Twenty-five years ago, the French electronic duo known as Daft Punk released their second album, “Discovery”, to critical acclaim. A quarter-century later, the album still holds up as one of the greatest of all time.
The album begins with “One More Time,” an incredibly strong opening track that’s impossible to sit still through, which sets the tone for the rest of the album.
The album moves into “Aerodynamic,” the first of a few instrumental tracks throughout. Aerodynamic pauses its funky instrumental for a guitar solo reminiscent of Van Halen’s “Eruption,” before finishing the solo atop the original motif.
“Digital Love” is culturally under-appreciated for how great it is. Though it only charted on American dance club charts, it’s one of the album’s biggest highlights. The track gently gallivants through your headphones, full of subtle moments of whimsy and joy, before erupting into a euphoric solo full of the butterflies of falling in love. “Digital Love” shines, even on an album with so many all-time classics.
All-time classics such as “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” are the next track on the album. Built on a simple bass walk down and only 22 words of lyrics, the song is incredibly erratic, but composed at the same time. “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” has a bounce to its groove that feels at home both at the club and in a training montage.
The next four tracks are instrumentals. “Crescendolls” is fitting of its name. The song’s main sample is a repeating crescendo that sounds like Mardi Gras in a bottle. It is very repetitive, to a fault. This issue repeats at times through this instrumental stretch, particularly with the Barry Manilow sample driving “Superheroes,” though the groove on this track makes the repetition much more tolerable.
At the center of almost every track is some incredible sampling work. The French duo did not just find samples and write over entire sections of music, but created entirely new soundscapes out of the classics they sampled, even sampling single beats at times.
The most notable example of their sampling technique is “Face to Face,” which Daft Punk has claimed to contain 70 unique samples, many of which are still not known by the public. At its core, “Face to Face” is driven by the sting from Electric Light Orchestra’s “Evil Woman,” but the samples all come together to produce one of their best songs.
“Face to Face” is not the only highlight of the second half. “Something About Us” is incredibly smooth, guided by a phased bass line and a gentle vocal delivery. “Verdis Quo” has a simple chord progression, but the melody atop creates one of the most compelling tracks on the album. “Short Circuit” begins with a bizarre opening sting before moving into a simpler B-section in its second half, though this calm section creates contrast with “Face to Face,” the next track.
“Discovery” ends on the ten-minute “Too Long,” which fittingly overstays its welcome, settling into a simple progression for its whole run time. If this song were anywhere else on the album, or on a worse album, there would be a greater issue.
Once you’ve finished the album from cover to cover, the CD player returns to track one, just daring you to listen through “Discovery” just “One More Time.” Why shouldn’t you? Every listen invites you to discover a new layer of sound, previously undiscovered. It isn’t hard to justify a 5/5 for the album.
Though the album is packed densely with sonic experiments, their unique sound is unmatched by anything else.
