Daft Punk: Epilogue

February 22, 2021 6:39 AM

This new video from Daft Punk was released today. I gasped out loud at the climax of this clip. Is Daft Punk over? Sure looks like it.
posted by k_nemesis (84 comments total)

Mom! Dad! It's evil! Don't touch it!
posted by Catblack at 6:47 AM on February 22, 2021 [9 favorites]

If true, this makes me sad.
posted by mystyk at 6:52 AM on February 22, 2021 [3 favorites]

Yes, their publicist has confirmed the breakup.
posted by wreckingball at 7:30 AM on February 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

Son of a bitch!! They were supposed to play at my house!!
posted by stinkfoot at 7:37 AM on February 22, 2021 [66 favorites]

F
posted by SansPoint at 7:37 AM on February 22, 2021 [2 favorites]

I get it. The inside of those suits has to be unbearably intense after that long an active run, even when you're not in a desert.
posted by Drastic at 7:40 AM on February 22, 2021 [5 favorites]

Welp.

The one thing I’ve really remembered is that they had their big run in the mid-2000s, and then they got the Tron: Legacy soundtrack. Scoring a movie is a lot different than making an album, and that’s something they obviously learned a lot from in the process. Random Access Memories was such a rich, rich album, just a great work of music, and you can see the growth from before the soundtrack to after. Their earlier stuff was good, and the live tracks are amazing. After RAM, though, I was waiting to see what they’d do next, what the next stage would look like. But like anything else in life, change is the only constant, and we’ll have their catalog to enjoy.
posted by azpenguin at 7:43 AM on February 22, 2021 [7 favorites]

Listening to Tron: Legacy right now. I listened to that so much in the early 2010s when I was still running but haven't really listened to it since. Such a terrible movie with such a great soundtrack.
posted by octothorpe at 7:45 AM on February 22, 2021 [15 favorites]

I cried. I think I needed a good cry anyway but...that was beautiful.
posted by Bacon Bit at 7:46 AM on February 22, 2021 [2 favorites]

This was an amazing way to make this announcement.
posted by phooky at 7:47 AM on February 22, 2021 [5 favorites]

Daft Punk's music in on a very short list of culture things that everyone in this household loves, across ages. I mean, what's not to love? Cool dancing music by two undeniably cool-looking robots? Who played themselves, basically, in TRON? Random Access Memories will probably be in rotation here forever.

Thanks for all of it.
posted by jquinby at 7:49 AM on February 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

Finally, a gender reveal done right!

.
posted by klanawa at 7:54 AM on February 22, 2021 [15 favorites]

So how come just one guy gets blown up?
posted by Meatbomb at 7:56 AM on February 22, 2021 [5 favorites]

The other one has to find someone to trip the switch, he can’t reach it himself.
posted by outfielder at 7:58 AM on February 22, 2021 [6 favorites]

I'm guessing, but from how many times they showed it (getting their money's worth) .... explosives budget.
posted by Brockles at 7:58 AM on February 22, 2021 [2 favorites]

I also continue to maintain that Tron Legacy should get a re-release. Edit it down and rearranged etc, strip out the utterly forgettable things like the dialog and story, and keep the visuals for their score of it.

(Also very acceptable if this is where I discover at some point I quantum tunneled into the timeline where that's already happened, you can buy it right now.)
posted by Drastic at 7:58 AM on February 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

Gutted.
posted by Faintdreams at 8:00 AM on February 22, 2021 [3 favorites]

Man even their breakup announcement was cool and weirdly touching and they're great.
posted by Uncle at 8:03 AM on February 22, 2021 [8 favorites]

There's a musical instrument store at the corner of my street. They've made a fantastic contribution to our neighborhood in the form of a mural which circles the whole building. It's two stories tall and features portraits of the legends. There's BB King, Bowie, Jimi, Prince, Ray Charles, The Ramones, Blondie, Amy Winehouse, and more. They're a business, they want to appeal to all musicians, so they've drawn from the whole spectrum.

Initially the mural only covered three sides. But they sell DJ equipment, drum machines and synthesizers, stuff like that. They weren't really represented. So in the carpark, as you go into the rear entrance, they painted Daft Punk's iconic helmets, to represent electronic music in the pantheon.

Sorry for the quality of that photo, but it's 2am here and they keep the car park locked. I just went out for a little walk because I wanted to show all of you, that in my neighborhood, they hold a position of honor among the greatest.
posted by adept256 at 8:07 AM on February 22, 2021 [38 favorites]

Drastic: "I also continue to maintain that Tron Legacy should get a re-release. Edit it down and rearranged etc, strip out the utterly forgettable things like the dialog and story, and keep the visuals for their score of it.

(Also very acceptable if this is where I discover at some point I quantum tunneled into the timeline where that's already happened, you can buy it right now.)"

There should just be an option to switch the audio track to be just the music without any dialog.
posted by octothorpe at 8:11 AM on February 22, 2021 [5 favorites]

Who played themselves, basically, in TRON?

I heard the apocraphyl story (which I refuse to investigate) that they were offered Tron-style helmets/suits by the production design team only to show up with much better looking and designed outfits themselves.
posted by slimepuppy at 8:15 AM on February 22, 2021 [20 favorites]

Forget Tron: Legacy, Interstella 5555 is where its at. However, I'm a Leiji Matsumoto fan in addition to being a Daft Punk fan, and Discovery was my introduction to the latter, so perhaps I'm biased.

Sad news to read about/watch this morning, but perhaps it was time. I'll probably give Alive a listen to later today... it's been awhile.
posted by May Kasahara at 8:16 AM on February 22, 2021 [19 favorites]

Getting to see them live in Berkeley was probably the best concert experience of my life. A friend invited me, and I, regretfully, didn't invite another close friend.
posted by Phredward at 8:16 AM on February 22, 2021 [5 favorites]

For fans unaware of their side/solo projects, please enjoy:

Thomas Bangalter's releases on his Roule label:

Tracks on Da Rocks Vol. 1 (track b1, Outrun, my fave)
Trax On Da Rocks! vol. 2 (track a2, Extra Dry, a personal fave)

Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo's side project, Le Knight Club, produced some great tracks also:

Intergalactic Disko
Troobadoor

There's plenty more out there, I'm sure, but these I'm personally fond of/know about.

When you listen to their standalone projects/collabs with others, it's obvious why combining one artist's chocolate with the other's peanut butter led to so many amazing albums over the years.

:robot:
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 8:21 AM on February 22, 2021 [13 favorites]

Daft Hands in loving memory.
posted by schoolgirl report at 8:44 AM on February 22, 2021 [8 favorites]

Gawd this video, it's like watching C-3PO kill and eat R2-D2
posted by oulipian at 8:45 AM on February 22, 2021 [19 favorites]

They were supposed to play at my house!!

Right after that gig at the trash fence
posted by CynicalKnight at 8:46 AM on February 22, 2021 [5 favorites]

For people who haven't seen the video before, it's from Electroma. Here's the final scene, which may help give additional closure.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 8:48 AM on February 22, 2021 [12 favorites]

Daft Hands yt in loving memory

I rather liked this Lego take on the concept.
posted by NoxAeternum at 8:53 AM on February 22, 2021 [6 favorites]

Gawd this video, it's like watching C-3PO kill and eat R2-D2

You thought he smelled bad on the outside.
posted by The Bellman at 9:00 AM on February 22, 2021 [4 favorites]

The other one has to find someone to trip the switch, he can’t reach it himself.

There was a long delay. They could have done one, then the other. I took it to mean that one is dropping out, possibly due to circumstances beyond their control but your explanation makes for a better story.
posted by klanawa at 9:00 AM on February 22, 2021 [6 favorites]

I was the first guy playing Daft Punk to the rock kids
I played it at CBGB's
Everybody thought I was crazy
We all know
I was there
posted by HunterFelt at 9:07 AM on February 22, 2021 [6 favorites]

They missed a trick by not retiring silently, having appointed two carefully selected replacements to don the costumes and become Daft Punk (after signing strict NDAs, of course), if not by franchising Daft Punk out globally. Given the care they took to keep their stage personas separate from their personal identities, it would have been a logical conclusion.
posted by acb at 9:25 AM on February 22, 2021 [7 favorites]

That was a great short film. I love the slow pacing and the Zabriskie Point vibe of the explosion. And the music.
posted by Liquidwolf at 9:30 AM on February 22, 2021 [2 favorites]

Thanks for all the random access memories?
posted by Bacon Bit at 9:34 AM on February 22, 2021 [2 favorites]

Holy crap, I just looked it up and Get Lucky was charting in 2013. I hadn't realized it was that long. Still the high water mark for Summertime Song as far as I'm concerned.
posted by jquinby at 9:35 AM on February 22, 2021 [18 favorites]

I found their albums and singles pretty trite and unfortunately not very avoidable especially the execrable Get Lucky, HOWEVER, Tron: Legacy is among the greats in the soundtracks pantheon.
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:51 AM on February 22, 2021

In June 2020, Walt Disney Studios President of Music & Soundtracks Mitchell Leib confirmed in an interview that a third Tron film was being actively worked on at Disney. [...] it was a high priority for [Disney] that Daft Punk return to do the score. (source)

It's going to be hard to imagine anyone other than Daft Punk doing the soundtrack, since the music was the best part of Tron: Legacy. It'll be interesting to see how this turns out.
posted by ardgedee at 9:54 AM on February 22, 2021

ardgedee: You know, Wendy Carlos is still around. She did the first Tron, she can do the third.
posted by SansPoint at 10:03 AM on February 22, 2021 [19 favorites]

FUCK

I wanted MORE from them.

For me, Motherboard, from Random Access Memories, is one of the most beautiful pieces of modern, euphonic, "conventional" instrumental Leitmotif-driven music I've ever heard.

Kinda out-Mike-Oldfield's Mike Oldfield!

Listen to it with good headphones or speakers and bathe in those emotions.
posted by lalochezia at 10:18 AM on February 22, 2021

Gawd this video, it's like watching C-3PO kill and eat R2-D2

I've never seen it, but apparently the footage is all from the 2006 film Daft Punk's Electrorama, not newly shot for a breakup announcement. Let me just include Wikipedia's summary of the entire desert sequence:

After walking for an extended period, the silver robot slows down and comes to a stop. Becoming aware of this, the gold robot walks back to the silver one. The silver robot continues to stare at the ground for a moment before removing his own jacket. He then turns away from the other robot, revealing a switch on his back. The gold robot flips the switch, which begins a timer. When the countdown ends, the silver robot is blown to pieces. The remaining robot piles the remains of the silver robot, then continues to walk. The gold robot eventually falls to his knees and attempts to reach the switch on his own back, but to no avail. Another moment passes before the robot removes his helmet and repeatedly slams it into the ground until the helmet shatters. Using one of the shards as a burning-glass, the robot focuses the sunlight to set his hand ablaze. The film ends as the robot, completely on fire, walks in slow motion through darkness.

So it could have been grimmer.
posted by figurant at 10:19 AM on February 22, 2021 [10 favorites]

She did the first Tron, she can do the third.

I respect Wendy Carlos as a pioneer, and a very hardworking musician in her day. But I would really rather the next one went to Carpenter Brut, or Disasterpeace, or Alessandro Cortini, or Nathan Moody, or maybe Hainbach.

Unless she's working under an alias, Carlos hasn't released anything other than remasters and compilations since 1998 (the soundtrack to Woundings, which I've honestly never heard of until just now).

Have you heard Stemage's cover of the TRON score? It is honestly about ten thousand times more fun to listen to than the original version.
posted by Foosnark at 10:24 AM on February 22, 2021 [6 favorites]

It is grimmer, Unicorn on the cob posted a link to it, scroll up. But if the first video affected you, this one won't make it any easier.
posted by adept256 at 10:27 AM on February 22, 2021

I sell records for a living. Had a copy of Tron Legacy in stock for about a year. Sold within minutes of this video launching.
posted by dobbs at 10:28 AM on February 22, 2021 [3 favorites]

How come all of your suggestions are cis men, Foosnark? Do you maybe need to broaden your musical horizons somewhat? May I suggest a tour through womenofnoise.tumblr.com?
posted by seanmpuckett at 10:29 AM on February 22, 2021 [2 favorites]

I am surprisingly moved by this, for a band that I really don't listen to much. I'm sorry to see the go.
posted by evilDoug at 10:30 AM on February 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

How come all of your suggestions are cis men, Foosnark?

Because those are the ones I thought of offhand. I could also suggest Trovarsi, Synth Witch, Lisa Bella Donna, or Emme. Or Caterina Barbieri if she'd be willing, but I kind of feel like she wouldn't.
posted by Foosnark at 10:32 AM on February 22, 2021 [7 favorites]

Daft Punk produced a memory for which I am truly grateful.. my nephew was maybe 10 or younger, and I played "Technologic" and it's like his brain short-circuited and he leaped around the room, on and off the bed, just one of those moments you get with young kids and total abandonment to music. So cool to see a kid not process music through anything other than this makes me MOVE
posted by elkevelvet at 10:36 AM on February 22, 2021 [4 favorites]

Paula Temple would be my first pick.
posted by seanmpuckett at 10:39 AM on February 22, 2021

Foosnark: Wendy also lost her distribution when East Side Digital went out of business and she hasn't managed to find someone to put out her work since.
posted by SansPoint at 10:40 AM on February 22, 2021 [3 favorites]

For those who've had the soundtrack for years, they released an expanded Tron Legacy "Complete" soundtrack in December 2020 with the remaining nine tracks from the movie that weren't included in the original release.
posted by Callisto Prime at 10:43 AM on February 22, 2021 [4 favorites]

I cast my vote for Ladytron doing Tron 3. Not for the name recognition, that's incidental. Their electro is a bit darker, they don't do club bangers.

btw that Daft Punk mural I posted, the only person that they share the wall with (so far) is Janelle Monae. Which is good company

(because she is an android sent from the future to save humanity)
posted by adept256 at 11:01 AM on February 22, 2021 [8 favorites]

I look forward to Daft Punk's fourteen reunion albums and tours!*

*See LCD Soundsystem
posted by SoberHighland at 11:06 AM on February 22, 2021 [4 favorites]

I've been assured that Daft Punk will be playing out at the trash fence at the next burn.
posted by newpotato at 11:09 AM on February 22, 2021 [4 favorites]

I was only a casual listener but that video was quite emotional.
posted by cazoo at 11:22 AM on February 22, 2021 [2 favorites]

Going to tell my grandkids that was the Mandolorian
posted by Cookiebastard at 11:30 AM on February 22, 2021 [13 favorites]

My Daft Punk memory:

Walking down a Paris side street, New Years Eve evening, 1999. Someone starts blasting the intro to Revolution 909, which is etched into my brain from listening to Homework on repeat for the last two years. The intro gets to the sirens and ”Stop the music and go home. I repeat, stop the music and go home”. My two friends who are unacquainted with Daft Punk, look around panicked, for the source of the commotion. “It’s just a song” I tell them.

That album had some great videos.
posted by Kiwi at 11:33 AM on February 22, 2021 [6 favorites]

>I've been assured that Daft Punk will be playing out at the trash fence at the next burn.

Plot twist: Daft Punk is killin' time till resto.
posted by Catblack at 11:39 AM on February 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

.

It was a good run.
posted by ourobouros at 11:47 AM on February 22, 2021 [2 favorites]

Why did it take me this long to find out half of Daft Punk was named "Guy Man the Human Christ"
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 1:01 PM on February 22, 2021 [2 favorites]

Ehhhhh over under on the reunion tour: 2026.
posted by MillMan at 1:12 PM on February 22, 2021 [3 favorites]

Considering the number of Daft Punk helmets on Etsy, I predict multiple simultaneous reunion tours starting today.
posted by adept256 at 1:15 PM on February 22, 2021 [2 favorites]

They missed a trick by not retiring silently, having appointed two carefully selected replacements to don the costumes and become Daft Punk (after signing strict NDAs, of course), if not by franchising Daft Punk out globally.

In fact, the real Daft Punk retired ages ago and are living like kings in Patagonia.
posted by jquinby at 1:58 PM on February 22, 2021 [13 favorites]

Sigh.
posted by desuetude at 2:01 PM on February 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

I've never been able to find a photo of it but I do have a distinct memory of Daft Punk wearing some kind of rubber monster movie masks before they got the robot helmets.

And as for the whole "How do we know it's really them under the helmet?" I remember an interview where one of them (I assume Thomas Bangalter but I'm not sure) said something to the effect of "This is a fun job; why would we let anyone else do this?"

I do think Random Access Memories is one of the most beautiful albums about what it's like to have depression and the aftermath of a major depressive episode.

Daft Punk was such a big part of my young adult life and I feel sad about this in a nostalgic way, but also I feel like we've just all gotten older. I've been ready to move onto the next phase of my life so I can imagine they feel a lot of the same thing. After all, 28 years is a pretty impressive amount of time to make music together. I wish both of them well.
posted by edencosmic at 2:31 PM on February 22, 2021 [8 favorites]

Watching the first few minutes, my reaction was "Finally, the Daft Punk erotica I've been waiting for!"

Then the tears started.
posted by lock robster at 3:02 PM on February 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

The DAF(t) have now left the music business
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 3:12 PM on February 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

The DAF(t) have now left the music business

There's a meme going around on FB pointing out that the KLF retired in '92, Daft Punk formed in '93, and now the KLF have returned just as DP is retiring. COINCIDENCE???
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 4:26 PM on February 22, 2021 [6 favorites]

Honestly, I think Daft Punk were secretly half of The Residents. How they wedged the eyeball masks under the robot helmets, though, I don't know.
posted by SansPoint at 4:27 PM on February 22, 2021 [4 favorites]

That what happened happened to the one it happened to is a brilliant (if likely unintentional) pun.

Make new friends, but keep the old...
posted by BiggerJ at 5:02 PM on February 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

They weren't really very punk. But were they daft?
posted by thelonius at 5:35 PM on February 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

So I'm not a super-fan, so tell me: was it Daft who blew up, leaving Punk to go on, or the other way around?
And when can we expect the solo artist Punk (or Daft, if Daft has survived) to release their next album?
posted by LeRoienJaune at 6:30 PM on February 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

But .... But..... They were almost to the trash fence!
posted by pleasant_confusion at 7:28 PM on February 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

They missed a trick by not retiring silently, having appointed two carefully selected replacements to don the costumes and become Daft Punk (after signing strict NDAs, of course), if not by franchising Daft Punk out globally. Given the care they took to keep their stage personas separate from their personal identities, it would have been a logical conclusion.

Saw elsewhere that someone else who said this then went on to refer to this as "Dread Pirate Robots."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:00 PM on February 22, 2021 [13 favorites]

My favorite Daft Punk moment, was the moment they didn't show for Colb-Chella.
posted by Toddles at 10:30 PM on February 22, 2021 [4 favorites]

LeRoienJaune: I thought it was Beaver who blew up, leaving Buffcoat to go on.
posted by BiggerJ at 2:53 AM on February 23, 2021

Considering the number of Daft Punk helmets on Etsy, I predict multiple simultaneous reunion tours starting today.

There must be Daft Punk cover bands. Even if 90% of them are two people with a keytar, a laptop running Ableton Live and 3D-printed Raspberry Pi-powered helmets.
posted by acb at 4:59 AM on February 23, 2021 [2 favorites]

(Apologies for continuing with a derail, but this is the only place I can put my long-held opinion that the ideal person for a Tron 3 soundtrack would be Nakata Yasutaka in Capsule mode, and now it's finally out of my system. Thank you.)
posted by Grangousier at 5:24 AM on February 23, 2021 [3 favorites]

Capsule is by far the superior Nakata Yasutaka project.
posted by emmling at 5:39 AM on February 23, 2021 [1 favorite]

> They weren't really very punk. But were they daft?

It's daft to think of them as punk.
posted by ardgedee at 7:29 AM on February 23, 2021 [2 favorites]

That was some biodigital jazz, man.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 4:40 PM on February 23, 2021

Daft Hands in loving memory.

Recent upload by the creator of Daft Hands: Sad Hands
posted by otherchaz at 12:02 PM on February 24, 2021 [1 favorite]

Daft Punk the musical group may be finished, but the cat and mouse game between Daft Punk the intergalactic warriors has only just begun.

Adding to the injustice is that Daft Punk is no longer available to score the movie that should be made from this.
posted by Drastic at 12:31 PM on February 24, 2021 [1 favorite]

That video was so sad! I came to Daft Punk late, having not discovered them until the Tron: Legacy soundtrack appeared and became some of my favorite coding music. I guess age has started to calcify me, because Random Access Memories was probably the last new music added to my usual rotation. RAM is so relentlessly positive, and such a different direction from their earlier work that it doesn't even make sense to try to talk about which is better (although the killjoys who inhabit HackerNews believe nothing after Discovery is true Daft Punk)

There must be Daft Punk cover bands.
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger - Pamplemousse
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 11:11 PM on February 25, 2021 [2 favorites]