Future Classic Albums of the 21st Century: Discovery - Daft Punk

Welcome to a new series I'm starting, called Future Classic Albums of the 2000s. In this series, I take a look back at some of my absolute favorite albums of the 21st century, analyze what makes them so great, and why you should listen to them. Only time will tell if these albums will actually become classics 30 years from now, but these are the ones that I hope reach that point. You may love them to death as well, or heard them (or a single or two from them) but forgotten, or these may be the first time you're hearing them. Whatever the case is, I want to bring these albums back into the spotlight for your listening pleasure. I want them to stand the test of time.

First up: One of the best EDM albums ever released. You may have heard 1 or 2 of the singles from this album on the radio occasionally (or at least Kanye West's sample in his song "Stronger), but this album really should have been bigger. Granted, its popularity may have been boosted a bit by Get Lucky becoming a hit in 2013, but this album still deserved so much better.

Simply put, it is an album that has some of the most fun, upbeat, and catchy beats you'll ever find. So much so that hearing lead single One More Time will most likely make you want to get up and dance. These songs are not only great to dance to, but they're also super memorable as well. This applies more to the singles than the deep cuts, but even the deep cuts have their moments. For example, the first time I heard the song Crescendolls, it was stuck in my head for days. These guys are earworm masters. One of these extremely catchy standouts is Superheroes, a fast-paced song that really gets the body going.

Admittedly, part of this insane catchiness is from the repetitiveness of some of the songs. However, repetitiveness is not always a bad thing, especially in the case of this album. Throughout the core of each song, subtle changes are made to the beat to keep things interesting. Some of the songs build up the main beat, adding various instruments, vocal looping, or even changing up part of the beat. Take the back half of One More Time, for example. It starts with a low synth in the background, with a few vocal samples repeating. As the beat goes on, more and more of these vocal bits are added and mixed around, and various instrumental tracks are added and taken away, until the synths from the beginning come back. It's all beautifully executed.

Of course, dance beats aren't the only thing this album does right. There are some great slow-jams on here as well. The interlude Nightvision, is short, but beautiful. Something About Us is a mellow, disco-inspired track that's perfect to play at the end of the night. Veridis Quo is a nice, soothing melodic track that has some nice buildup to it before gently letting you back down.

Above all else, however, is this album's ability to mix samples really creatively. I've already talked about the vocal samples on tracks like One More Time, but there's also the fact that a lot of the instruments seem to slam into each other, but none of it feels disjointed or forced. Take the song Face To Face, which constantly sounds like a lot of the clashing instrumental samples really should not mix together, yet they do.

Now, the album isn't perfect. There is one track at the end that goes on way too long and doesn't do enough to keep me interested. That, of course, is the 10 minute long closer, appropriately named Too Long. It's not a bad track, but it wears out its welcome after a few minutes. I think this song should've been cut from the album or shortened, because it does cause the album to end on kind of a low note. However, the rest of the album more than makes up for this one track.

Overall, this is THE album to throw on at a party. It brightens up the mood, gets everybody to dance, and is overall a joy to listen to. If you can't stand the slightest bit of repetitiveness, you might not like this album, but I think they managed to subtly keep the album interesting until that last few minutes of Too Long. If you're really paying attention to the details, you'll catch these differences. Definitely check this album out.

Oh yeah, One More Time is one of the greatest album openers of the decade, hands down. Just thought I'd point that out.

Comments

I decided not to read the whole post and just skim through it, delete the other comment.

This has a lot of potential. Great post. - WonkeyDude98 (6/15/2016)

I always liked Daft Punk, although I have only heard a couple of tracks off this album.
I'll check it out! - ProPanda (6/15/2016)

Final Verdict

9/10
Best Songs: One More Time, Face To Face, Nightvision
Worst Song: Too Long - ProPanda (3/5/2017)

What about High Life? - djpenquin999 (6/15/2016)

Not too much to say about it that I haven't already mentioned in the review. It's one of those songs that cleverly loops vocal samples that don't sound like they would go together but they somehow make it work. Nice bouncy beat, though I wouldn't say it's one of the highlights of the album. - visitor (6/15/2016)

What reviews can we see in the future? - djpenquin999 (6/15/2016)

Trying not to spoil anything. I want it to be a surprise. However, I will give 1 hint: One of the reviews in the near future is gonna make SelfDestruct very angry if he sees it. :3 - visitor (6/15/2016)

GOOD, he's an imbecile. - WonkeyDude98 (6/16/2016)

Which one was that gonna be? - ProPanda (4/23/2017)

This is a really good review! - visitor (3/19/2018)