Review Summary: Fun, but tasking
Before they were thrilling the world with funk infused dance rock or collaborating with disco legends Nile Rodgers and Giorgio Moroder, while wearing a set of stylish robot helmets to boot, Daft Punk was two French dudes making house music in a bedroom. Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, the two brains behind the group didn't even intend for Homework to be an album, more so a set of singles to release over time, before the two realised what they had created could function well as a cohesive unit of songs. With the release of two super huge club hits, Homework made waves around the world (see what I did there). Nowadays it's regarded as a classic. A masterpiece. Rolling Stone even called it the greatest EDM album of all time. Well god damn, that's a hell of an achievement. But does it stand up today on its own? Let's see.
Musically, Homework is quite unlikely most of Daft Punk's later work. The slickly smooth bass grooves of Random Access Memories and the sample heavy disco beats of Discovery aren't present for the most part. Homework is a pure house record from start to finish. Lengthy, repetitive club tracks which build up over time. In many ways, it's similar to the group's much maligned third record 'Human After All', though here everything is more synthesised and longer. The opening track 'Daftendirekt' begins with a muffled vocal sample which gradually gets louder and louder before a funky drum beat begins to bounce over the track and several synth effects appear. It's an incredibly simple track but an effective opener. It tells the listener that they're in for a simple but danceable ride, and really isn't that what all Dance albums should do?. After a short interlude introducing the album, 'Revolution 909' kicks in and for next 5 minutes, the duo pump out premium French house. While it appears repetitive at times, the subdued but bouncy and active energy of the music keeps it from becoming a bore, and the song's speedy beat keeps it moving at a good pace. 'Da Funk' is a perfect acid house workout with an almost sing along tier wah-wah like synth line and boom bap style drums. It's almost like a walking baseline against screeching synth layers and pounding drums. It's heavy, groovy and a damn strong piece, made even more famous with its iconic music video directed by Spike Jonze. 'Phoenix' starts off as a thumping but extremely repetitive track before erupting into a simple but uplifting like wash of synthesisers and a distant but powerful baseline.
'Fresh' experiments with actual guitar tracks and sound effects to give the song this almost ambient techno feel. It's an overlooked little gem and one of the record's more interesting moments. The massive hit single 'Around The World' comes waltzing in with a steady beat and debatably the greater bass line of the 90s. For 7 minutes, a vocoded voice repeats a single sentence over the instrumental. But amazingly, it never gets boring once. The fantastic groove of the track keeps everything steady and there's always a danceable beat there. It's solid, funky as hell and most of all fun.
Then things go downhill. 'Rollin' and Scratchin'' is an interesting track. Like Around the World, it's a seven minute long epic with a repetitive beat. However, it notably features a blaring warped screech; almost like a computer breaking down. Over a booming drum beat, the noise builds and builds until eventually morphing into an abrasive screech. For many, this may come as a serious throw off. The previous material had been uplifting fun House tracks and here comes this aggressive harsh noise track which chugs on for nearly 10 minutes. At first I was confused but soon I grew to like the track, hellish screeching and all. Its Beat manages to keep the track danceable and I can't imagine how this would have sounded in a drugged Up rave at 3AM. However, if the track was maybe two or three minutes longer, I'd find some more appreciation for it.
'Teachers' however I have less love for. While a short track and admittedly quite cute, the group's pitch shifted vocals singing about their influences quickly gets irritating. The Parliament like bass line (George Clinton is even name checked in the lyrics) is groovy but the vocals make this a less than graceful listen. Things look up during 'High Fidelity', another repetitive affair which after a few minutes turns into an upbeat disco jam. It's a pleasant and more sonically pleasing Change of pace from the previous two tracks.
However, it all goes back to the doldrums again with 'Rock N' Roll', the longest song on the album at 7 and a half minutes. Starting off with a drum beat, the music quickly becomes nigh unlistenable when a distorted wave of noise comes lumbering in and never ceases for the next 6 minutes. It's a heavy painful listen and one that kills the album's pace completely. It isn't fun. It's hard to believe the group would go on to making some of the most satisfying and enjoyable music of the 2000s and 2010s, yet here in their rawest form, it's like a test of how long you can hold on with the music.
'Oh Yeah', which follows 'Rock N' Roll' is a short track which like the previous few (and most of the album) is repetitive. The chant of "oh yeah" over the distorted bass beats quickly overstays its welcome but at least the song gracefully ends before it gets too irritating. 'Burnin'' is a track that I desperately want to love but I can't. One of the singles from the album, it begins with this odd distorted shuffle before this bleeping siren sound quickly fades in. The realisation that this sound is going to be playing through the rest of the track was not a pleasant one. It quickly becomes very aggravating and even when the backing track begins to change and develop, even including a disco bass line, the siren never stops, completely killing the track and ruining what could have been a good song.
'Indo Silver Club' is a simple but thankfully enjoyable club with a funky almost goofy sounding synth line playing over the backing. 'Alive', the album's first single starts off as an industrial sounding claustrophobic piece which steadily builds into a grand washed over almost dreamy song. It's simple yes, but it's danceable and a heavily atmospheric piece. The album concludes with 'Funk Da', a 50 second section of Da Funk played backwards. Whatever.
Homework is a very mixed bag. While containing some extremely enjoyable bangers in Around The World and Da Funk, the record's second half is an tolling task which meanders for too long and focuses more on unpleasant noise than enjoyable sounds. While I can appreciate the influence the album had, I feel people simply remember the singles when talking about this album, hence the praise of it, and tend to skip over the awful tripe that the album contains. I recommend if you want to start Daft Punk, don't start here. Despite some truly excellent tracks, It's a gruelling listen in places and not all that fun. Ironically, just like real homework.
Recommended tracks
Daftendirekt
Revolution 909
Da Funk
Phoenix
Around The World
Alive
