EPISODE 316

Daft Punk’s first album laid the groundwork for their robot personas, with four to the floor beats, programmed drum machines, and sequenced synthesizers. On their second album Discovery, Daft Punk fully lean into the artificial – singing through robotic vocoders that correspond with their now-iconic robot helmets.

But in there is a paradox, explored on episode 2 of Listening to Daft Punk: the more machine the robots become, the more human the music sounds.

Songs Discussed

Daft Punk - One More Time

Daft Punk - Teachers

Daft Punk - Aerodynamic

Sister Sledge - Il Macquillage Lady

AC/DC - Thunderstruck

Laurie Anderson - O Superman

Daft Punk - Revolution 909

Kraftwerk - Autobahn

Kraftwerk - The Robots

Earth, Wind & Fire - Let's Groove

Herbie Hancock - I Thought It Was You

Zapp - More Bounce to the Ounce

Stevie Wonder - 1-2-3 Sesame Street

Cher - Believe

Kid Rock - Only God Knows Why

Barry Manilow - Who's Been Sleeping In My Bed

Daft Punk - Superheroes

Edwin Birdsong - Cola Bottle Baby

Electric Light Orchestra - Evil Woman

Daft Punk - Face to Face

Daft Punk - Something About Us

Daft Punk - Voyager

Daft Punk - Veridis Quo

Daft Punk - Superheroes

Daft Punk, Pharrell Williams - LYTD (Vocoder Tests) [feat. Pharrell Williams]

Daft Punk - Digital Love

Daft Punk - Crescendolls

Eddie Johns - More Spell On You

George Duke - I Love You More