2014格莱美：年度专辑、年度制作、最佳流行组合、最佳舞曲/电子专辑
(By 虾米)《Random Access Memories》是两位即将步入40岁电音顽童的温情献礼：他们对泛滥程式化的电脑技术Say No，转而投入廉价录音室，邀请一帮好友，重拾更具人性化的原声器材，将摇滚，爵士，灵魂乐一一玩遍。这不是一张电子专辑，也绝不是高深的技术探求，而是一次更轻松舒适的私人派对。
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2005年法国巴黎二人电音舞曲乐团Daft Punk发表的第三张专辑《Human After All》成为众矢之的之作，当年抨击他们已江郎才尽的朋友，大抵万料不到八年之後他们可以带来一张如此万众期待的回归专辑《Random Access Memories》。其实在过去几年间，从Kanye West的2007年单曲〈Stronger〉拿了〈Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger〉作Sample，到进军荷里活为2010年电影《Tron: Legacy》创作配乐(兼有在片中现身)，都正正为Thomas Bangalter和Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo二人在美国音乐市场来个大翻身，重建他们的江湖地位。
当然，他们找来Pharrell Williams这位音乐潮人献唱先行单曲〈Get Lucky〉所带来的先声夺人之效，那毋庸置疑是相当有预谋的企划。
横跨两年半的慢工出细货之作，听《Random Access Memories》有两大重点：一是他们找来一众新旧音乐人担任嘉宾与他们联袂合作，除了之前在纪录短片《The Collaborators》里访问过的Euro-Disco电音教父Giorgio Moroder、Garage House制作人Todd Edwards、Disco-funk名团Chic的结他手兼鼎鼎大名唱片监制Nile Rodgers、The Neptunes / N.E.R.D.的Pharrell、纽约迷纽乐团Animal Collective的Panda Bear、加拿大怪杰Chilly Gonzales、法国House制作人DJ Falcon、老牌作曲家Paul Williams外，还有纽约乐队The Strokes歌手Julian Casablancas等。
二是歌曲为了捕捉70年代末至80年代初美国流行音乐的神髓，从而找来了当期时最顶尖儿Session乐手伴奏，如Nathan East、John "J.R." Robinson、Paul Jackson Jr、Omar Hakim等，分别在美国荷里活及纽约市的着名录音室录音，他们的共通点是既有爵士乐根底，亦可摇滚与Groovy的乐手。而Thomas和Guy-Manuel则只有负责Modular电子合成器演奏以及古老Vocoder主唱而已。出来的歌曲足以首首皆精采。
你可以说在《Random Access Memories》里太过不惜工本作资本堆砌(还有六十人大型管弦乐团伴奏)，找来众多知名乐手为他们凑合成一张群星烘照的Daft Punk专辑。但给你如此的顶班乐手，你可以打造出一张如此趣味盎然、光芒万丈的专辑吗？换转是别的巨星乐队/歌手，在同样的资源与同样的Session乐手下，大抵只会造出了无新意的专辑来。
《Random Access Memories》以〈Give Life Back to Music〉这首柔扬浮华小品来展开这段音乐旅程。Pharrell献唱疑似以性爱为题的主打单曲〈Get Lucky〉，是人听人爱的美好Disco-funk流行歌，歌曲来得琅琅上口，Nile Rodgers如流水行云的Funk结他亦倍觉销魂，但到了〈Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger〉式Vocoder独奏位出现时固然Daft Punk到不得了。
Julian Casablancas演绎出的〈Instant Crush〉全然演活出80年代的浪漫Soft Rock，甜美的键琴、缓缓的节奏结他，而Julian亦不忘大玩美丽矫饰假音主唱，还有非常80年代的摇滚结他独奏。由曾为他们唱过一首〈Face to Face〉的Todd Edwards演绎的〈Fragments of Time〉，是多麽清凉温婉的Pop-Soul / Soft Rock小品，伴以Greg Leisz柔扬轻盈的Country结他。〈Lose Yourself to Dance〉是另一有Pharrell与Nile Rodgers共同参与的歌曲，来得更加Soulful。〈Doin' It Right〉是由Panda Bear的主唱与Vocoder丝丝入扣而来之电气迷幻流行曲，也是专辑内唯一全电子制作的曲目。
触动心灵的歌曲，那有〈The Game of Love〉和〈Within〉这两首Thomas用Vocoder唱出萦绕心头的幽美神伤Ballad，前者凄迷戚然，Chris Caswell的键琴迷人得令人沉溺；後者Gonzales的思古幽情钢琴演奏绝对是神来之笔——这两首会是史上最动听的Vocoder歌曲吗？同是Vocoder主唱，由荷里活大型管弦乐带出的〈Beyond〉之大都会靡烂浮华，好比Giorgio Moroder遇上纽约市曼克顿下城背後的落寞情怀。
找来Giorgio Moroder合作，〈Giorgio by Moroder〉叫人意想不到的是并非要他参与音乐部分，而让他是娓娓道来其音乐生涯作为独白，长达九分钟的此曲是跨越Funk、欧陆电子音乐、爵士电钢琴与结他演奏、电影感管弦乐、低音结他独奏、摇滚结他与Acidic电声合奏的史诗式Epic之作。与Paul Hamilton合作的〈Touch〉则是由太空电子音乐而推至层出不穷的戏剧性伟大流行曲。有其老友DJ Falcon负责Modular电子合成器演奏的〈Contact〉，曲中Sample了澳洲摇滚乐队The Sherbs之1981年作品〈We Ride Tonight〉的荡气回肠Synth作为主线，在爵士鼓手Omar Hakim的扣人心弦的鼓击下，这简直是一首以Synth作主导、此起彼落Prog Rock乐曲，而且愈玩愈紧凑。(by 袁智聪)
Random Access Memories is the fourth studio album by French electronic music duo Daft Punk. It was released by the duo's imprint Daft Life, under exclusive license to Columbia Records, on May 17, 2013. The album pays tribute to the late 1970s and early 1980s era of music in the United States, particularly the sounds that emerged from Los Angeles. This sentiment is reflected in the gradual promotional rollout for the album that included billboards, television advertisements, and a web series.
Unlike their previous studio albums, Daft Punk recruited session musicians to record live instrumentation in professional studio locations. The duo limited the use of electronic instruments to drum machines, a modular synthesizer, and vintage vocoders. The album features collaborations with Panda Bear, Julian Casablancas, Todd Edwards, DJ Falcon, Chilly Gonzales, Giorgio Moroder, Nile Rodgers, Paul Williams, and Pharrell Williams. Random Access Memories is the duo's most critically and commercially successful album to date, scoring 87/100 on Metacritic, and debuting at number one in twenty countries. (wiki)
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by Heather Phares
When Daft Punk announced they were releasing a new album eight years after 2005's Human After All, fans were starved for new material. The Tron: Legacy score indulged the seminal dance duo's sci-fi fantasies but didn't offer much in the way of catchy songs, so when Random Access Memories' extensive publicity campaign featured tantalizing clips of a new single, "Get Lucky," their fan base exploded. But when the album finally arrived, that hugely hyped single was buried far down its track list, emphasizing that most of these songs are very much not like "Get Lucky" -- or a lot of the pair's previous music, at least on the surface. The album isn't much like 2010s EDM, either. Instead, Daft Punk separate themselves from most contemporary electronic music and how it's made, enlisting some of their biggest influences to help them get the sounds they needed without samples. On Homework's "Teachers," they reverently name-checked a massive list of musicians and producers; here, they place themselves on equal footing with disco masterminds Giorgio Moroder and Nile Rodgers, referring to them as "collaborators." That could be self-aggrandizing, yet it's also strangely humble when they take a back seat to their co-stars, especially on one of RAM's definitive moments, "Giorgio by Moroder," where the producer shares his thoughts on making music with wild guitar and synth solos trailing behind him. Elsewhere, Daft Punk nod to their symbiotic relationship with indie on the lovely "Doin' It Right," which makes the most of Panda Bear's boyish vocals, and on the Julian Casablancas cameo "Instant Crush," which is only slightly more electronic than the Strokes' Comedown Machine. And of course, Pharrell Williams is the avatar of their dancefloor mastery on the sweaty disco of "Lose Yourself to Dance" as well as "Get Lucky," which is so suave that it couldn't help but be an instant classic, albeit a somewhat nostalgic one. Indeed, "memories" is the album's keyword: Daft Punk celebrate the late '70s and early '80s with lavish homages like "Give Life Back to Music" -- one of several terrific showcases for Rodgers -- and the spot-on soft rock of the Todd Edwards collaboration "Fragments of Time." More importantly, Random Access Memories taps into the wonder and excitement in that era's music. A particularly brilliant example is "Touch," where singer/songwriter Paul Williams conflates his work in Phantom of the Paradise and The Muppet Movie in the song's mystique, charm, and fragile yet unabashed emotions. Often, there's an almost gooey quality to the album; Daft Punk have never shied away from "uncool" influences or sentimentality, and both are on full display here. At first, it's hard to know what to make of all the fromage, but Random Access Memories reveals itself as the kind of grand, album rock statement that listeners of the '70s and '80s would have spent weeks or months dissecting and absorbing -- the ambition of Steely Dan, Alan Parsons, and Pink Floyd are as vital to the album as any of the duo's collaborators. For the casual Daft Punk fan, this album might be harder to love than "Get Lucky" hinted; it might be too nostalgic, too overblown, a shirking of the group's duty to rescue dance music from the Young Turks who cropped up in their absence. But Random Access Memories is also Daft Punk's most personal work, and richly rewarding for listeners willing to spend time with it.