RS Essentials: 5 Songs That Track Daft Punk’s Discography

“Teachers”

It takes a certain level of humility for an act to populate the lyrics of a track only with the names of artists who have left a deep impact on their music. Daft Punk did that on “Teachers,” rattling off an eclectic list of people who are stalwarts in their eyes. One of them is the American producer Todd Edwards. “Teachers” appeared in the French outfit’s debut album, Homework. It launched in 1997. A line in the song goes, “Todd Edwards in the house,” and as we’ll find out below, he didn’t quite leave the building even 16 years down the line.

“One More Time”

After Homework, the duo of Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter launched Discovery. The biggest hit on the 2001 album, “One More Time,” ends with the sound of a church bell ringing. That church bell brought the curtains down on a scorching banger that changed a generation. Personally speaking, a teenager brought up on a diet of rock ‘n’ roll started feeding off electronic dance music for the very first time.

“Make Love”

Human After All, Daft Punk’s next album that launched in 2005, received a ho-hum response because, well, haters will hate. But there’s a track in it called “Make Love.” It is a tune that consists of just one loop, a loop so calming that it can soothe even a cigarette smoker desperate for a light.

Medley from Alive 2007

Alive 2007 isn’t a studio album; it’s a live one that features a concert that the act played in Paris, their hometown, as part of a global tour. Everyone who attended it will have bragging rights for a lifetime (especially now that Daft Punk have disbanded). To have been there would have meant witnessing an audio-visual spectacle where the sounds and lights were in such harmony that a team of synchronized swimmers would be put to shame. It’s tough to pick one track from it for this list. But there is a part right at the end where Homem-Christo and Bangalter mix “Human After All”, “Together,” “One More Time,” and “Music Sounds Better with You” for such a sweet encore that it’s the icing on the top of the one-and-a-half-hour set.

“Fragments of Time”

And with that, we return to Todd Edwards to round off this edition of RS Essentials. He co-produced and sang “Fragments of Time” from Daft Punk’s 2013 album Random Access Memories, which turned out to be the duo’s final record (insert deep sigh). The track has such evocative imagery that listeners might well be transported to a Californian highway, driving in a convertible with the wind in their hair and sunlight streaming on their face. The Frenchmen pare down their electronic elements and largely let Edwards – their ‘teacher’ – take centre stage here, which again showcases their innate humility. Hear it whenever you need a soundtrack for a nostalgic trip back to a happy time.