Billy’s HiFi Lounge Record of the Week

[HiFi Lounge]

Hi All, This week's record is one of my go-to albums for inspiration, referencing and pure enjoyment. Daft Punks Random Access Memories covers all the bases for me. From the recording quality and songwriting arrangements to the level of musicianship. The entire album is a learning process from start to finish, taking you on a journey exploring a conglomeration of musical genres.

Random Access Memories pays homage to previous decades whilst still sounding relevant and new. Traditional and modern recording techniques have been seamlessly united, bridging the gap between the analogue and digital worlds. The French duo have always pushed boundaries, not just musically but visually and remain somewhat of an enigma.
It’s hard to pick a favourite from the record, but one of the tracks that stands out for me is Beyond.

Beyond manages to squeeze a lot in and has a ‘score-like’ string arrangement for the intro. I’m always using it as a reference, particularly for its wide dynamic range and controlled low end. The production sounds warm and fat whilst retaining a hi-fi sheen across the frequency spectrum. I believe the album was recorded onto tape and transferred back into Pro Tools, which enabled the duo to edit parts easily and further add processing inside the box. The Robots iconic vocoder takes the lead on this one and “speaks of places never seen”. The meaning behind the song is open to interpretation, but for me, it questions the ego, consciousness and concept of becoming awakened. Before I go too deep, we shall leave this one here! Give it a spin and let me know what you think? Billy

 

[Big Tabs]

My Daughter got me the album, as we all liked ‘Homework’ from 1996.

Everyone in the family was disappointed in the album, including The Daughter and myself.

It may have been produced to a reasonable standard, but after 9 years and a few serious ’second listens’ in case we were missing something it still remains unlistenable to most folks I know.

I particularly dislike the vocoder/whatever it is. The Daughter is still disturbed by how awful the album is.

 

[wezzywest]

Love this album and still play it regularly, a great choice.
Cheers.

 

[Seeker_UK]

I have a lot of time for the French electronic music heritage that this album digs into with clear nods to Jarre, Space, Heldon et al. Like the rest of their output, when they dig into that sound, I like them, so a few choice bits from this album get played: "Giorgio by Moroder", "Get Lucky", "Motherboard" and "Contact". Then I go and play "Derezzed" and I've had my Daft Punk fix for the month.

SQ wise, this is a really good example of why the idea that a 'hifi' album must have a large dynamic range, can be hoop.
https://dr.loudness-war.info/?artist=&album=Random+access

 

[Alex N]

It seems to have joined the list of albums bought by hifi nerds because they sound nice, though fond as I am of Guy-Man and Thomas, I had to turn it off when it was streaming on iTunes before its release, and haven’t heard it since. Upsettingly awful!

 

[Big Tabs]

It seems to have joined the list of albums bought by hifi nerds because they sound nice, though fond as I am of Guy-Man and Thomas, I had to turn it off when it was streaming on iTunes before its release, and haven’t heard it since. Upsettingly awful!

I am glad it isn’t just me.

 

[Alex N]

I am glad it isn’t just me.

I think I didn’t like it at the time because of how much I love Homework (and some of the almost ASMR-ish singles from Discovery), and now I’m put off by all the talk about how it sounds.

I like the songs they did with the Weeknd after Random Access Memories, especially ‘I Feel It Coming’, so I should give it another go, I guess. It was shocking though. : )

 

[Big Tabs]

I think I didn’t like it at the time because of how much I love Homework (and some of the almost ASMR-ish singles from Discovery), and now I’m put off by all the talk about how it sounds.

I like the songs they did with the Weeknd after Random Access Memories, especially ‘I Feel It Coming’, so I should give it another go, I guess. It was shocking though. : )

They played Weekend ‘I feel it coming’ to death on the radio. I hated it from my first hearing.