In 1996, the buzz around Daft Punk led them to sign with Virgin, and the label released the single "Da Funk"/"Musique" that year. Instantly hailed by the dance music press as the work of a new breed of house innovators, it was followed by May 1995's "Da Funk," the band's first true hit (the record sold 30,000 copies worldwide and saw thorough rinsings by everyone from Kris Needs to the Chemical Brothers). The label released the duo's debut single, "The New Wave," in April 1994. Bangalter and de Homem-Christo began experimenting with electronic music, taking their new project's name from that review and drawing inspiration from pioneers such as Todd Edwards, Juan Atkins, Kraftwerk, Frankie Knuckles, and many more.īy September 1993, Daft Punk had readied a demo tape, which they gave to Soma co-founder Stuart MacMillan at a rave at EuroDisney. Following a Melody Maker review that described Darlin's music as "a daft punky thrash," the band broke up. Darlin's career was brief: The trio recorded a cover of their namesake song that appeared, along with an original song, on a various artists EP released by Stereolab's label Duophonic (the band also invited Darlin' to play some U.K. Named after a Beach Boys song, the group featured Bangalter on bass, de Homem-Christo on guitar, and additional guitarist Laurent Brancowitz. Though they reinvented themselves continually, wherever Daft Punk went, the rest of pop music followed.Īfter meeting in 1987 as students at Paris' Lycée Carnot secondary school, Bangalter and de Homem-Christo became friends and soon started making music together. Daft Punk's influence reached further into the mainstream through collaborations with Kanye West and the Weeknd, and the duo's music was sampled by artists ranging from Missy Elliott to the Fall. With 2013's Random Access Memories, the duo once again looked to the past to create the future, borrowing from prog, disco, and a laid-back West Coast vibe that bucked the predominant trends in electronic music but still resonated with a wide audience. Even when they polarized their audience, there was never any doubt that they staged groundbreaking concerts, and the tour captured on Alive 2007 helped pave the way for arena-sized EDM, particularly in the U.S. Despite their sizable popularity, Daft Punk were never afraid to challenge their listeners, which they did with 2005's cold and dystopic Human After All. Not content to just widen electronic music's popularity, on 2001's Discovery they reinvented the then-unfashionable sounds of mid-'80s soft rock and R&B into stylish tracks that also had a childlike wonder. With their early singles and 1997's instant-classic debut album Homework, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter quickly won acclaim for their skill at blending their beloved Chicago house and Detroit techno with pop, funk, indie rock, and hip-hop into nostalgic yet futuristic forms. As they evolved from '90s French house pioneers to 2000s dance tastemakers to mainstream heroes in the 2010s, Daft Punk remained one of dance music's most iconic acts.
0 kommentar(er)
