Review Summary: Daft Punk – Alive 2007 Review
Daft Punk – Alive 2007 Review
With an electrifying display laser and LED lights, Daft Punk created Alive 2007 as a live album as they performed at sold out concerts. Topping the charts all around the world, the glowing scenes of two futuristic musicians creating music from a technologically extensive set illuminated into the eyes and eyes of millions across the world. As a live performance album, Youtube was also a major contributor to share the theatrical production of this album as it allowed millions across the world to share the experience the theatrical projection of their performance without having to attend their concert in person.
The appeal of the flashing lights and futuristic creates a world of electronic music that allows one to be emerged to the feel of their computer generated techno sounds. As they perform their concerts with helmets with LED effects and leather jumpsuits, the visuals played a large part in the explosion into mainstream popularity. This visual helped them to brand their image to be recognized all around the world. The extent of the LED presentation that they create on stage as their tour from city to city around the world was undeniably outshines any ordinary techno show.
With a pyramid shaped construction, the set of the performances are loaded with extensive super-computer software for electro music generation. The technology behind each set-up includes the Ableton Live software, Behringer BCR2000 MIDI controllers, JazzMutant Lemur touchscreen pads, and Minimood Voyager RME units. These technologies are used live to construct the sounds of each piece of this album, using the latest sound editing effects. Daft Punk uses a wide variety of sound editing techniques including loops, distortions, fades, and layering along with computer generated, synthetic sounds.
Daft Punk is recognized by their electronic beats and techno feel and main of their songs reinforce that music genre they have related themselves as. For example, one of Daft Punk’s top hits from this album entitled “Technologic” uses robot like voices listing the many computer functions while there are computer generated sounds that accompany the “technologic” groove of the song. Their music plays heavily on this relationship between technology and music that truly highlights the use of technosonics to the growing new genres of music. Along with the strong emphasis on using computer generated sounds to create their beats and music, they have voice-overs of robot like sounds that give their music a more ultramodern appeal.
Another large component of Daft Punk music is the use of music sampling and manipulation of sampled music. A few of their songs like “Da Funk” uses collected sounds of the city, people walking around on the streets, and cars driving by and incorporates them into a collective piece that has been a great hit on the album. This is use of sampled sounds is technique that is classic to electronic music and is incorporated very skillfully into the beats of the songs. The use of sound synthesizers, MIDI, and touch pads are included in the live performance as Daft Punk created and mix their music live. This live interaction adds to the theatrical appeal of the performance as the audience feels and sees the connection between the human and computer interface as it creates these sounds.
Daft Punk has extended their music appeal to the mainstream pop world this album as they worked in collaboration with other artists to create remixed versions of their songs. For example, the song “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” was an enormous hit, even winning a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording, This song was later adapted by Kanye West as “Stronger,” where it blew up again to truly gain worldwide recognition. They use these collaborations with other artist as a vehicle to reach out to the larger audience and to bring that techno/computer-generated spin to mainstream music. With their catchy beats and edgy visual appeal, Daft Punk’s theatrical approach has captured the ears and eyes of millions of devoted fans across the world. Their album, Alive 2007, is a collection of the innovative beats and new technologic sounds that revolutionize the genres of techno music and how computer generated sounds infiltrate into mainstream music.
