Robots! Vocoder! Talking six-foot dogs with a Stereo on his shoulder! Cartoon, intergalactic bands and Around the World! Welcome to the strange and…yes you guessed it, stranger world of the French House duo, Daft Punk, with their third Studio album, Human After All.

Daft Punk is the collaboration of 2 French and some may say twisted minds that are Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel De Homem Christo. Since 1996 these 2 have reinvented the house genre again and again and again. Constantly being recognised for a fair of genius and outlandish bizarreness whilst chopping and sampling old songs left, right and centre! Since then, Homework and Discovery, their previous albums have gone on to become treasures in the dance world. Tracks like the amazing; Da Funk, the crazy; Burnin’ and the hugely successful; Around The World led to a massive following around Europe (The continent, not the ’80’s band with big hair!) and brought forward their second album and chart successes with the iconic One More Time, Digital Love, Aerodynamic and Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger, but receiving criticism for a so called commercialising.
So with Human After All, will Daft Punk remain the top dog in the House Of House? And will they respond to the dogging of their last album’s underground validity?

Human After All 135bpm (MP3 sample included)
The opening track of the album gets straight back into the Punk groove. Starting with a staggered drum/ breaks loop and an excellent looped guitar bass and vocoded hum!! (Only Daft Punk could get away with that) The trademark vocoder vocals are added to the track and loops with an accompanied guitar riff. The kick and set up is very similar to their older tracks and for people who enjoyed the wonderful Superheroes and Aerodynamic from Discovery will love this sound. Just check the looped ‘Human’ build up with guitar solo towards the end of this track and understand, this is a quality song! 9/10

The Prime Time Of Your Life. 108bpm (mostly)
This track is straight from their ‘Homework’ school of work. The funky and incredibly dark bass line leads to a vocoded loop of the title, which is built around to give the song a unique and odd feel. The strangeness is compounded when the vocals delay heavily into a high pitch monotone and a rather straightforward kick. The delay continues with the kick for a good 30 seconds, but really this is just a way to close the track with Daft Punk, upping the pitch in a steep gradient until the song is running at fever pitch and is at a very, very squeaky end! Odd and maybe a little too clever. 5/10

Robot Rock 111bpm
This is the first track to be released from the album and it shows all the normal Daft Punk traits! The vocoder vocals are there again, blaring out Rock, Robot Rock! Over a simple but very catchy guitar riff, which entered after the nicely placed Samba drums at the beginning. Robot Rock, has all the ingredients for being a big hit, as it’s similar in sound to Around The World. But this track has lost some of the funky free sound of that predecessor, instead sounding a little tired and forced. With that said, a welcome radio edit for length and that Catch riff will keep the fans happy! 7/10

Steam Machine 91bpm
Wow! A total techno inspired song. This track opens with a very techy edge. Sounding a bit like a Yves Deruyter song on the wrong speed! The chirps and beeps are excellent, being pumped along with an unforgiving kick.(Pumped being the Idea here I think!) There are nice little touches too, like the background breathing and record reverses being used to split the track up. But for once, it’s the vocals that sound out of place. Being more annoying than anything else.
This is, however a small complaint as the song with evolving sequences, that modulate into very clear Daft Punk acid lines and a real deep driving sound, even for something so slow on the bpm, is a true gem. Fans of Da Funk will love this….so every Daft Punk fan then! 8/10

Make Love 132bpm
The break beat; piano and subtle guitar loops can only mean one thing. It’s the classy 3am production on the plastic. Make Love is the real Romantic piece of the album, showing the eclectic side and sounds of Daft Punk. Oozing production class with every soft vocal ‘Make Love’ and working on so many great levels, this track manages to relax and almost hypnotise you into thinking you’re in a supermarket lift! With more than a nod to those Commercial sounds of Discovery, this is not a grower, this is a winning. Strong release potential here. 9/10

The Brainwasher 118bpm
Following from Steam Machine but with better vocal work. This is more of the Techno, almost ’96 Daft Punk sound. The dirty, grainy vocals and beats, loop around a dominating, monster of a bassline sequence with stunning build ups and key changes that grab you and force you to like the song. Don’t get me wrong this song isn’t for the faint hearted. It’s harsh to the ears with stinging acid lines, reverse beats and teeth grinding vocals, but it’s so clever and relentless you hang on and enjoy the ride. This track would even fit into a Mauro Picotto set and sound perfectly at home. 7/10

On/Off (Vocal only)
A little vocal interlude of someone changing channels on TV. Leading into Television Rules the Nation. (Clever that, see what they did??)

Television Rules the Nation 115bpm
Television rules the nation will please Daft Punk fans overall with it’s classic ‘One more time’ kick sounds and crystal clear heavy electric guitar riffs and vocoder vocals. The progressive nature of the song grows as Daft Punk add layers of background noises and reverb to give that real Disco ‘ELO’ feel.
The strange thing about this song is that it isn’t groundbreaking, different or odd in anyway. It is in essence, the most ‘Daft Punk’ song on the album and will properly be as big as their early releases in the charts. Coming away completely Brie Cheese-less. Epic with the standard Daft Punk seal of quality. 9/10

Technologic 127bpm
It’s the chipmunks! Alvin and his crew on vocals! Well, actually no. Here Daft Punk is going for a different approach to the Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger formula. With ultra quick, high pitch vocals talking about the song making process they go through, driving the song forward on an almost identical funky bass to the one used in H.B.F.S. Technologic is so funky and the vocals are so catchy, it’s actually for me the best track on the album. Containing a real breaks charm and wit. Just Genius this one. 10/10

Emotion. 99bpm
The last track on the album and after following Genius, it proves that Daft Punk are Human After All. This is horrible! The track starts with an awful sounding organ synth that is delayed over an irritating vocal loop of the word ‘emotion’. It sounds more like a foghorn or an Ambulance siren from about 2 miles down the road! A slow deeper, than deep bass stab is added in staggered form along with a big breaks loop with a hard front hit plus a few sequence changes to the layers but it doesn’t help this terrible song. Well you always get one and funny, so does this. 1/10

Conclusion:
After 2 albums of pure classic house/techno fuelled manic mayhem it’s nice to see that Daft Punk have changed…but not too much! This album has all kinds of tracks to suit and really does show that the French duo are back in business, with tracks hailing from the styles of both Homework and Discovery making a stranger, but magic blend. Still the best at what they do. That is certain.
For me, I really enjoyed Discovery and it has a special place in my heart. But I cannot for the life of me, bring myself to compare the three albums. With all three being classic works in there own right.
Yes, it is true that this album isn’t as fresh or as exciting as the other albums. (Not including the Remix album, Daft Club or Alive ’97) It just comes down to the fact that due to the Daft Punk sound being so easily recognisable after three albums and still amazing to listen and be amazed, that’s its greatest compliment. What a great Album!!
9/10

(See the links for MP3 samples of the other album tracks)