The only person not feeling Random Access Memories?

Afternoon all, it's relatively early in the afternoon here in Northern Ireland but judging by that grey and dank sky out there. I wouldn't be suprised if there's a downpour in the next few hours or so. Anyhow, that minor detail out of the way let's move onto the topic that I wish to share with you.

So, the big album of the moment is Daft Punk's new offering Random Access Memories. Everyone seems to be raving about it... except for me. Honestly, I wanted to love this album, I swear. I really love Get Lucky and I've really liked all of Daft Punk's prior albums so my expectations for this album were absolutely through the roof. It's not that I think the album is poor as such... I'm just really struggling to get into it. I have to give credit where credit is due for it though: it's certainly a creative album. Very creative by anyone's standards and such creativity is only highlighted considering a lot of electronic music for the last number of years has been stale and uninspiring to say the least. In saying that like I said earlier I'm struggling to get into a lot of the tracks. For me, I have to admire a song like Giorgio Moroder but I'd be lying if I said I enjoyed it.  It's borderline self-indulgent to me. I have to say I love Touch though, and the album is growing on me very slowly. I think my main problem with the album is that it's a rather long record (around seventy minutes) but I don't feel it has an awful lot of wow moments for an album that length. Maybe it's the sort of album best enjoyed as a collective piece though. I can see myself enjoying the album in a certain mood: like if I wanted to to listen to some chilled music on a Friday night as opposed to an album packed with dancefloor fillers. Having said that I've felt that Daft Punk's previous three albums have balanced relaxing and danceable music very well, so I think I would always play one of them quicker than I would play Random Access Memories. Never say never though, I disliked what is now my favourite Pet Shop Boys album for a straight year!

Soundsystem.

Evening all, its slightly late here over in UK but I decided it was time I knuckled down and wrote an actual post as opposed to yet another update.

I've been busy here this past week: buying an iPad Mini no less (wonderful machine) and treating myself to some new CDs in the process, namely M.I.A's Kala album and the Ramones live album It's Alive. I've also heard Daft Punk's new Random Access Memories and truth be told I don't think its as good as everyone says it is, but that's for another post . In terms of what's been dominating my listening the past few days I've been having a serious love affair with the back catalogue of Simon & Garfunkel, an amazing group (and I'm not even a folk fan by any means). I really like Paul Simon as a solo artist, so I decided it was time to investigate where it all started. In all honesty, Art Garfunkel is now one of my all time favourite vocalists - the phrase "voice of an angel" may be branded about too much - but in his case I feel its certainly applicable. The scary part? I'm singing their praises already and I haven't even heard all of their albums yet. A new addition to the all time favourites list perhaps!

Anyhow - the big story for me these past few days has been the announcement of the long awaited boxset of The Clash, entitled Sound System. I love special editions, boxsets and all that fancy stuff so I had high hopes for this - I have to say it looks tremendous (the art for the boxset is done by Paul Simonon). It consists of their five albums  remastered (omitting Cut The Crap) including an extra disc of their various non album singles. There's also rarities/unreleased tracks  and a DVD to boot which I love. One of my favourite Clash songs is The Beautiful People Are Ugly Too and I was ecstatic to discover this much underrated track is finally going to get an official release. As is standard with such a boxset there's also merchandise galore: stickers, a poster and badges to name some of it. All stuff I will treasure because being 19 I missed out on a lot of merchandise and Belfast doesn't stock much in the way of Clash material at all, believe me. The real gem for me though merchandise wise though is the reprinted copies of the Armagideon Times fanzines that will be in it (along with a new edition). Again, I missed out on these being born years after they broke up. I love fanzines and the like so this shall be a real treat. The boxset comes out on September 9th here in UK, it's pricey at £110 but the group have made such an impact on me this past year that I really can't wait to buy the boxset. In fact, there's a chance my family might be buying two copies because one of them has turned into a big fan also (thanks to my constant playing).

Now I have that off my chest, its not even the only Clash release that's been announced: there's a new compilation coming called The Clash Hits Back (I love that title). I already have all their albums and even their singles boxset, so truth be told I'm indifferent to a compilation coming out but I have to admit the track listing isn't far off my personal ideal one in all honesty. It's been a busy month for me in my Clash fandom really, particularly on the purchasing front. I've ended up with two copies of their official book (see a previous post), the two disc edition of Rude Boy on DVD not to mention receiving their singles boxset as a 19th birthday present. It doesn't stop there, if all goes to plan I'm getting the US edition of The Clash next week along with my first Joe Strummer T-shirt, which I'm really excited about as the T-shirt comes from the Strummerville charity. When all of that arrives (give it two weeks), I'll be sure to do a post on my Clash collection.

Long winded post I know, but there's just been so much lately, its crazy! I will try and write a post on Daft Punk's new album (well initial thoughts) at least tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be able to do that along with sharing some musical gems I've found. Until then I'm going to unwind now, listen to more Simon & Garfunkel and start the latest season of Big Bang Theory. Adios for now!

New Music: Daft Punk - Get Lucky (featuring Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers)

So at the moment it feels like there's only really one song that everyone is talking about: the new Daft Punk song from upcoming fourth studio album Random Access Memories, due for release in May. I love Daft Punk - one of my original favorite electronic acts since I started exploring the genre about eight years ago. I absolutely love this song too, its going to go down as one of my favorites of the year I think. I have to be honest thought: it's not a musical development on Daft Punk's part really. If you were expecting them to drastically change their sound in any way then Get Lucky would be a let down surely. Having said that its a classy piece of electro-disco which Daft Punk excel at. It's a case of why fix what's not broken really. It's very Discovery, if you love that album then I don't see why you wouldn't love Get Lucky. Its my personal favourite Daft Punk album which makes me enjoy Get Lucky an awful lot indeed. It sounds more heavily disco than electronic to me too although considering Nile Rodgers is on the track I'd expect nothing less.  Even though its very traditional Daft Punk in sound, I think it feels very fresh in comparison to a lot of electronic music (particularly the chart stuff) at the moment. I personally don't care for a lot of the very cold, clinical autouned to the heavens electronic music that dominates the chart at the moment. It's good to have a very vintage sounding track such as Get Lucky to balance it I think. Having said that, I do think that a whole album in this style would be a bit of a disappointment and too Discovery-esque (even for me) so I hope the album has a bit of variety at least. In the meantime though, I'll be enjoying Get Lucky for a good few more plays yet!

Update

Woops, its been a while since I've posted here! I've been rather busy for the last few weeks (and I turned 19 in the midst of it all to boot). I've also been getting stuck into new TV shows as of late. I've finally managed to watch Prison Break which I've sworn I would do for years. I'm loving it so far, its very addictive (even if the third season has started rather weakly for me). Music news for me has been very busy too - so much so its given me writers block. Phoenix unveiled their new album stream, as well as OMD releasing their new album. Janelle Monae also has finally announced plans for her new album (the upcoming single is getting premiered this coming Monday). An underrated band called Youngblood Hawke also are unveiling their upcoming debut album too. What got me really excited though was the new Daft Punk single which was released in full today on Itunes - I'll try and do a post on that later. In the meantime, thank you for reading my blog still and I promise to return with new posts soon!