Yes folks, it has finally happened: album releases have morphed into summer movies: from Bowie and Blake Sheldon to Vampire Weekend and Daft Punk thru Tyler The Creator and Natalie Maines, they came, they saw, they disappeared without a trace. It is a one month window, the prehype, big opening, three week window (if you’re lucky) and on to the next one.
I quite like it in someways, except when it infects albums that might be worth a longer look, but for the most part this high speed clip and dip works real well.
Look at the new Daft Punk. In mid-cycle people are streaming it on ITunes (as am I) and excitement has ebbed a little from the terrific “Get Lucky” single. Still, there is enough going on in the album, the Giorgio Moroder song is a good old fashioned disco track, the Paul Williams in the heart of the album, a huge full blown ballad, and bits and pieces of it are sticking out but the album as a whole is still a little cloudy.
Still it is exciting, and the duo themselves dress like Marvel Superheroes (perhaps the daftest and least punk of their concepts): it is like a late coming attraction to a movie though it seems to be more like an actual viewing of the movie, it is hard to concentrate on completely because it is stuck in a place and time but the thrill is exciting and the concept is essentially something coming round the corner.
And then it is hear and here and then it is gone. One moment it is everywhere and the next you can’t remember the third track on it if it were to come up and introduce itself to you. Like Summer movies. You’re hyped. You watch it. It’s gone. It is all thrill and disappointment, a roller coaster ride to oblivion, and as passing fair as a cloud on a sunny day.
Right now Daft Punk is exactly where the Great Gatsby was three weeks ago: something to plan towards, a thrill in the firmament and a must see appointment. But soon, two weeks from now, especially since Daft Punk is not touring behind the album, it will be a shallow memory.
Random Memory Access – Daft Punk – B+