Daft Punk Is the Apple of Dance Music

I like Daft Punk - even back before they were big - but I really don't get the analogy in that article. To me it reads like the author has arbitrary connected two unrelated things that he likes just so he can justify liking them both.

The similarity here is that the author loves both Apple's products and Daft Punk's music.

Quote: ' Daft Punk's Thomas Bangalter explained that electronic dance music is having an "identity crisis." He says "It's not moving one inch." '

I don't think this is fair on electronic dance music at all. sure, if you look in the top 10 singles, it might be quite same-y, but if you branch out into the albums and the world of the sub-genres of electronic dance music, you find a world rich with imagination and experimentation:

VNV Nation's album "Automatic" took the futurepop genre and incorporated elements from steam punk and art deco type themes. Whilst still recognisably them, it was a significant break from their previous work.

On that theme, steampunk is breaking through, sometimes closer to dark cabaret, other times mixing in diesel/valvepunk elements and turning to the electronic dance scene.

Mind.In.A.Box - whilst perhaps THE canonical example of robotic voices in the modern electronic dance scene, they experiment with bringing back the prog - the epic story telling and experimentation.

Numerous bands are trying to find a middle ground between hardcore and industrial/futurepop, perhaps most notably Uberbyte. Their latest album, Five Year Plan, divided critics and fans alike by experimenting across many genres and styles.

The irony, however, is that the more things change, the more things stay the same. Listen to Utah Saint's first two albums, and you'll hear them creating glitch and futurepop, well before those genres really came into being. A lot of modern dubstep/brostep would actually fit nicely in the middle of a mid-90s Jungle set.

So in this respect, Daft Punk are /exactly/ like Apple - merging the best of what has been proven to work (rather than truly innovating), and creating a highly polished product that's finally ready for the masses.

If anything, it's simply the brilliant orchestration of this product release that is so Apple-like.

Starting with the Internet rumor mill for the last 6 years, the thoughtfully-placed but cryptic ad buys, the slow drip of new information over a couple months, then the collaborator videos providing an inside view and stoking the excitement. It definitely feels a bit like how new Apple products have come into existence.

I was born in 1987. At the age of 12, I discovered Daft Punk's Homework. I carried that album everywhere, on my Minidisc, Sony Walkman, and Sony Discman. When Discovery came out, I was in Mexico, and the only copy I could find was a bootleg. It blew my mind. Those two albums would solidify my music taste. They became my musical reference point.

By the time Human After All was released, I had explored other electronic artists and genres. The album barely registered a blip on my radar. I still consider myself a Daft Punk fan. I look forward to R.A.M. But, I can't help but feel like this "collaboration" album is going to let me down.

It is for me a serious lesson on the power to deliver a product. A great combinaison between a quality product and a marketing speaking the same language than the product (so the future customers) and at the same time increasing its hypothetical value. There are many stuff to learn here I think.

Anyway, I am French and I love Daft Punk so... :)

Spot on analogy.

Dance Music Is the Microsoft of Modern Music