Genre(s): House, Electronic

Country: France

This live album is the pinnacle of Daft Punk’s career so far. This show is basically a mash-up of all their best songs and it’s easily some of the most danceable music I’ve ever listened to as well some of the catchiest. The pacing is superb, with long, interesting build-ups that climax in a very satisfying way. This is absolutely essential listening to any Daft Punk or house fan.

Track list:

1. Robot Rock/Oh Yeah   (6:27)
2. Touch It/Technologic   (5:29)
3. Television Rules the Nation/Crescendolls   (4:50)
4. Too Long/Steam Machine   (7:01)
5. Around the World/Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger   (5:42)
6. Burnin’/Too Long   (7:11)
7. Face to Face/Short Circuit   (4:55)
8. One More Time/Aerodynamic   (6:10)
9. Aerodynamic Beats/Forget About the World   (3:31)
10. Prime Time of Your Life/Brainwasher/Rollin’ and Scratchin’/Alive   (10:22)
11. Da Funk/Daftendirekt   (6:36)
12. Superheroes/Human After All/Rock’n Roll   (5:41)

Total Length: 74:01

MySpace |   Last.fm |   Purchase

Download.

You know in Mario Cart when you are driving along and you get the star? All of a sudden music starts playing for you, you drive way faster, people stay out of your way or get jacked up and things just generally go your way, even if its only 30 seconds.

That’s the idea behind this post: One balls to the wall song that is like downing a monster energy drink or for responsible adults a Sparks. Something that amps you up and gets the heart pounding.

Feel like you are in a real life not funny version of “Office Space?” Have to work until 2 AM? Bored out of your mind and want to go to sleep?

I am giving you your weekly shot of energy on Monday and suggesting you save it to that part in the week where you really need it.

Please restrain from banging your head, heading directly to the nearest bar and getting tequila shots for everyone, or jumping up and down

This is Daft Punk from their 2007 tour. Use with caution.

No, seriously.

Spring has sprung and with it comes the inevitable flow of change – apparent to anyone standing still, which means I have a pretty good view from atop my yeshivical perch.  The government, the school, the music, the friends, the enemies – it seems like things never stop moving.  Presented here is my modestly submitted overview of the up-and-coming for spring 2009.

To start with, we have the politics.  The politics, the politics, the politics.  Oh, the politics.  This may come as a shock to some of you, but in all honesty, despite the 1984-birthdate appearing on the Xanga profile, I am not actually old enough to vote.
 My parents have relatively stable government-based jobs, and the area in which I live has not been hit too hard by the recession.  So in complete honesty the state of the government does not really concern me that much.  Perhaps it will matter to me once I become older and eventually get out from under my unconscious fear of authority or whatever, but for now I am not going to waste any more finger power on it.

It has gotten warmer over the past few weeks and I must say I am pleased at the way the season is turning.  For example, I was able to leave the window open in my room all day yesterday with naught so much as a hypothermic shiver – this is good.  Girls are dressing more springy and less wintery, which is always a sure sign that “spring fever” is well on its way.  Bring it on.  And the most blatant herald of spring is the endless swelling of the sinuses that my goddamn pollen allergy never fails to induce, meaning that by the time May rolls around I am walking the streets with tissues stuffed up each nostril, and packs of Claritin or whatever the hell they’ve got me on in my pockets.

Movies have been good lately.  Watchmen was a blast, no matter what the critics said - I will probably buy it on DVD.  There were all the pretty-good movies like Coraline, Milk, Defiance, etc., all in all adding up to a decent movie season.  Monsters VS Aliens should be good, too.
I am continually reading and listening to new books and music, respectively, so here is my recommended list of things I have recently perused.

BOOKS:
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas – Hunter S. Thompson (Still a favorite)
The Bears’ Famous Invasion of Sicily – Dino Buzzati
Making Money – Terry Pratchett
The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death – Daniel Pinkwater //I got Rabbi Leiman to read this and he did not like it
We’ll Always Have Paris – Ray Bradbury
Everything’s Eventual – Stephen King
Anything written by Douglas Adams

MUSIC (arranged by album – artist)
Juturna – Circa Survive //Astonishingly powerful emo-rock for those who prefer less moping and more metal.
Wrath – Lamb of God //FUCK this shit is intense. If there was ever an American heavy metal band it was LOG. I like LOG.
Megaton Shotblast! – De Facto //instrumental dub, winning the best title with “Michael Edward Klik Enters a Dreamlike State and It’s Fucking Scandalous”
Ten Silver Drops – Secret Machines //Introduced to me by Daniel Cohen, this band continues to blow me away.
Alive 2007 – Daft Punk //No comments necessary.

In school-related news I am actually getting some work done. I have pretty much been coasting all year this time round, so it is encouraging to know I am putting in effort for now. Here’s hoping it holds up.
I may be going to a lake over Memorial Day weekend where there are wild mushrooms growing. Yes, those mushrooms. More to follow.

I have nearly run out of instant coffee-on-demand mix. Will buy more soon. It’s cheaper per gallon than gas.

Daft Punk is back!  But not without some major changes from their normal cup-of-tea: they are scoring the new TR2N movie.

Every single one of DP’s albums are filled with singles – no filler.  Stay tuned as I have a feeling some limited edition products will be releasing with this as well…

Via HighSnobiety.

I just wanted to give a quick shout out to Grammy Winner’s Justice and Daft Punk.

Daft Punk won Grammy’s for :

 Best Dance Recording for their song “Harder Better Faster Stronger “

Best Electronic/Dance Album  For the Album “Alive 2007″ (Fucking love that album btw, download it asap)

Justice won the grammy for:

Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical  for their song “Electric Feel (Justice Remix)

Justice, remixers (MGMT)”

Also, Kudos to the movie Wall-E for winning two Grammy’s as well! Love that movie.

Para nuestra sorpresa, las nominaciones de los Grammy 2009 incluyen muchos músicos que a priori no suelen abundar en este tipo de premios. No sólo eso, sino que algunos parace que pueden dar bastante vidilla si finalmente consiguen llegar a la ceremonia, prevista para el 8 de febrero.

Me refiero con ésto último a la buena de MIA, que al parecer sale de cuentas justo el día de la gala. Lo que sería ya de traca es que rompiera aguas en plena actuación y tuviera el primer bebé Grammy on air. Para empezar, la británica de origen tamil, opta a los premios en la categoría de Mejor Producción de un Álbum (por la canción Papel Planes, de Kala).

Por otra parte, Radiohead también entra en el ajo de los premio con una patada en la boca de toda la industria discográfica. El mensaje etá bien claro: juan palomo, yo me lo guiso, yo me lo como. Y además me harto ganar dinero me forro más que si tuviera que vender In Rainbows a través de una discográfica) y me premian. Los de Oxford están nominados a Mejor Álbum Alternativo (In Rainbows), Mejor Interpretación Rock (House of Cards, si se puede entender que esa canción es rock…), Mejor Canción Rock (House of Cards), Y no nos olvidemos de Jonny Greenwood, que podría llevarse la Mejor Banda Sonora con su There Will Be Blood.

Acompañando a estos dos bichos raros de los círculos viciosos comerciales de la música anglosajona están Hot Chip (Ready for the Floor, Mejor Grabación Dance), Daft Punk (Harder Better Faster Stronger, Mejor Grabación Dance y Alive 2007 , Mejor Álbum de Dance/Electrónica),  Death Cab for Cutie (I will Posses your Heart, Mejor Canción Rock, y Narrow Stairs, Mejor Álbum Alternativo), Beck (Modern Guilt, Mejor Álbum Alternativo), My Morning Jacket (Evil Urges, Mejor Álbum Alternativo) y The Flight of the Conchords (The Flight of the Conchords, Mejor Álbum de Comedia).

Coldplay arrasa en las nominaciones. El disco no convence ni a sus abuelas pero se vende (y ellos se venden) como rosquillas. ¿Premio a la sobreproducción y al estribillo fácil? Optan a Mejor Interpretación de Grupo (Viva la Vida!), Mejor Interpretación Rock y Mejor Canción Rock (Violet Hill, de Viva la Vida!, compitiendo directamente con House of Cards de Radiohead) y Mejor Álbum Rock (Viva la Vida!).

También se han colado en muchas nominaciones (esa maraña de 110 categorías country, blues, bluegrass, cajún, hawaiana y ¿hasta polka!…) Alison Krauss y Robert Plant con su Raising Sand (que me parece que son los que al final sí que van a barrer, porque es un álbum impecable, elegante, completo y delicado).

No obstante, a pesar de esta pequeña avanzadilla indie, predomina el petardeo de los de siempre. Ya veremos en febrero si las huestes de lo audible le ganan el pulso a John Meyer y a Rihanna.

Diggin’ It.

I think live albums can really be a tricky thing to pull off. First off, I often find the sound quality is a bit lacking, but more importantly I find the audience noises to be annoying. I know this may sound curmudgeonly, but if I’m not there in the mix of things I find I loose the magic, which makes all that singing along and screaming to be well… mostly just that.

With that being said I was forced to do a double take when I listened to Alive 2007. This is the first live album of any band that I’ve really enjoyed because of it being a live album rather than inspite of it. The sound quality is really quite amazing, and the recording managed to balance the audience out nicely. I found myself feeling that I was really getting a feel for what it would be like at the concert. The songs are nothing new, it is mostly filled with the groups most popular hits, but as a fan it is fun to hear some new renditions. It really sounded to me like daft punk had just as much fun at this performance as all the audience, and that is really what makes this album worth listening to.

And who doesn’t like to know a little bit about the album?:

Released late in 2007 under virgin records, alive 2007 is a recording of daft punks performance at Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in Paris France. It is the bands second live album, the first being Alive 1997. As always daft punk is the amazing duo Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter. The song Technologic was actually sampled in a Busta Rhymes song called “touch it” and the version on this album (track 2) features some portions of the Busta Rhymes song. They also used some portions of a song (Forget About the World) by the artist Gabrielle that they had previously remixed for her single release. They also released a limited edition of the album that includes a music video of “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”, a booklet of 50 photographs of the tour taken by DJ Falcon and the encore they played on the tour (“Human After All”, “Together”, “One More Time (reprise)” and “Music Sounds Better with You” -which is actually a song by Thomas Bangalter’s side project, Stardust-). Daft Punk produced the album themselves and it was released under the virgin records label.

Download

..:: Daft Punk – Alive ::..

Alive 2007 es la grabación en vivo de este dueto de DJs bien conocido por todos nosotros. Grabado en la presentación en el Bercy de Paris. Esta es la segunda grabación en vivo despues de Alive 1997.

Disfruten!!

Tracklist:

1. “Robot Rock” / “Oh Yeah”
2. “Touch It” / “Technologic”
3. “Television Rules the Nation” / “Crescendolls”
4. “Too Long” / “Steam Machine”
5. “Around the World” / “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”
6. “Burnin’” / “Too Long”
7. “Face to Face” / “Short Circuit”
8. “One More Time” / “Aerodynamic”
9. “Aerodynamic Beats” / “Forget About the World”
10. “The Prime Time of Your Life” / “The Brainwasher” / “Rollin’ & Scratchin’” / “Alive”
11. “Da Funk” / “Daftendirekt”
12. “Superheroes” / “Human After All” / “Rock’n Roll”

Harder Better Faster Stronger

So we all know who Daft Punk is, right? They’re the electronic band everyone seems to love in some capacity. Their most recent release is a live album called Alive 2007. It’s pretty freaking awesome, and I honestly don’t even like any of their studio stuff.

Now, the Alive 2007 tour has been regarded as one of the best ever by many, a spectacle with no equal. So it’s fairly puzzling as to why Daft Punk never released a DVD of it. To fill this gaping void, one fan started to compile fan videos to create a fan DVD of Alive 2007. He uploaded a song at a time, and he said when he was done, he would create a DVD of it and release it to the public.

…but then he decided not to, disappointing fans across the world. Fortunately, one NeoGAF poster took it upon himself to take all the separate videos and put them in a .RAR file and throw it up on Mininova.

Here’s the torrent.

Please seed it as well after you’re done downloading (which probably won’t be for a while). Don’t be a worthless leech. I only wish my upload speed was better.

And if anyone uses Digg, please digg this. The more people, the better.

I’ve been working on and off on this mix for a while and I used it at the party this past weekend. It has a rough start on the first few songs, but it gets into a groove after that (I cut a few songs at the front to meet file size limitations on uploading it). So, check out the mix I’ve been slaving over. Although, admittedly it was a bad idea to try to make a 4 hour dance mix as it’s going to take some heavy drugs for everybody to actually dance that long, I don’t know what I was thinking, so the next mix is going to be no longer than an hour and a half. ANYWAYS though, check it out!

Part 1 of the Dance Mix

Part 2 of the Dance Mix

You can go to the links and stream them or download the two mp3s.

01. Justice – One Minute to Midnight
02. Justice – Phantom Pt. II
03. Louis La Roche – Love
04. Brazilian Girls – Don’t Stop
05. Daft Punk – Voyager
06. Fred Falke – 8:08pm @ The Beach
07. Daft Punk – Digital Love (Boris Dlugosh Remix)
08. Feist – My Moon My Man (Boys Noize Remix)
09. Panthers – Goblin City (Holy Ghost! Disco Dub)
10. Panda Bear – Comfy in Nautica (XXXChange Remix) > Thom Yorke – The Eraser (Stretch & Vern Edit)
11. Out Hud – One Life to Leave
12. Chromeo – Tenderoni > Kid Dub – Tetris (Tocadisco Edit)
13. The Bloody Beetroots – I Love the Bloody Beetroots > Justice – DANCE (Stuart Price Remix) > Hot Chip – Ready for the Floor (LA Riots & Villians Remix)
14. Bodyrockers – I Like the Way (Junior Jack Remix) > 3 Elements – Come In
15. Blende – Peaches (Les Petits Pilous Remix)
16. Gareth Emery – Outrageous (Shiloh Remix)
17. Gui Boratto – Beautiful Life
18. Morgan Page – Longest Road (Deadmau5 remix)
19. Daft Punk – One More Time > Daft Punk – Aerodynamic (Daft Punk Remix)
20. Death From Above 1979 – Sexy Results (MSTRKRFT Remix)
21. Justice – We Are Your Friends (Radioslave & Spencer Remix)
22. Arno Cost & Arias – Magenta (Original Mix)
23. Daft Punk – Harder Better Faster Stronger (Alive 2007 Remix)
24. Chromeo – Fancy Footwork
25. Cut Copy – Lights & Music (Moulinex Remix)
26. Simian Mobile Disco – Hustler
27. Sia – Numb (2005 Paradise Remix)
28. The Chemical Brothers – The Test
29. Digitalism – Idealistic
30. Danger! – 11h30
31. Felix Da Housecat – Radio (Shinichi Osawa Remix)
32. Underworld – Rez/Cowgirl (Live)
33. Sufjan Stevens – Chicago (Signalrunners Club Mix) > Moby – Bittersweet Symphony (Remix)
34. The Teenagers – No Love (Delorean Remix)
35. The Chemical Brothers – Denmark
36. Digitalism – Pogo (Shinichi Osawa Remix)
37. The Chemical Brothers – Star Guitar (Shinichi Osawa Remix)

Un show live nemaipomenit marca “Daft Punk”, acum pe CD, disponibil si in Romania! Albumul “ALIVE 2007” este versiunea live a materialului “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”, piese interpretate in turneul de promovare a albumului. Dupa fenomenala reactie la show-urile pe care le-a sustinut trupa Daft Punk in Statele Unite ale Americii, Japonia si Australia anul trecut, au transpus momentele speciale experimentate in aceste concerte pe CD. “Alive 2007”este acum si la dispozitia fanilor din Romania. “Am experimentat sentimente deosebit de puternice oriunde am concertat, ceea ce ni s-a parut fascinant,” zice Thomas Bangalter. “De fiecare data cand cantam live, realizam acelasi lucru: reactia nemaipomenita a fanilor nostril din intreaga lume este motorul care ne impinge sa continuam. Prin intermediul lor, muzica noastra ramane mereu tanara, mereu ”fresh”!” Cel mai greu, cel mai bun, cel mai rapid, cel mai puternic album Daft Punk dintotdeauna (sau cel putin de la “Alive 1997” incoace). TRACKLISTING 1. ROBOT ROCK / OH YEAH / 2. TOUCH IT / TECHNOLOGIC / 3. TELEVISION RULES THE NATION / CRESCENDOLLS / 4. TOO LONG / STEAM MACHINE / 5. AROUND THE WORLD / HARDER BETTER FASTER STRONGER / 6. BURNIN’ / TOO LONG / 7. FACE TO FACE / SHORT CIRCUIT / 8. ONE MORE TIME / AERODYNAMIC / 9. AERODYNAMIC BEATS / FORGET ABOUT THE WORLD / 10. PRIME TIME OF YOUR LIFE / BRAINWASHER / ROLLIN’ AND SCRATCHIN’ / ALIVE / 11. DA FUNK / DAFTENDIREKT / 12. SUPERHEROES / HUMAN AFTER ALL / ROCK’N’ROLL

Thievery Corporation’s The Mirror Conspiracy (2000) is one of my favorite albums to listen to when I am relaxing. It is also one of my favorites to listen to when I am studying, which I am doing way too much of today. It keeps you chill and focused. Good stuff for being romantic as well, or at least from my experience. You probably know “Lebanese Blonde” from the Zach Braff movie Garden State. I am pretty sure the soundtrack won a grammy. Thievery Corporation is dub, acid jazz, down-tempo, chill out, lounge etc. Many songs have a great Indian/worldly vibe to it. I saw them live at Vegoose and their performance was magnificent. It was refreshing and something new for me to dance to. I was impressed by how ‘into’ them everyone got. It might be credited to the substances everyone was taking in preparation for Daft Punk’s final ‘Alive Tour’ show in the U.S., but regardless it was a classic performance. If you like Air, you should definitely give these guys a shot. Peace & Beats yall, I am off to study some more.

Top Tracks: “Lebanese Blonde,” “Shadows of Ourselves” and “Illumination”

Time for one of my infrequent rants.

Why is it that artists (or their technical people) constantly make a hash of music videos? Case in point: the independent, Karmacoda. They’ve just released a new video on their website. I downloaded the iPod-ready version and it looked funny. The native aspect ratio of the video, 16:9, had been squashed horizontally into 4:3 and was between QVGA (320 x 240) and the iPod standard VGA (640 x 480). The slightly larger version (“for computer”) looked correct (heads not squashed) but even it was 3:2. Here’s the real kicker in this case: it was shot in HD. That means the trouble and expense of 720 or 1080, which should look amazing, has been squandered on a lousy postage stamp. A prior music video, also shot in HD, was made available on DVD, which I bought. I knew it was going to be NTSC (480 pixels vertical), but was unpleasantly surprised to find that it was 4:3 letterboxed. This just should not be. It’s not hard to make anamorphic video these days. Again, the quality of HD was wasted on this 720 x 400 video (after cropping).

My frustration with Karmacoda stems from the poor responses to emails I sent. The first, after I received the DVD, was extensive and contained a breakdown of the technical issues with the DVD and the free version and offered solutions. I also said that I would like to buy a HD version from their site. The response was a mere acknowledgement that I had sent something. I tried again after getting this new video. Same thing. I’m giving valuable feedback and advice. As they are an independent band, I expected a meaningful two-way conversation with the artists themselves but seemed to have been screened by a manager.

It’s not just independents at fault. Prior to the release of Daft Punk’s Alive 2007, I downloaded a teaser trailer in VGA resolution, H.264 video, AAC audio. Looked quite good. When the album arrived, the enhanced CD included a music video. The specs? QVGA, MPEG 1 muxed. What is EMI thinking? When will record companies wake up and start providing iPod-ready video on enhanced CDs? Nobody is going to want to put the CD in a computer to watch the video.

So why aren’t they done right in the first place? A possible solution is to make the video available on iTunes–after all, they’re giving it away for free on their site, and we know that free often doesn’t mean quality. If they package it for sale, the consumer can be assured of a certain level of quality.

Music video is being denigrated by ignorance or unwillingness to produce a good product. In the past, it’s been used solely as promotional material, where marginal quality would be a non-issue. It’s only been since the iTunes Store started selling them as a product in their own right that quality should be something that artists are aware of.

Am I alone in thinking this?

Poor ol’ Kanye West. He sings his little heart out and what do people say, “Look at ‘em cool glowing robots behind him!”…

Daft Punk made their live television debut at the Grammys back on Monday, wearing the glow-in-the-dark-red-outlined-suity-outfits as seen on their Alive tour last year, along with their out-of-this-world-moon-waffle-glow-in-the-dark-red-outlined-pyramidy-spaceship… They were there with Kanye to present a slightly (and only VERY slightly) different version of Stronger…

When I saw Daft Punk live last year in Hyde Park, the first thing I thought was, “WOW! What they got in that pimped-up-pyramid”… What I pictured in my head was what I saw at the Grammys….

So so so cool! Lots of flashing greens lights! How sad was I then when I found out what was actually inside the pyramid…

Loads of tiny buttons that I can’t even begin to comprehend! Nevermind… Its still really cool…