamer (Dublin,Ireland)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

Since the release of the excellent single "One More Time",I've been anticipating the release of this c.d. eagerly.If I was to sum this c.d. up very briefly for Daft Punk fans-it's a lot more One More Time,then the previous c.d. Homework.In fact there is very,very little of the sound of Homework on this c.d.

Okay 14 tracks running close to one hour;8 of these are instrumental.The tracks with vocals are pretty much all done with vocoder and this is shared by Daft Punk themselves and two guest vocalists-who actually all sound pretty similar.The tracks are all way shorter then those on their last c.d. except for the closing track "Too Long".I'd heard all sorts of sneak previews that Daft Punk were going way different on this c.d.Some said pure 70's disco,others Euro-Disco and still others said it would be quite like their Gallic compatriots Air.I have to say that none of these predictions were wrong,yet none of them were accurate either.It's a mixture of those 3 influences that I mentioned above and throw in the odd trance track and a bit of Jean-Michel Jarre.I know it must be annoying to be comparing them to other French artists,but most people would have to admit they have a very distinctive sound.One thing this c.d. certainly is not,is hardcore Techno-it's a million miles from that in my opinion.In fact one could describe this c.d. as almost having a real lightweight sound.I've been listening to this for 2 weeks now and I can't make up my mind as to whether this c.d. is too 'cheesey' in an Eiffel 65,Euro-Disco style or if it's magnificent.I seem to be coming to the opinion that it's a really,really excellent c.d.I feel there is something here for every fan of dance music-except maybe hardcore industrial fans-to enjoy.This duo seem so accomplished at many styles of Dance/Disco and Instrumental music.

The music seems to have been influenced more by the music of the 70's and early 80's rather then the 90's.Apart from the obvious Chic influence there are influences from artist's like 10CC,Supertramp and there is even a sample from Barry Manilow.Many of the instrumental tracks sound very like Air-especially their Moon Safari c.d.All of the songs have immediate accessibility;like this is pretty commercial dance music and it doesn't take long to get into all the tracks.The production quality is just amazing-probably the best I've heard in a long time.So for those who like their music hit very crisp and clear and with no distortion at all then you'll like it.When they do add lyrics to the songs,they are extremely syrupy in the romance stakes,but then I don't think people were ever go to like or dislike this c.d. on the basis of lyrical content. So all in all I'm going to give this c.d. a 4/5/ rating.Yet I'm still not sure that I may look back in a years time and say this is too smooth and M.O.R.My one recommendation for people thinking of buying this c.d. would be to listen to as many tracks as possible to get a feel for the overall sound.I think you'll either love this or hate it-I just can't see a middle ground.Right now I love it!

P.S.-I love the "Daft Card"(like a credit card) given with the c.d.-a very nice touch!


Brilliant CD! Best of the year so far.   March 13, 2001
Rob (Dublin, Dublin Ireland)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful

Let me start by saying this CD is really great!

Its definitely Daft Punk's most 80's sounding release, but has a lot more to it than something like "Darkdancer" by Les Rhythm Digitales. Where that CD was very one sided, "Discovery" is a kaleidoscope of sound, with so much to hear on so many levels.

The beats are still there - it's like nothing has changed since '97 - but what Daft Punk seem to have done on "Discovery" for the most part is incorporate all the sounds from their childhoods (the 80's) into these tracks. That means vocoders, heavy metal guitar soloing, FM Rock keyboard sounds, computer game sounds, all stuck together with huge disco beats.

Starting with the single and opening track "One More Time", you get 14 pieces of funk without the slightly annoying interludes featured on "Homework". In fact, the only slightly interlude-ish song here is "Nightvision", and even that sounds like an 10cc / Chicago / Supertramp crossover.

Best songs here are "Digital Love" (which sounds a bit like Buggles(!)), "Harder Better Faster Stronger" (the best use of vocoder I've ever heard) and probably "Something About Us", only because it's so different from anything they've done before: It sounds like an 80's funk ballad! Hello, Level 42?!

You may have noticed that I've used the phrase "80's" a lot here. But don't be put off - this is still a very modern sounding album. In fact, it sounds amazing; the production level is very high here.

So buy it basically. If you liked "Homework", "Music Sounds Better With You", and the whole Cassius / Air / French genre, you will love this.