In case you haven’t heard by now, the highlight of Coachella this past weekend was not, as you might expect, a live performance, but the unveiling of a minute-and-a-half teaser for Daft Punk’s hotly anticipated new album, Random Access Memories (out May 21).
The video, an edited version of which can be seen above, excerpted the album’s first single, “Get Lucky,” and revealed that Random Access Memories will feature a truly diverse cast of characters: along with Pharrell Williams, who sings “Get Lucky”‘s irresistable hook, you can expect to find Animal Collective’s Panda Bear, The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas, producers Todd Edwards and Giorgio Moroder, DJ Falcon, Chilly Gonzales, Nile Rodgers and Paul Williams.
As Rolling Stone notes, though Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo were, in fact, present during the whole thing, they were only standing sidestage—not in robot gear—and a rumored Daft Punk performance did not materialize. (Remember when you decided against spending a million dollars to maybe see Daft Punk in the desert? Good call.)
The RS article also has some juicy news about the album itself, which, as “Get Lucky” seems to portend, will feature more live-band instrumentation than the group’s previous records:
2001’s Discovery was in part a backward-looking concept album about revisiting the funk, disco and soft-rock of Thomas’ and Guy-Manuel’s childhood. For Random Access Memories, they hired “top-notch session players,” says Guy-Manuel, with credits on classic records by Michael Jackson, Herbie Hancock, and Eric Clapton. Chic mastermind Nile Rodgers played rhythm guitar on a few tracks. “The Seventies and the Eighties are the tastiest era for us,” Guy-Manuel says. “And all these guys were tripping on meeting again and playing together again.” He adds: “It’s not that we can’t make crazy futuristic sounding stuff, but we wanted to play with the past.”
Anyway. Get your fill of this stuff now, because in a few months, you’ll have heard it at blasted at so many summer dance parties and blaring from so many Jeep Cherokees stopped next to you at red lights you’ll want to rip your ears off.
Still: what a funky track!
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