Daft Punk and Nile Rodgers

I love Daft Punk's "Random Access Memories".

Clearly Daft Punk is in the spotlight, thanks to their super enjoyable track "Get Lucky", but until a month ago, I hadn't heard of them (though later I'd learn that they wrote "One More Time"). After I saw enough mentions on Twitter, I went to (of all places) Myspace to stream their album.

I very much favor a strong first song, and "Give Life Back to Music" is a strong first song. Its rising, declamatory notes, smoothly shifting to a sweet and confident groove had me at attention. "Just turn on the music," go the lyrics, blended with electronica, and that swaying guitar. It's an awesome song.

Nile Rodgers is one of the guitarists on "Give Life Back to Music", and I listened to his commentary on the album's website. He was asked about his various musical collaborations, and it quickly became clear that I have heard his work before. From "Good Times" to "Material Girl", he has been making music as a performer and a producer for a very long time.

The commentary ends with him playing the guitar chuck from "Get Lucky". Unmistakable resemblances to his past work, but fresh and unique enough for this great hit track. He's smiling as he plays. "I forgot how cool that was," he says. The delight was plain on his face. "Get Lucky" is full of delight, but make sure to check out that first track!