Random Access Memories is like a concrete mixer.    Stick with me, this tortured analogy is going somewhere, I promise.  The helmeted French duo have taken a wide range of different musical ingredients (e.g. 70s disco cement, 80s synth/guitar gravel and 90s glitch/distortion as the water) and mixed it skilfully into a cohesive and solid whole.

 

I confess that I have generally been somewhat underwhelmed by previous singles that have filtered into the charts and daily radio play.  As a result, I was completely unprepared for just how good Daft Punk’s fourth studio release is.  Things start pleasantly enough with the jaunty Give Life Back to Music and The Game of Love  which meanders gently with soft vocodered lyrics drifting along on a 70s bass and synth background.  Then something truly epic hoves into view.  Giorgio by Moroder is a nine minute masterpiece.  It starts with legendary Italian record producer Giovanni Moroder telling his story while music slowly rises under his words for the first two minutes.  Layers of different sounds are built upon the gorgeous synthesizer – bass, guitar, strings, lovely little electronic glitches and scratches.  While you’re still reeling from track three our French hosts soothe you with the beautifully delicate piano and vocoder combination on Within.

 

One of the key elements of Random Access Memories is collaboration.  The album features guest appearances from a range of artists including Julian Casablancas from the Strokes on the coolly driving Instant Crush and Pharrell Williams on Lose Yourself to Dance and the huge single Get Lucky (as is traditional – I found Get Lucky to be pleasant enough but underwhelming).  Singer/songwriter Paul Williams also makes an intriguing contribution to the impressively peculiar Touch.  It starts out with a trippy intro then moves into a sequence that wouldn’t be out of place in a 70s stage musical.  Suddenly it erupts into a gloriously bouncy string, key and brass instrumental before transforming into an epic choral sequence and then finishing as it begun.  One of my favourite tracks is the hypnotic album closer Contact which sounds like the theme tune to the most EXCITING COMPUTER GAME EVER MADE (that doesn’t exist yet).

 

If all you’ve heard of Random Access Memories is the single Get Lucky and some of the other radio friendly selections then you’re missing out on just how rich, interesting it is.  Make no mistake, it’s perplexing, confusing and in some places downright awkward – but it’s also one of the most consistently exciting releases of the year.