In Retrospect: "Daft Punk - Discovery"

Discovery is the second album by French electronic/dance music duo Daft Punk. Released in 2001, the duo saw a shift of sound from their Chicago house sound to a more disco, dance and garage house inspired sound.

Background/Recording

The album was written in a way that connected Daft Punk’s childhood memories with their music. The band pulled some influences from the music in the mid-seventies and mid-eighties and the memories and experiences from that time era that the duo shared. The duo made the record that was playful and open minded, just like the duo’s counterparts from their childhood that didn’t over analyze music.

While the debut album was described by the duo as a record that told rock music listeners that electronic music can be cool, Discovery was described as an album that told electronic music listeners that rock music can be cool. The album also saw a lot more experimenting to make original music, while their debut was just another part of the electronic music scene at the time.

The recording of the album was done in duo’s own studio located in Paris called Daft House. The duo began working on the album in 1998, which was done over 2 years later. The first song the band did for the record was One More Time and the second one was Too Long. Both of the songs were house oriented, which led to the shift in sound because the duo “didn’t want to do 14 more house tracks”. The album also features other musicians such as: Romanthony, DJ Sneak and Todd Edwards, which were huge influences on the duo.  

Release/Reception

The music videos were formed in early recording sessions of the album, where the duo would watch anime for children, which led to them going to Japan to make a film with anime-manga creator Leiji Matsumoto. Together they have made an anime film that featured Discovery as the soundtrack. After the release of the album the duo also introduced the famous robot costumes, which they have explained to the press that they have become robots by accident while recording in the studio, when their sampler exploded at 9:09 on 9 September 1999. Go figure.  

Upon the release of the album, it received generally high praise from music critics such as AllMusic, NME, Pitchfork, Q and Spin. Pitchfork ranked the album number 12 on the Top 100 Albums of 2000-2004 list and number 3 on the Top 200 Albums of the 2000’s. Rhapsody put the album at number 12 on the 100 best albums of the decade list and in 2012, Rolling Stone Magazine placed the album at number eight on the 30 Greatest EDM Albums of All Time.     

In Retrospect...

Overall, this album has a special place in my heart, because it is the first album that introduced me to electronic music. The songs One More Time, Face to Face, Aerodynamic and Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger are still to this day one of my favourite electronic songs to this day. Before listening to this album I was one of those people whom only listened to rock and metal music and HATED electronic music, but this album changed it for me. So if you are one of those people that don't like electronic music, give this album a listen it might just change your mind about electronic music.