steppingintorivers.com

There will always be a place in my heart for my CD of Daft Punk’s “Homework.” It’s been with me far longer than I have been following electronic music. Near and dear.

I was strolling through HMV, browsing the charts to see what the labels are currently paying to promote when I heard the familiar sounds of “Burnin’” in a very unfamiliar remix. “What the?”

The girl behind the counter smiles when I ask, and tells me it’s the new live album from Daft Punk. Mhmm.

I rushed home to purchase a legal digital copy, and have a listen.

The music is stellar. Fantastic. Yet tragically, underscored throughout with the incorrigible jeering of the crowd. Shatters the experience completely.

I understand that the crowd adds an “alive” energy. Unnecessary. And I’m not so easily fooled. I know how difficult it is to add in a track of crowd noise. As hard as pressing play on your laptop and rocking out like the computer god that you are.

I’m not suggesting that the duo weren’t actively twiddling and adjusting the music during the performance. And even if they weren’t, even if they did nothing but dance and pretend - I wouldn’t be negatively critical of that.

My beef is the obnoxious and detrimental layer of noise. I want to access the music untainted. I don’t need a crowd yahooling to indicate the music is exciting. And with the exception of “Da Funk”, it’s not even singing along. Straight ahead jibber-jabber.

It’s a shame I can’t buy a version sans spectateurs.

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Alright, prior to posting, I did some digging, and it turns out that there was more to the alive component than I thought. Inspired by the Beastie Boys concert DVD, it seems that Daft Punk made a live video for “Harder Better Stronger Faster”, directed by Olivier Gondry and shot by 250 fans.

(It seems the webcastr doesn’t integrate into the RSS feed. Sigh.)

Yes, it is coolness in concept. But I get the feeling that the footage could come from any part of the song, or even any part of the night. Cut it to the beat and no one would know it wasn’t in sync with the music and “live performance”.

Where was I going? Ah yes, to buy some more Daft studio work.

Aside: as I proofread before posting, all of the < em > < /em > read like ahem ahem. As I read, I find myself coughing in my head, and it hurts less than you’d think.

“Where, if not your head, do you cough from?”

Sigh.