French dance duo Daft Punk has made quite a career out of a paradox. At first, they seem hopelessly dated and gimmicky; two men dressed as robots, playing music that sounds like the 1950s interpretation of music in 2007. But that hasn’t stopped them from becoming the most iconic act in dance music. Thanks to their electronic vocals, slick synths and calculated beats, they’ve managed to make their once-hokey genre okay for the cool kids, from Kanye to J.T., to like.
The group’s latest release, Alive 2007, chronicles the live set Daft Punk has performed since their resurgence at the Coachella Festival in 2006. This particular recording comes from a show in Paris during their summer tour. The album showcases why the indie-arbiters at Pitchfork called them “the world’s greatest live act.”
As a greatest hits/DJ mix hybrid, Alive works well because it finally places Daft Punk in the setting for which they were built: the dance floor. For years their albums have been derided as simplistic and repetitive, but here, such criticisms miss the entire point. Bursting at the bolts with energy, this album is made for dancing.
Alive solves the band’s problem of repetitiveness by mashing songs together, rarely allowing any one to overwhelm the rest or let the set go stale. The best example is a mix of two of Daft Punk’s biggest singles: “Around the World” and “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.”
Still, the album drags at times. The guys devote too much time to the wildly successful tune “One More Time,” and the album loses something for the uninitiated. This set was performed before a gargantuan audience (whose cheers are the most human sounds on the entire album), by two men dressed as robots, standing on top of a pyramid of light. Yes, a pyramid of light. Without the visual, Alive can be a bit exhausting — from its overabundant energy to its grating beat.
But again, that’s not the point. Daft Punk has never aimed for quiet contemplation or subtlety. This album doesn’t belong on the “I really should study for finals” playlist. It’s for the party after you’re done.