Lose Yourself To Dance: Daft Punk, Random Access Memories Review

           I'm warning you that this is about to be a very long review that's more for me than for anyone reading.  With that being said, let's begin.  I've been a fan of Daft Punk since I was 11, I'm 22 now.  I know a lot of people claim to have liked a band or an artist for a while and blah blah but I'm not kidding.  I remember my little brother Dylan (the oh-so-infrequent other contributor to this blog) and I would stay up late on weekends and wait until Toonami aired it's semi-recurring block where they'd show animated music videos from bands like the Gorillaz, Linkin Park and, of course, the aforementioned Daft Punk.  Shown in a string like one long music video, "One More Time", "Aerodynamic", "Digital Love"(oh Digital Love.), and "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" would all play back-to-back-to-back-to-back.
 Me and him would watch those videos in awe, almost as if we were in love with the music itself.  And the fact is we were.  Fast forward to December of that year (2001), and I found out that our class had to go on a week long field trip to Camp Cappe (some Catholic elementary school stuff, I don't know).  I would be away from home at some miserable, cold camp for my birthday.  Still such a mama's boy at the time I was bummed to say the least.  But my mother, being the wonderful mom she is (Happy late Mother's Day Mom!), somehow knew how much I loved that French electronic duo and gave me, as an early birthday present, what I consider the greatest album to ever grace my ears in Discovery (Oh and she gave me an all black discman too, yes those were hot in the streets back then kiddies).  I say "greatest" because no album has withstood the test of time for me like that album, which I still listen to like it's brand new sometimes.  Not Kanye, or Eminem, or anybody.  So with that intro let's jump to 2013, shall we?
Random Access Memories is the fourth studio album from Daft Punk and if you don't read another word of this review know this: this album is the lovechild of Michael Jackson circa 1982 (uh Thriller) and the electronic gods who art in music heaven.  Less aligned with Human After All and more similar to Discovery, the album branches out enough to become its own fantastic and unique entity.  The synthesized voices of our two favorite robots are back in full force and put would-be auto-tuners like T-Pain and Future (sorry Future) to shame.  The intro, "Give Life Back To Music", is an instant throwback to the 70's as a frenetic guitar runs amok along a frantic beat.  "The Game of Love" keeps the 70's-era vibe flowing and is nothing short of beautiful, as it very well may be the long lost son of "Something About Us".

Keeping the family resemblance thing going, track no. 3 or "Giorgio By Moroder" might be the harder, better, faster, and smoother version of "Veridis Quo".  Next we have "Instant Crush", which initially sounds very pop, but if you let it play out, the infectious beat will have you at its mercy as the chorus makes you bob your head, whether you want to or not.  If I had to pick one standout track on this album then "Lose Yourself To Dance" would have to take the top spot.
Pharrell is at his best here, soulfully singing his heart out on this smooth, guitar-laden joint where the beat keeps a mid-tempoed, steady pace while Bangalter and de-Homem Christo swoon in and out of the chorus.  We can't forget about "Get Ready", the song that officially made this album a real thing and not just some mythological legend like Detox.  The song's been extended by three minutes and sounds even better than the radio-edit.  Track no. 8, "Beyond" can simply be summed up like this: Don't do it to us Daft Punk.  But they do do it to us, and we can only listen in amazement.  And while "Fragments of Time" is no slouch with a Todd Edwards feature (remember Face to Face?), we have to talk about the lowkey banger in track no. 12, "Doin' It Right".  That bass. That chorus. That Panda.  The duo's collaboration with Gold Panda comes together perfectly like two long lost souls that found each other after years of searching.
Overall, the long wait for Daft Punk's Random Access Memories was well worth it.  While it may be a bit too soon to deem this an instant classic, I'm going to go ahead and deem this an instant classic.
+ You really just need to listen to this album for yourself.  That guitar coupled with the android voices will never get old.
+ Pharrell's on it so it has to be hot.
- "Contact" and "Within" didn't really do anything for me at all.
Final Score: 9/10