Revisited - Discovery (2001)

So two things, first, yes I am still talking about Daft Punk but for very good reason. Not only have I been nonstop listening to their music but I also want to pay homage to how great they really were in not only their genre but music as a whole. Second, as you can see I'm not talking about a movie but an album and that is because I'm changing the Revisited format to not only cover movies, but albums, video games, and other things that brought me joy that I want to share the world to. So let's cut finally into what has been a recent discovery of mine but not really, pun intended, Daft Punk's 2001 album Discovery.

Discovery is the second studio album by French electronic music duo Daft Punk, released internationally 12 March 2001 by Virgin Records. It marks a shift from the Chicago house sound prevalent on their first studio record, Homework (1997), to a house style more heavily inspired by disco, post-disco, garage house, and R&B. Comparing their stylistic approach to their previous album, band member Thomas Bangalter described Discovery as an exploration of song structures and musical forms whereas Homework was "raw" electronic music. He also described Discovery as a reflection of the duo's childhood memories, when they listened to music with a more playful and innocent viewpoint.

The album was recorded at Bangalter's home in Paris between 1998 and 2000. The album features extensive sampling; few samples were from older records, while others were recorded by Daft Punk playing live instruments themselves. Fellow electronic musicians Romanthony, Todd Edwards, and DJ Sneak collaborated on some tracks both musically and lyrically. For the album's music videos, the group developed a concept involving the merging of science fiction with the entertainment industry. Inspired by their childhood love for Japanese anime, the duo collaborated with Leiji Matsumoto to produce Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem, an anime film with the entirety of Discovery as the soundtrack. The film features no dialogue, with few sound effects.

In the lead-up to Discovery's release, the duo adopted robot costumes, claiming they had become robots as a result of an accident in their studio. They also launched Daft Club, a website which featured exclusive tracks and other bonus material. Discovery was a critical and commercial success, peaking high across several charts internationally on release. Critics praised Daft Punk for innovating the house music scene in the same manner they had done with Homework. The album spawned six singles; "One More Time" featuring Romanthony was its most successful, and became a club hit.

Discovery was recorded in the duo's own studio, Daft House, located at Bangalter's home in Paris, France. Daft Punk started work on the album in 1998, and produced it over the course of two years. Bangalter and Homem-Christo made music together and separately, in a similar process to their debut album Homework.[2] Although they used the same equipment as they had for Homework, the duo sought to record tracks that were more concise than their previous work. For Discovery, the group used different samplers and synthesizers, including Akai MPC, E-mu SP-1200, Oberheim DMX and LinnDrum. The track "Short Circuit", which features a Sequential Circuits drum pattern,[2] was previously heard in Daft Punk's 1997 live sets. For vocoders, the group used a Roland SVC-350, and a DigiTech Vocalist. Production on the album also incorporated a PC with Auto-Tune and an early version of Logic. Every track on Discovery uses a different phase shifter.[2] The album was mastered by Nilesh Patel, who also had mastered Homework.

One of the first tracks to come out of the Discovery sessions, "One More Time", was completed in 1998 and was left "sitting on a shelf" until its single release in 2000. After completing "Too Long" early in the album's production, Daft Punk decided that they "didn't want to do 14 more house tracks" in the way the genre is usually defined, and thus set out to incorporate a variety of styles for the record. The album features musical contributions from Romanthony, Todd Edwards, and DJ Sneak. Homem-Christo noted that Romanthony and Edwards were two of the producers that had a big influence on Daft Punk. The duo had wanted to work with them on Homework, but found it difficult to convince them to do so since Daft Punk were still relatively unknown. DJ Sneak wrote the lyrics to "Digital Love" and assisted in the song's production. The ideas for the album's music videos formed during the early Discovery recording sessions. Daft Punk's concept for the film involved the merging of science fiction with entertainment industry culture.

The duo recalled watching Japanese anime as children, including favorites such as Captain Harlock, Grendizer, and Candy Candy. All three brought the album and the completed story to Tokyo in the hope of creating the film with their childhood hero, Leiji Matsumoto, who had created Captain Harlock. After Matsumoto joined the team as visual supervisor, Shinji Shimizu had been contacted to produce the animation and Kazuhisa Takenouchi to direct the film. With the translation coordination of Tamiyuki "Spike" Sugiyama, production began in October 2000 and ended in April 2003. The result of the collaboration was an anime film featuring the entirety of Discovery as the soundtrack.

Daft Punk adopted robot costumes in the lead up to Discovery's release. The group told to press they were working in their studio at 9:09 am on 9 September 1999, when their sampler exploded. They had to undergo reconstructive surgery, and, regaining consciousness, they realized they had become robots

My favorite track on the album I would say is Digital Love, Too Long or Face to Face ending in a three way tie, though the whole album is fantastic. Before this, I listened to some of these songs separately through the years not even knowing it was Daft Punk but after going through the voyage of listening to this entire album from front to back again and again, I must say it's my favorite from them with Random Access Memories being second. The beat and energy this album gives off his memorizing and just plain amazing. Daft Punk continued to change the game with each album they released as well as not doing the same thing once with their music and why would you when you made the best possible album each time. Ricardo Signing Off