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Random Access Memories
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Random Access Memories
Random Access Memories is the fourth and final studio album by the French electronic music duo Daft Punk. It was released on 17 May 2013 through Columbia Records. The album pays tribute to late 1970s and early 1980s American music, particularly from Los Angeles. This theme is reflected in the packaging and promotional campaign, which included billboards, television advertisements and a web series. Recording sessions took place from 2008 to 2012 at Henson, Conway and Capitol Studios in California, Electric Lady Studios in New York City, and Gang Recording Studio in Paris, France.
Following the minimal production of their previous album, Human After All (2005), Daft Punk recruited session musicians with the help of Chris Caswell to perform live instrumentation and limited the use of electronic instruments to drum machines, a custom-built modular synthesizer and vintage vocoders. It combines disco, progressive rock and pop, with contributions by Paul Jackson Jr., Giorgio Moroder, Chilly Gonzales, Julian Casablancas, Paul Williams, Caswell, Pharrell Williams, Nile Rodgers, Todd Edwards, Panda Bear and DJ Falcon.
Random Access Memories is the only Daft Punk album to top the US Billboard 200, and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. It also topped the charts in twenty other countries. Its lead single, "Get Lucky", topped the charts in more than 30 countries and became one of the best-selling digital singles of all time. The album appeared on several year-end lists, and won in several categories at the 2014 Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, Best Dance/Electronica Album, and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. "Get Lucky" also won the awards for Record of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked Random Access Memories number 295 on their list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".
In 2008, after finishing their Alive 2006/2007 tour, Daft Punk began working on new material in Paris, recording demos for approximately six months. They were pleased with the compositions, but dissatisfied with their process of sampling and looping, as they had done for their previous albums. As Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk stated, "We could play some riffs and stuff but not keep it [up] for four minutes straight." Daft Punk put these demos aside and started work on the Tron: Legacy film soundtrack, which Bangalter described as "very humbling". For their next album, Daft Punk decided to work extensively with live musicians. They spoke with Chris Caswell, a well-connected musician in the industry who had previously composed arrangements for Legacy, and commissioned him to gather a group of experienced session artists to perform for the record. According to Bangalter, "We wanted to do what we used to do with machines and samplers, but with people." They avoided the use of samples, with the exception of the closing track "Contact".
The idea was really having this desire for live drums, as well as questioning, really, why and what is the magic in samples? [...] It occurred to us it’s probably a collection of so many different parameters; of amazing performances, the studio, the place it was recorded, the performers, the craft, the hardware, recording engineers, mixing engineers, the whole production process of these records that took a lot of effort and time to make back then.
The album features Chic frontman Nile Rodgers. According to Rodgers, the collaboration was "something we've talked about for a long time. We've respected each other endlessly." Daft Punk visited Rodgers' home for an informal jam session. Musician Paul Williams announced in a 2010 interview that he had worked with the group, after Daft Punk had been introduced to Williams by a sound engineer with whom they were mutually acquainted.
In May 2012, Daft Punk's collaboration with Giorgio Moroder was announced. Moroder had recorded a monologue about his life for use in a track on the album. Rodgers was also present during the Moroder recording session. Moroder clarified that he was not involved in the composition of the track or its use of a synthesizer: "They did not let me get involved at all. Thomas asked me if I wanted to tell the story of my life. Then they would know what to do with it." Daft Punk had been in contact with Moroder in relation to a possible contribution for the Tron: Legacy score, but this never happened.
Chilly Gonzales stated in an interview that his contribution was recorded in a one-day session: "I played for hours and they're gonna grab what they grab and turn it into whatever." He explained that Daft Punk prompted him at the piano in the same manner that a film director coaches an actor, and Gonzales left the Los Angeles studio without knowledge of what the final product would sound like. He had previously recorded a cover version of Daft Punk's song "Too Long" that appeared on their 2003 album Daft Club.
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Random Access Memories
Random Access Memories is the fourth and final studio album by the French electronic music duo Daft Punk. It was released on 17 May 2013 through Columbia Records. The album pays tribute to late 1970s and early 1980s American music, particularly from Los Angeles. This theme is reflected in the packaging and promotional campaign, which included billboards, television advertisements and a web series. Recording sessions took place from 2008 to 2012 at Henson, Conway and Capitol Studios in California, Electric Lady Studios in New York City, and Gang Recording Studio in Paris, France.
Following the minimal production of their previous album, Human After All (2005), Daft Punk recruited session musicians with the help of Chris Caswell to perform live instrumentation and limited the use of electronic instruments to drum machines, a custom-built modular synthesizer and vintage vocoders. It combines disco, progressive rock and pop, with contributions by Paul Jackson Jr., Giorgio Moroder, Chilly Gonzales, Julian Casablancas, Paul Williams, Caswell, Pharrell Williams, Nile Rodgers, Todd Edwards, Panda Bear and DJ Falcon.
Random Access Memories is the only Daft Punk album to top the US Billboard 200, and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. It also topped the charts in twenty other countries. Its lead single, "Get Lucky", topped the charts in more than 30 countries and became one of the best-selling digital singles of all time. The album appeared on several year-end lists, and won in several categories at the 2014 Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, Best Dance/Electronica Album, and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. "Get Lucky" also won the awards for Record of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked Random Access Memories number 295 on their list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".
In 2008, after finishing their Alive 2006/2007 tour, Daft Punk began working on new material in Paris, recording demos for approximately six months. They were pleased with the compositions, but dissatisfied with their process of sampling and looping, as they had done for their previous albums. As Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk stated, "We could play some riffs and stuff but not keep it [up] for four minutes straight." Daft Punk put these demos aside and started work on the Tron: Legacy film soundtrack, which Bangalter described as "very humbling". For their next album, Daft Punk decided to work extensively with live musicians. They spoke with Chris Caswell, a well-connected musician in the industry who had previously composed arrangements for Legacy, and commissioned him to gather a group of experienced session artists to perform for the record. According to Bangalter, "We wanted to do what we used to do with machines and samplers, but with people." They avoided the use of samples, with the exception of the closing track "Contact".
The idea was really having this desire for live drums, as well as questioning, really, why and what is the magic in samples? [...] It occurred to us it’s probably a collection of so many different parameters; of amazing performances, the studio, the place it was recorded, the performers, the craft, the hardware, recording engineers, mixing engineers, the whole production process of these records that took a lot of effort and time to make back then.
The album features Chic frontman Nile Rodgers. According to Rodgers, the collaboration was "something we've talked about for a long time. We've respected each other endlessly." Daft Punk visited Rodgers' home for an informal jam session. Musician Paul Williams announced in a 2010 interview that he had worked with the group, after Daft Punk had been introduced to Williams by a sound engineer with whom they were mutually acquainted.
In May 2012, Daft Punk's collaboration with Giorgio Moroder was announced. Moroder had recorded a monologue about his life for use in a track on the album. Rodgers was also present during the Moroder recording session. Moroder clarified that he was not involved in the composition of the track or its use of a synthesizer: "They did not let me get involved at all. Thomas asked me if I wanted to tell the story of my life. Then they would know what to do with it." Daft Punk had been in contact with Moroder in relation to a possible contribution for the Tron: Legacy score, but this never happened.
Chilly Gonzales stated in an interview that his contribution was recorded in a one-day session: "I played for hours and they're gonna grab what they grab and turn it into whatever." He explained that Daft Punk prompted him at the piano in the same manner that a film director coaches an actor, and Gonzales left the Los Angeles studio without knowledge of what the final product would sound like. He had previously recorded a cover version of Daft Punk's song "Too Long" that appeared on their 2003 album Daft Club.