Daft Punk is an electronic music duo consisting of French musicians Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter. Daft Punk reached significant popularity in the late 1990s house movement in France and met with continued success in the years following, combining elements of house with synthpop.
The name 'Daft Punk' was inspired by a depreciative article published in a british magazine Melody Maker. The magazine had rated the first work of the duo, recorded in 1992 - at that time, the duo was called 'Darlin' - as a bunch of daft punk.
The debut recording of the duo as 'Daft Punk' was The New Wave, released by Soma Records in 1993. After this, followed their first commercial hit, the single Da Funk (1995). The debut album of the duo, Homework (1997) was considered an innovative mix of techno, house music, acid house and electro, and one of the most influent e-music albums of the '90s.
In September of 1999, they cease to exist, and become robots. 'No one really knows what happened', said Bangalter. 'I think there was a big explosion, and first thing we note is that we become robots. It was a good thing, given that allows us to do what we really love: perform in an anti-conventional way. We don't need to show our faces to be stamped in a magazine cover, or to sell a bunch of CDs.' The robot outfit are still used today in performances, therefore concealing their true identity. In interviews, the duo has been interviewed with a black bag in their head .
The album Discovery, from 2001, was more commercial, something that let some Homework fans down. Nevertheless, it succeeded in sales, and the One More Time track, released in 2000, reached the #2 position in the UK tops.
The majority of the current Daft Punk fans knows the duo after their work in Discovery, where was reached an agreement with the japonese artist Leiji Matsumoto (the same of the Galaxy Express 999 anime) to produce Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem, released in 2003, where all the tracks of the album would be played and where all the long awaited videos that continued the story started in One More Time.
After four years since their last album, in 2005, the duo released Human After All, from which emerged Technologic (a track used in advertisement for Apple and Motorola), Robot Rock, and also Prime Time of Your Life.
Directed by Guy-Manuel and Thomas, the film Daft Punks Electroma debuted in Cannes on May 2006. It tells the story, without any dialog and only music, about two robots with same looks of the duo that try everything to become humans.
Daft Punk were on tour around the world in 2006 and 2007, playing their greatest hits in a super-production full of visual effects, on stage in a trangle shape.
Most recently, the duo composed the score of the film Tron: Legacy and in 2010 released the soundtrack album of the film.
There's a rumour that the duo may release a new album this, but it is just that, a rumour. I think that will just have to wait and see.
For those of you who don't already know Daft Punk here's a classic Daft Punk track, with robot costumes and that electro house that is charactheristic of Daft Punk.
For your listening pleasure.
All of the Daft Punk posts (space reserved for the eventual tracks, live acts and news from the duo):
- Original Tracks:
- Live Act:
