Daft Punk Wins Big at Grammy Awards

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Awards, Dance, Electronic, Hip-Hop & Rap, Pop, New Releases,

Daft Punk scooped Best Song and Best Album at the Grammy Awards Sunday night.

The French duo took him Best Album for Random Access Memories and both Record of the Year and Best Pop Duo or Group performance for their collaboration with Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers, "Get Lucky."

The duo - Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, clad in their trademark robot suits - didn't speak as they accepted their trophies, but Pharrell gave thanks on their behalf while collecting Record of the Year. "I supposed the robots would like to thank ... you know, honestly, I bet France is really proud of these guys right now," he said.

Lorde took home the third big prize of the night, winning Song of the Year, for her debut single and breakthrough hit, "Royals." Accepting the trophy she paid tribute to co-writer Joel Little, adding, "Thank you to everyone who has let the song explode, because it's been mental."

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Daft Punk Think Auto-Tune Ruins Music

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Collaborations, Gossip, Electronic, Pop, New Releases,

Daft Punk thinks Auto-Tune is ruining pop music. Though the duo - Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter - like experimenting with the vocal-tweaking software in a "fun" way, they think it is over-relied on to make a singer's voice sound perfect.

"Pop music is into the uncanny valley. For example, take Auto-Tune. Auto-Tune as an effect is very fun. We put it in the same category as the wah-wah pedal. It's pleasing to the ear and creates those funky artefacts, a bit like the clavinet in Stevie Wonder's 'Superstition.' The other use of Auto-Tune is the invisible one, where you put the voices of the performers in and you set the thresholds so you can't hear the Auto-Tune is there. It makes the voice 'perfect.' If you're using it to solve small imperfections, you're creating something that isn't human. Would you Auto-Tune Roger Daltrey on 'Tommy'? Or Simon & Garfunkel? It stops being a fun effect and becomes like a clone from a terrifying sci-fi movie," Thomas said.

Despite their success as dance music pioneers, the "Get Lucky" duo admit they have always secretly wanted to be like The Strokes, whose frontman Julian Casablancas is one of their collaborators on new album Random Access Memories.

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Kanye West Working with Skrillex?

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Artist News, Collaborations, Gossip, Leaks, Rumors, Upcoming Releases, Electronic, Hip-Hop & Rap, R&B / Soul,

Kanye West has reportedly collaborated with Skrillex and Odd Future on his new album. The rapper boasts the dubstep producer and members of the rap collective among a huge roll call of guest stars on his sixth studio album, according to Rolling Stone magazine.

Kanye reportedly worked on the record in secret, recording in Paris' Le Meurice hotel, and is believed to be ready to release it next month after he tweeted "June Eighteen" last week.

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Daft Punk Land a New Record Deal

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Artist News, Upcoming Releases, Dance, Electronic, Pop,

Daft Punk have signed a new record deal. The French dance duo - Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo - are rumored to be releasing their first album in eight years in May after inking a deal with Columbia Records.

The "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" hitmakers returned to the studio last year to begin work on a fourth studio album - a follow-up to 2005's Human After All - with disco producer Nile Rodgers.

Speaking about the sessions, Nile said, "All I can say is those guys are geniuses and to think that after all these years we've been trying to get together, they just show up at my apartment in New York City and the vibe between us is so powerful and so strong - it's unbelievable. Spiritually and artistically working with them was as good as anything I've ever done. It's as great as being in a studio with [David] Bowie, it's great as being with Bernard Edwards, and it's as great as the best stuff I've ever done with Duran [Duran] or Madonna."

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