Music: Daft Punk, "Alive 2007"

Now, before you start asking, yes, the reviews that I am starting with are generally of things that I like. Why? Because thats the fodder that I have to work with right now. Plus, I'm just getting started, so its much easier to talk a lot about something I enjoy than to actively seek out things I want to simply bash, since that just seems so low to do nowadays.

Daft Punk's "Alive 2007" isn't so much a new album than a deeper revelation into the minds of the duo that is Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo (yes thats one guys name) and Thomas Bangalter. Anyone who is familiar with the songs "One More Time" or "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" would think that a live performance of these songs would basically be just a simple playback of the songs off of a record.

They would be sadly mistaken.

"Alive 2007" shows the world just what it would be like to be at a live Daft Punk concert; adrenaline pumping bass blasting out at an electric crowd screaming for more and more. Daft Punk's live style is drastically different than listening to one of their typical albums, for they readily take bits and pieces of their songs and smash them together live to create a whole different type of song. In actuality, "Alive 2007" is more like 3 or 4 VERY long songs than the actual 13 presented in the track listing, but there is nothing wrong with that at all. Also, if you happened to download the "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" single from this album off of iTunes, you'll find that even the single is bits and pieces from the live performance smashed together; it never shows up during the entire live set.

Daft Punk was kind enough to blatantly tell which songs were being mashed together by track, i.e. "Around the World/Harder Better Faster Stronger" being the title of track 5. If one track embodied the entire album I would pick track 8, "One More Time/Aerodynamic". These are two very well known Daft Punk songs, but are mashed together in such a way that they become brand new all over again. There are very few weak points over the duration of the 84 minute long album, though if you have a problem with songs longer than your typical MTV single, this album might not be for you. This is an album for the fans, and can really only be appreciated by those who have been fans of Daft Punk and the electronica/club genre for some time.

Score: 8.0 out of 10. I am an absolute fanatic about this album, but the score is really reduced due to the limited audience that the album is aimed at. Electronica really does not have as strong a following in the United States as it does in Europe or even Asia, but Daft Punk is most assuredly one of the biggest names of the genre. Ask anyone who knows a thing or two about music and they will most likely know who Daft Punk is, but the casual listener will not really understand what the album is trying to do. Still, a stellar performance by Daft Punk, I eagerly await to see what new, innovative music will come from their next album.