Daft Punk - Human After All

A really poor effort from the 2 Parisians... I was shocked at the fact that instead of getting better from their release of "Discovery" (which had many famous songs, like "One More Time", "Harder, Better Faster, Stronger" and "Digital Love"), they got worse by turning back to the cheap production of music by using repetitive drum-loops with some robotic lyrics thrown in (ironic how the album is called "Human After All").

Hopefully this will never happen again. I hope the two have received an earlyu wake-up call to get a head start on their next album...

With the highly successful release of Discovery, Daft Punk had really raised the expectations of what they were capable of.

Human After All sounds more like an experiment or demo than Discovery, but nonetheless it remains a very good album, despite the criticism, because of the many hidden social criticisms(such as towards TV-culture). It's arty, over-reptitive and minimalistic, and creates a sharp contrast to Discovery that I think cut the hearts of those who prefered Discovery.

Listen to this album without expectations and you won't be that disappointed. I did, and I actually loved this album when I heard it the first time. The melodies are basic and straight to the point, the lyrics are sparse and either vocoded or pitched. Human After All is not an album for everyone, so approach it with a certain caution.

It bites. Hard.

I actually really love this album. I have several friends who have bought into the cult that this is Daft Punk's worst effort and refuse to even LISTEN to it, lest their ideals of Daft Punk's genius be tarnished forever.
What we actually have is just 10 tracks of fun and joy and everything that makes Daft Punk genuinely awesome.

Technologic seems to sum up everything about my IT Slave career and lifestyle.
On/Off and Television Rules the Nation just has a fat beat and solid groove.
Robot Rock goes all out and pulls out all the stops to deliver a shameless power house of a song.

I know people find a lot of songs on this annoying. The only song that annoys me at all is The Brainwasher, because it's a misguided off take on Iron Man by Black Sabbath which I truly love.

So it may not be as danceable as previous releases. But it's strength is in providing a new and interesting sound.

You really have to listen to this album quite a lot to get into it. The ideas are good, but when put down as tracks, they don't really go anywhere. For example, on Prime Time, there's the impression that they're desperate for things to do, so they decide to end the track by speeding the whole thing up. I get the impression that they're saying to one another "We beat Aphex Twin". Mmm....

Say what you will about Daft Punk, but they were never really boring... not even with HUMAN AFTER ALL. Sure, the title track could have come off DISCOVERY, but "The Prime Time of Your Life" sounds like a skit choreographed by Gary Glitter then put through the spin cycle of a washing machine. "Robot Rock" is glam-heavy, while "Steam Machine" is heavy with hiss, but both go on too long. The musical ideas are there, but they don't go anywhere. Need proof? Listen to how "Make Love" is one loop, repeated for 4 1/2 minutes. The mantra of "Technologic" gives it a bit more texture, but "Emotion" just grinds along until it finally ends. Human after all? Not when you just hit the "repeat" button and walk away.

If anyone should know better than to listen to critics, its every person who's ever gone to a movie, or listened to a new album, or played a new game which they absolutely adored, only to be bashed down by some nutjob who looks for the "code" or the "formula" of all the mainstream garbage thats out there. And who says it has to be exactly like their previous work? I absolutely love this album, because its so original and different from what they've done before, yet it still carries that Daft Punkish-air. Its "chilling" music...something thats to be played in the car, or in the background of some club. You don't listen to electronic music like you would pop or hip-hop. Its soaking in the feeling of the music itself, and the subtle changes in its rhythm. Its not repedetiveness...its mixing, tweaking and capitalizing on a single catchy beat. Don't critique it like you would a new Nickelback album, or the latest R&B rehash of "my boyfriends cheating" or "guys in over-sized jerseys like to look at me while I shake my butt". As for Human After All, the Daft Punk duo give us a welcomed break from the cookie-cutting, formulaic problem that is today's music industry. Thank God that music distribution wasn't up to these "Music Critics". We'd all be mindlessly conforming to one mindset of what music is...oh wait, its already been done!

Daft Punk it appears couldn't hack the responsibility of "Homework" and "Discovery"; and now sadly strive to land a job doing the soundtrack for a Sophia Coppola film...leave that to less talented compatriots AIR- who indeed will find it unnervingly a lot easier to work with Ms Coppola. As for the music on this album, if music is what it is to be called, there isn't much to say, since there is little music on it. There are one or two tracks, such as Technologic (almost KraftwerFKian), or Steam Machine (Carl Craigish)which could rank up there along "Harder..." and "Revolution" in terms of classic Daft Punkish genius. Nevertheless, this gem of an album does have it's irony, just as some films are destined almost immediately for video shop rental shelves...so will this CD be a major success on p2p downloading and sharing networks and on street sellers blankets, which in itself is a mean feat and a worthy one at that...be warned it is not worthy of forking out unreasonable loads of money for this...luckily other than the two tracks already mentioned, others like "Human...", "Robot Rock" or "The prime time..." don't last very long and they are just loopy strange concoctions of irritating and frustrating noise. THE BIGGEST problem, with this six-week-in-the-making piece of work is that there's NO FUN in it or between the tracks, which at their age they should be duely ashamed and embarrassed of. And I think when you've been accustomed to something like "One More Time" or "Digital Love" you just don't expect just another "One More Time" but something beyond it, after all wasn't the album called "Discovery". Another sad thing about this album is its title "Human After All" almost apologetic for the lack of concept and spirit, craftmanship and most importanly the lack of music on it. I'm sure the remixes will be great, although as yet that is also to be seen. By the way guys, one final piece of advice..take a leaf out of K-Hand's book, do yourselves a good favour listen to "The Art of Music" by K-Hand and LEARN.

A leak from EMI allowed thousands of fans to hear "Human After All" on peer to peer networks more than two months before it's initial release. There was (and still is) no reaction from Daft Punk concerning this conceptual failure.
"Human After All" is a drastic, radical, serious, pretentious release that sounds like a quick demo (all the tracks were produced on a six weeks period, I wonder what they were doing the rest of the time - 4 years period). There is no originality in the concept (the video for "Robot Rock" is just a fake performance of a sampled track). I wish I could say it's good, but unfortunately it's not. I won't even buy it.
My frustration goes beyond that as Bangalter & Christo refuse to release their music to a wider audience (Roulé / Crydamoure), announce fake projects (Bangalter / DJ Falcon album), and even complaint about people doing what they should be doing themselves (Eric Prydz release of "Call On Me", Freeloaders release of "So Much Love To Give"...) They even shutted down the forum of their official site to make it available only to a particular elite who have nothing wrong to say about them or their music!
Sad to say, but I might be a future ex-Daft Punk fan. 1/5

All I can say is that this holds me at arm's length while it chants - "LOOK HOW SMART I AM!" at me.

(A aubstantial feat for a CD but nevertheless not what I want to listen to - but it was really cheap so that is a plus)

Because it was so cheap the 4 tracks I don't activeyl dislike justify the price: Robot Rock, Steam Machine, The Brainwasher and Technologic.

The videos to these tracks will probably be amazing.

Until then I can only listen in small doses - when in the mood for a soundsnack.

I was expecting something different from their past two albums, but this did not quite meet my expectations. It does a good job in being an experimental album, as it is radically different from their other two. Admittingly, many of the tracks are good within themselves, such as Robot Rock and Human After All, however, most of them are not suitable in house sets as they are not really funky or danceable (at least at the speed they were recorded; playing Steam Machine sped up sounds pretty good), and did not get my foot tapping in the way that 'Revolution 909' or 'Too Long' did. Most of the songs are highly repetitive which is good for house - 'High Life' and 'Rollin and Scratchin' were very repetitive, though very good. I think the difference is in the bass patterns - they lack the explosive, carrying bass line that a good dance track should have. As mixing goes, they might best be suited for linking together other songs.
In expressing a new style and moving away from the mainstream or from the 'traditional' Daft Punk, they did a good job. For creating music meant to make people move, not so great. I don't expect to hear it on every major dance floor, but perhaps I shouldn't.