In the ’80s, his credit list grew to include the likes of Burt Bacharach, Madonna, Johnny Mathis, Quincy Jones, and Cher. Guzauski’s career began in earnest when he teamed up with Chuck Mangione in the mid 1970s, moving to Los Angeles to engineer for the composer. The Grammy-winner is in fact one of the most skilled and accomplished engineers the industry has ever seen. Mick Guzauski may laughingly refer to himself as an “old fart” in the music world, but don’t let his humility fool you. The outfit contributed to The Weeknd’s opus Starboy - a precursor to Beyoncé’s celebratory RENAISSANCE. Ye had sampled vocals from ‘Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger’ for ‘Stronger’ and subsequently recruited Daft Punk as producers on 2013’s Yeezus. They continued to collaborate in the studio with hip-hop and R&B stars, especially Kanye West. In 2014 Daft Punk became the inaugural electronic dance act to win AOTY at the Grammys (‘Get Lucky’ was proclaimed Record Of The Year) amid EDM’s takeover of the US mainstream. A much-hyped global launch was oddly held in the regional town of Wee Waa in NSW. “I’d heard of Daft Punk but I thought they were heavy metal.” And RAM threw up another Australian twist. The singer admitted to AAP that he was unfamiliar with the Frenchmen.
An older track Falcon co-produced, it samples 1981’s ‘We Ride Tonight’ by Braithwaite’s former band Sherbet. Wrong.īizarrely, Australian rocker Daryl Braithwaite - yes, of ‘The Horses’ fame - received a writing credit for RAM ‘s closer ‘Contact’. In a mixed review, DJ Mag deemed it “frankly dreadful”. Ironically, the most polarising moment was its climax: ‘Touch’, avant-garde kitsch sung by a sentimental Paul Williams, who’s composed for The Carpenters and The Muppet Movie, as well as a choir. But it finds Daft Punk at their artistic zenith - the pair eschewing samples for complex arrangements and greater live instrumentation, and favouring analogue over digital technology yet crucially avoiding self-indulgence. RAM has ballads - the plaintive ‘Within’, spotlighting Canadian Chilly Gonzales’ piano, a throwback to Discovery ‘s ‘Verdis Quo’, itself modelled on progressive rock like ELO and Supertramp.Īlas, RAM didn’t spawn successive hits to match Discovery (a second song with both Pharrell and Rodgers, ‘Lose Yourself To Dance’, proved ephemeral). The androids revel in vintage funk, their touchstones Rodgers’ band Chic and Californian yacht rock - Bangalter having transplanted to LA to pursue soundtrack work. If RAM initially dismayed Daft Punk’s day ones, it was because the music wasn’t conspicuously dancy. There were conspiracy theories, too - with rumours circulating that Daft Punk hired robot ‘doppelgängers’, notably DJ Falcon, a Bangalter collaborator, to perform live. Unusually, Daft Punk scored a Grammy for Best Electronic/Dance Album with Alive 2007, a live recording from their Paris leg of the Alive 2007 tour, which took place at Paris’ Accor Arena (then the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy).Īlong the way, Daft Punk were accused of being culture vultures - with commentators questioning their reformulation of classic house, and reliance on samples, as another instance of the historically contentious co-option of Black IP by white artists. The duo toured Australia for the first - and last - time with their Alive spectacular in late 2007. Their pyramid stage design was game-changing.
Regardless, the album gained belated currency after Daft Punk’s headlining set at 2006’s Coachella. This release, even the commercial response was muted. For their third foray, Human After All (HAA), Daft Punk embraced techno - with a creeping menace.
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