io9
If you watched the Grammy awards on Sunday, then you saw the robotic duo Daft Punk in its first televised performance ever, with Kanye West. West comes out and does his thing in front of a large pyramid, which later lights up with neon piping and splits open to reveal Daft Punk in Tron-inspired versions of their robot suits playing a touch-screen mega sampler/computer/synthesizer. Click through for pics and video.
While Daft Punk has been popular in the techno and French house music scenes since the 1990s, they've won over a whole generation of hip-hop fans since West included a sample of their 2001 song "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" in his song "Stronger", which won a Grammy for Best Solo Rap Performance on Sunday night.
What's most impressive about Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo is their devotion to the robotic personas that hide their identities. Though they used to perform as themselves when they first came onto the scene, the duo began appearing as their robot counterparts with the release of their Discovery album. Now they hide their faces during interviews and digitally conceal themselves in photographs.
We did not choose to become robots. There was an accident in our studio. We were working on our sampler, and at exactly 9:09 a.m. on September 9, 1999, it exploded. When we regained consciousness, we discovered that we had become robots.That kind of dedication to your fake robot alter-ego inner techno musician is the kind of thing we like to see. Once you mash it up with Tron, you're given us a geekgasm. Check out the video below to see some posthuman music, without the Master Control Program.
Comments
that is really rather fantastic. Those glasses and that jacket rock!
You should be honored by my lateness,
That I even showed up to this fakeness.
Doesn't BMG do something similar to this?
Ugh, I can't stand Kanye ... his lyrics are insanely weak. Not a big DP fan either, but those suits are mighty impressive!!!! Those touch screens that DP are playing on? They're called "Lemurs", which are made by Jazz Mutant. DP officially endorses them.
[www.jazzmutant.com]
original track = Excellent
Kayne West version is just not as good. would've loved that if it only had Daft Punk
Interesting visual effects. Did not like the music, much. I was thinking he would be better.
This makes me cry with memories of how AWESOME daft punk was in concert in LA this summer. HOLY.MAN.
Love, love, love Daft Punk! I would kill to see a Daft Punk show. My preference would be to kill Kanye... it's a win-win!
This isn't even their best song.
@extracrispy: Still with the Kanye hating... even though Daft Punk clearly has no problem with him. Aiaiai. Agree to disagree... Anyways... I got a big TV recently and one of the bonuses of HDTV is Live Music. I never watched concerts on TV before, now stuff like this is mindblowing. This looked phenomenal in HD and it was pretty sweet seeing Daft Punk at the Grammys. Pales in comparison to their live show though, that was a mindblowing experience.
Musically, Kanye added a little oopmh to an already killer song.
Personality-wise, Kanye is a massive tool.
Subtract Kanye West, and thats about the coolest thing I have ever seen.
@Garrison Dean: I guess I have to give Kanye props for bringing Daft Punk to the Grammys. But I stop there! :)
@Darkedge:
There's a version of "Stronger" minus Kanye floating around the Intawebs, I think it might have come from the single or something.
@Jeff-Minor: not to mention faster or possibly stronger.
Poor Kanye. It looked like he had to go to the bathroom really bad.
"I need you to hurry up now...cause I can't wait much longer" indeed.
Daft=Awesome
@Garrison Dean: I don't really consider it hating when I merely point out to Mr. West that I do not consider him any good, when he does the same thing to everyone in the music industry.
Thats fine if your confident, but he takes it to a level that just doesn't make sense, especially based on his performance above.
Message to Kanye: stop ruining other peoples music! Write your own crap.
@zenpoet: For starters I got into it with Extracrispy a while ago about this and thats what I was responding too. Like I said Agree to Disagree. But every time I think I'm out.. THEY PULL ME BACK IN!
I'll repost a link that someone else posted in terms of the "Write your own crap" argument.
+ Watch video
As for the ego thing... In my mind that is a marketing character like Bowie being from Space, or The White Stripes being Brother Sister.. or Wife and husband. Its designed to get attention, and it works.
Funktastic!
@Eddie C.: And harder!
I can see why people would hate on Kanye, and not be able to recognize that his hip-hop is far more original than what's been happening in the genre for the last 7-8 years. It's hard to recognize originality when you have a biased, uniformed mentality. Ignorance, basically.
Being closed-minded really makes you an authority on "your own crap".
@Garrison Dean:
I was just about to post the same video!!!!
And another thing.. I think its real interesting that internet hipsters love to hate Kanye West yet never seem to mention that half of their heroes jump at the chance to work with him. Daft Punk, Jon Brion, Bonnie Prince Billie, Zach Galifwhatsit, Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze, Bill Plimpton, Takashi Murakami, Nigo etc... but I'm sure they're all idiots who don't see how talentless he is and are just selling out.
@gods-n-clods: Thank you. The "Paul's Boutique" "Blade Runner" argument is another good one.
Oh my! Daft Punk are The Awesome!
I have been recently listening to their "Alive 2007" album, which is a "live" album from one of their shows in France. Through out this whole album all they do is mesh 2 if not 3 of their songs together.
They did a great version of "Around The World/Harder Better Faster Stronger", I think you can hear it on YouTube if you look for it.
I'm not a Kaney fan, but Daft Punk always give great performances in my opinion. Thanks for sharing =)
-Ash
@Garrison Dean:
"internet hipsters"? Never heard of that one before. As far as the listing of Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze ... they both never jumped at the chance to work with Kanye, they were hired to direct videos and paid VERY well. It's called business. The other people listed I could give a damn about. Guess I'm not an "internet hipster".
:(
Love Daft Punk, love Kanye, together they're pretty awesome!!!!
This is beneath Daft Punk to work with Kanye. They helped shape the world.
@dead_red_eyes: Oh yeah.. They are sellouts. I forgot. I love that Michel Gondry Good Charlotte video. He'll do anything that money loving hack.
@Garrison Dean: I look at all those names and all I can think is that Kanye West doesn't care about black people.
@gods-n-clods: I resent that statement. Just because I don't care for a particular artist does not make me close-minded. That's a pretty ridiculous assumption. I don't like Clay Aiken either. Are you gonna call me close-minded for that too?
@Garrison Dean: I just don't get how your argument is relevant. Lots of artists I admire have worked with other artists I don't care for. It happens all the time. Doesn't mean I have to suddenly start admiring that artist. So what if Daft Punk approve of Kanye? I'm sure they have numerous other interests I don't care for.
@Silverfuture: I figured that since they were all on his tracklisting after the word feat. that I didn't need to mention them, but ok. Jay-Z, T-Pain, Mos Def, Talib Kwali, and the list goes on, ending with the blackest of them all, Chris Martin.
@gods-n-clods: "It's hard to recognize originality when you have a biased, uniformed mentality. Ignorance, basically.
Being closed-minded really makes you an authority on "your own crap"."
Uhhhh . . . I don't mind Kanye, but accusing anyone who doesn't like him of being ignorant, close minded, and full of crap goes too far. What, is anyone with a different opinion close minded?
I think Timbaland's a better producer. Big Boi and Andre 3000 both have better flow, and jeez, I think Outkast is pretty damned original, too.
First time I've heard Daft Punk and loved it. (I'm not a huge music-o-phile. In fact I was listening to Jimmy Buffett right before this... why are there no tiki bars in space?) I'll have to go torr... err... obtain some of their stuff! Actually if this is what their music is generally like, I may even pay for it!
They were the only truly good thing about the Grammys.
Their performance was awesome, but here's my thing, Daft Punk were unknonwn? I find that hard to believe.
@extracrispy: You don't have to like someone, but people never say "I don't care for Kanye West" they say, "he's an idiot, he's a tool, he's talentless, he can't rap, he can't write songs", implying that it isn't personal taste guiding the decision it is the quality of the artist/person. I was simply saying that if you really think that he has no talent and he sucks so bad that maybe there is something that you are missing in your judgement of his work, something that you aren't seeing in his work because other people that you admire, who hold the same artistic values and vocabulary see that thing in the artist so perhaps a deeper look is required. If you think that it is strictly money guiding the decision behind their collaborations than you are effectively saying that Daft Punk is just as, if not more, shallow than you claim Kanye is.
@extracrispy: @DrLocrian: Pardon, but I was actually bristling @zenpoet:
If you know Hip-Hop 101, Kanye is actually innovating a tried formula.
I'd never knock somebody for just not liking something-- no offense. {/flame redacted-peace out}
Cools?
Disapointing. I love Daft Punk, but adding the rap to it ruins it. Rap just stinks anyway you look at it.
Wow Kanye West sounds horrible here. His performance was lackluster, like he just wasn't into it or drunk or something.
Not that I'm much of a fan of Kanye anyways, but he was solidly blah.
@gods-n-clods: Fair enough.
@Garrison Dean: I think you're being overly sensitive and a bit fanboyish in your defense of Kanye. When someone says "Kanye West sucks" or "Kanye West can't rap," the parts that are implied are "I think..." or "It is my opinion that..." They just eliminate the first-person declarative for stronger effect. I don't believe anyone's suggesting that you're not allowed to judge his talents for yourself. Geez, I like James Blunt! But I sorta get why other people think his music sucks.
For the record, I just checked my iPod and I still have "Gold Digger" in my library. That's a good song.
Ok can we get an article on Man or Astro-Man now?
Or the Epoxies?
Or Kidnapped by Robots?
But yeah, that was some fantastic set design, and I would love to have Kanye's jacket.
"You can be my black Kate Moss tonight"
It actually takes a little while to register all the different things that make this lyric irritating.
I give up on this argument. Those who are hating will continue to question his artistry, those who love Kanye will argue otherwise. I think Stronger was the best track of 2007, by a mile. He took Daft Punk, from won't-turn-it-off-if-it's-on-the-radio to will-always-get-on-the-dancefloor-for-this-sh#t. And, I will still listen to it on my mp3 player.
I say this because, honestly, though indoctrinated that American hip hop is the shizzle, I dance to it but listen to stuff I can't even understand, like this ->
+ Watch video
I would also like to point out to all those haters supposedly sticking up for Daft Punk, If the French duo hated it so much I would hope they would have the artistic integrity to boycott it, and certainly wouldn't show up to the biggest Music award show in the world, no matter how large the compensation.
I am not a huge Kanye Fan (the rest of the album isn't really my cup of tea) and the Klondike/blond d... rhyme is awesomely craptastic. Bu the production value on the track alone far outstrips anything else produced last year (tho' Timbaland was on fire) hip hop-wise
As someone who completely digs the KW and the DP, I am actually incredibly disappointed at the lack of Tron-awesomeness recognition in this thread.
Please tell me that on at least this point we can all agree?
I hated this song when i first heard it, I felt it was a downright insult to Daft Punk(a band i have loved for years). I still don't like it, but I do however LOVE the video, possibly one of the best live-action anime imitations I've ever seen. The "windblown bandages" scene is what probably sealed the deal in my mind. Certainly could be viewed as a blatant rip-off, but almost any dystopian anime has this scene, so I figure it can only be considered a rip-off the first few hundred times, then it's a staple of a genre.
@extracrispy: Nah I know. I'm just annoyed with people commenting on things they don't like on the internet. I'm just annoyed with the internet in general. I'm tired of people going out of their way to slag something they don't like. I may not like Clay Aiken, but I wouldn't go onto a Clay Aiken post to say how much he sucks. Again, I'm not trying to take it out on you, you just kept responding to me and I'm Irish and like to talk and argue.
Kanye may bit of a tool, but this song is pretty good,considering it inspired by Akira.
WOW, that was the coolest live/music video I've seen since the Gorillaz played with Madonna at the Grammies a couple of years ago, where they had the Gorillaz rendered cartoon selves walking the stage with Madonna. It was also cool to just see De La Soul jump up on the stage to do their bit and get some award show goodness after all these years.
I wish they would have fired up that pyramid. Do a search on youtube for some of their videos. That pyramid can rock.
Too much Kanye West and not nearly enough Daft Punk. Daft Punk is pure win folks.
Just good to see that DP got to put some of their awesome live show on tv for more people to see. Have to say that all of the TRON awesomeness of this performance comes from DP. Anyone who has seen a gig on their Alive07 tour would agree with me. KW certainly did not come up with it.
Interesting that a lot of people don't think that DP are a huge act. DaFunk, AroundTheWorld and OneMoreTime are huge hits all around the world. I think it is more a case of people knowing the music and liking it but not knowing who its from. DP's influence on the music landscape is significant and it is for this reason that they deserve more respect than KW.
Maybe KW is an innovator as far as the business end of music goes but to me he has image but no distinctive sound. Somebody mentioned OutKast... now there's a hiphop act with a great image and a distinctive sound of their own.
I've never been much of a Kanye fan, but at least he's finally advancing hip-hop to a mildly respectable genre and bringing more techno to the mainstream. Kudos to him.
Also...
I for one would prefer DP and other robots that follow TheManMachine principles to be our overlords. There are worse things in life than trying to become funky robots!
compared to the other shit out on the hip hop market, Kanye is up at the top. Not that this says much.
And I loved the original harder,better,faster,stronger since the album dropped. It such a good song that its hard to fuck up.
Daft Punk and Kanye with glowing sunglasses? I submit that this has been the best award show performance since Gnarls Barkley dressed up as Star Wars characters for the 2006 MTV Movie Awards:
+ Watch video
@KEN KEEGAN: Kanye is more like the last dying gasp of hip hop. Don't get me wrong Kanye can be great, but he has not done ANYTHING original or advanced the genre. Hip hop has been on a creative downslide since the heyday of Rawkus with Black Star (Mos Def / Talib Qweli), which was not much of an advancement beyond Wu-Tang at their peak in the mid-nineties. I hope hip hop can pull it's head out of it's ass before the ER doc declares flatline.