Tag: Daft Punk

Throwback by William Ruben Helms

Back in 2013, Red Bull Music Academy invited the legendary electronic music artist ad producer Giorgio Moroder to speak in front of a small group of music students about music, his creative process and more — and to what was then-billed as his first ever live DJ set at the now-defunct Williamsburg, Brooklyn nightclub Output.

Along with his long-time collaborator and musical director Chris Cox, the electronic music legend played a 75 minute set of re-arranged and exclusive remixes of some of his massive hits, medleys of other big songs, an exclusive song commissioned by Google — and famously, his collaboration with Daft Punk, “Giorgio by Moroder,” which appeared on the French electronic outfit’s last album, Random Access Memories.

Moroder’s DJ set is an encompassing and thoughtful primer on his pioneering work and sound, as well as roughly 50 years of disco and electronic music. Importantly, the set is a bold and swaggering reminder that along with Kraftwerk and a handful of others, Moroder is part of a Mount Rushmore of electronic music, who helped create an enduring “sound of the future” while popularizing the use of synthesizers in just about anything and everything since.

Personally, Moroder’s Red Bull Music Academy set brings back fond and very dear memories during the most formative periods of my life: I can vividly picture myself as a small boy and watching my mother cleaning and singing along — incredibly off key, I should add! — to Donna Summer‘s “Bad Girls,” “I Feel Love” “Hot Stuff,’ and “Love to Love You, Baby” as though it were yesterday.

Moroder turns 82 today and we should give the legendary man, his flowers because his work is that important — for all of us. Happy birthday, Giorgio! May there many, many more!

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Ninety’s Story performs on Groover Obsessions’ Les Capsules

Childhood friends Guillaume Adamo and Florian Deyz are the creative masterminds behind the rising Nice-based indie act Ninety’s Story. And with the release of their debut single “KIKUKYU” and their debut EP, the duo quickly established a sound and approach inspired by the French Riviera and acts like Phoenix, Daft Punk and Air. The duo, along with their backing band have opened for Archive, Morcheeba, Pale Waves and Puggy and others.

Childhood friends Guillaume Adamo and Florian Deyz are the creative masterminds behind the rising Nice-based indie act Ninety’s Story. And with the release of their debut single “KIKUKYU” and their debut EP, the duo quickly established a sound and approach inspired by the French Riviera and acts like Phoenix, Daft Punk and Air. The duo, along with their backing band have opened for Archive, Morcheeba, Pale Waves and Puggy and others.

Adding to a growing profile. the duo wrote the music for a Citroën C4 Aircross ad campaign that aired in China —  with the band representing the company at the Paris and Hangzhou Motor Shows. Since then the band has been busy releasing a handful of singles including the breezy and anthemic “APO” and the sultry, R&B-inflluenced “Home.”

Recently the duo along with their live band played a Groover Obsessions‘ Les Capsules sessions at La Marbrerie that featured two songs:

“Heaven,” a slow-burning and brooding song that reminds me a bit of JOVM mainstays Ten Fe and Palace Winter: deliberately crafted, anthemic songs centered around expressive and bluesy guitars, shimmering synths, plaintive vocals and lived-in lyrics.
“Ride,” a strutting bit of pop rock that — to my ears, at least — brings a slick synthesis of Steely Dan and Radiohead to mind.

\Of course, the live footage gives a great sense of the band’s energy and vibe as a live unit — and it makes me miss shows so very much.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Montreal’s Ormiston Releases a Breezy and Funky Daft Punk-like Single

Nicola Ormiston is a Montreal-based singer/songwriter and producer, who steps out into the limelight as a solo artist with his recording project Ormiston. Ormiston’s debut single “Rebel” is a shimmering disco-tinged track centered around Nile Rodgers-like guitar, a strutting bass line, glistening synths and an infectious hook. And while the Montreal-based artist cites Toro Y Moi and MGMT as influences on his sound and work, “Rebel” to my ears at least, brings Random Access Memories-era Daft Punk to mind — in particular, the equally infectious and summery “Get Lucky.”

Ironically, the song’s breezy and infectious nature, “Rebel” possesses subtle yet very dark undertones. As Ormiston explains in press notes. “‘Rebel’ is a song about a turbulent relationship between two lovers,” the sort of passionate relationship that brings out the best and worst out of the people within it.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Matteo Longbois is an emerging, 20-something, Honfluer, Normandy, France-based electronic music producer and electronic music artist. He can trace the origins of his love for electronic music to when his father played David Guetta‘s 2006 Sensation White Festival set for him. Since then, Longbois has created his own original music, influenced by Daft Punk, Paul Kalkbrenner, Lauant Garnier (a.k.a. Chance) and Todd Terry among others.

Clocking in at a little under three minutes, Longbois’ latest single, the minimalist “Techno Medicament” is centered around hypnotic repetitions of dense synth arpeggio layers, tweeter and woofer rattling polyrhythmic thump. Sonically, the song strikes me as a sleek and energetic synthesis of Kraftwerk and The Chemical Brothers‘ “Star Guitar.” Interestingly, as Longbois explains the song is influenced by several different electronic music styles and genres including minimalist techno, IDM and house. Ideally, the song was created as a a way to escape one’s troubles after a hard day’s/night’s work.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Rose Rose is an emerging indie pop project that features two, young, self-taught multi-instrumentalists and producers, who are split between Paris and London. The project is the culmination of two years of experimenting, then developing and honing their sound — a sound that finds them blending elements of house music, 70s disco and pop.

The duo’s debut single “Sugar Hill” is a glittery and carefully crafted pop confection centered around atmospheric synths, stuttering four-on-the-floor, a sinuous bass line, Nile Rodgers-like guitar, ethereal vocals and an infectious, two-step inducing hook. Upon hearing the track, it shouldn’t be surprising that the British-French pop act’s sound will draw comparisons to Daft Punk‘s Random Access Memories — with “Sugar Hill” possessing a similar warm, sepia-toned nostalgia.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: French Electronic Producer Edouard Releases a Glistening and Euphoric New Single

Constant reinvention has been a central part of French electronic producer Edouard’s music career and personal life: As a member of the French Touch movement of the 980s. his previous project wound up being an integral part of the European house music scene. Garnering widespread praise, the act signed to BMG Records — and as a result. they received massive radio play and appeared on compilation records alongside other acclaimed French Touch acts like Philipe Zdar, Etienne de Crécy, and Alex Gopher.

As time went on and as the musical landscape change, the French electronic music producer took up a number of different roles and lives: he was a solo-exhibited photographer; an art historian; an engineer; an investment bank manager; and he studied under six-time Grammy Award winner Gary Burton at the Berklee College of Music. Edouard’s latest musical project finds him writing and recording under his eponymous moniker — and sonically, the project meshes elements of electronica, electro pop, dance, house music, synthwave and several other electronic styles and subgenres with a retro-futuristic twist inspired by French electronic music pioneers like Daft Punk, Jean-Michel Jarre, Air, Justice, Laurent Garnier, Cassius, Bob Sinclair., Martin Solveig and the aforementioned Alex Gopher, who was studio engineer for Edouard’s forthcoming full-length, solo debut. Additionally, the project has a parallel focus on visual art, with graphic design duties being split between Filip Hodas and the artist himself.

Edouard’s fourth and latest single “Another World” is a Computerworld and Tour de France-era Kraftwerk meets Homework-era Daft Punk-like track, centered around multiple layers off glistening synth arpeggios, heavily vocodored vocals, stuttering beats, brief blasts of horn and a rousingly euphoric hook. The song finds Edouard carefully walking a tightrope between the mind-bending and expansive and straight forward, crowd pleasing club anthem. And interestingly enough, at the song’s core is a sunny optimism that there’s a much better world on the other side of this.

Directed by the French electronic music producer. the recently released video uses CGI to create exotic and surreal locales and worlds. It’s trippy as hell.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

DAYS IN ORBIT · TSUKIAGERU BEAT

Days in Orbit is a Paris-based electronic music production and music unit that specializes in crafting transcultural dance floor bangers centered around organic instrumentation and electronic production.

Deprived of the opportunity to play live shows as a result of COVID-19 pandemic-based lockdowns, the members of the French electronic act decided to connect with their fans through a weekly digital meeting on Instagram that they dubbed #corcorobeatz.  Each session featured a member of the band spontaneously creating beats — while revealing their own inner world. The end result was eight new beats that the members of the act decided to develop into new, original music.

“TSUKIAGERU BEAT,” the French electronic music act’s latest single can trace its origins to a beat the act created in #corcorobeatz 2 — and it’ll further establish their globe spanning, dance floor friendly sound and approach. Centered around shimmering synth arpeggios, twitter and woofer rocking beats, industrial clang and clatter, an enormous, crowd pleasing hook and chopped up vocals sung in a coquettish Japanese, “TSUKIAGERU BEAT” is a swaggering and upbeat, club banger that recalls Daft Punk and Tour de France-era Kraftwerk.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Tomode is an emerging Swedish funk act founded by Carl Leanderson and Viktor Westerberg. Interestingly, the act can trace its origins to Leanderson’s and Westerberg’s mutual love of funk and disco. After spending a couple of years developing and honing their sound, the Swedish duo’s debut single “Destiny, No. 20” firmly establishes their sound and approach: featuring Nile Rodgers-like funk guitar, shimmering synths, a sinuous bass line and shuffling four-on-the-floor, and an enormous hook, “Destiny, No. 20” will command comparisons to Daft Punk‘s “Get Lucky,” and Chic’s “Good Times.” And much like those songs, the song is centered around a wistful and aching desire to escape — in nostalgia, as much as it is to escape to the dance floor.

“We want to make music that can act as a remedy to the slight despair we all feel, living
through the 2020’s,” the members of the emerging Swedish funk pop act say in press notes. ” Destiny No. 20 opens the door to everything we love – it’s got vibrant
drums, pulsating arpeggios, disco guitars and a funky bassline. It’s as much ‘Good Times’ with Chic as it is ‘Dancing On My Own‘ with Robyn. Hopefully it ignites a spark somewhere out there in the darkness.”

The band plans to release material throughout the summer — with their debut EP slated for release during the fall.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: French Electro Pop Duo Ninety’s Story Returns with an Atmospheric, R&B Inspired Single

Tracing their origins back to when its members — Guillaume Adamo and Florian Deyz — met in grade school, the Nice, France-based indie pop duo Ninety’s Story have developed a warm, sophisticated and sensual music inspired by the French Riviera and the likes of Phoenix, Daft Punk and Air. The duo released their debut single “KIKUKYU” and their debut EP through Kitsuné Musique in 2017. Adding to a growing profile, the Nice-based duo have opened for Archive, Morcheeba, Pale Waves and Puggy among others.

Additionally, the duo wrote the music for Citroën C4 Aircross ad campaign that aired in China —  with the band representing the company at the Paris and Hangzhou Motor Shows. Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site, you may recall that I wrote about the rising French duo’s acoustic rendition of the breezy yet anthemic “APO.” The French electronic duo return with the sultry R&B-influenced “Home.” Centered around skittering trap and boom bap beats, atmospheric synths, expressive and bluesy bursts of guitar, fuzzy bass synth, plaintive vocals, a soaring hook and an enormous drop “Home” may remind some listeners of JOVM mainstays Beacon, as well as Montreal’s Seoul and Detroit-based JOVM mainstays Gosh Pith. “The song was composed, produced and recorded in Brussels during the quarantine period,” the rising French duo explain. “Everything was quiet outside and put us into a very inspiring [sic] mood, different than usual.”

Directed by Victor Rahman, the recently released, cinematically shot lyric video features the rising French duo rocking out to the song during a gorgeous purple-red sunset. “For the video, we drove across Belgium and just stop [sic] in a  spot were [sic] the sunset and the sea were beautiful. We just put the music [on] very loud and enjoyed the vibe in front of the camera,” the duo says.