Last month, French electronic music duo Daft Punk announced they would be dropping a 10th anniversary edition of their final studio album, Random Access Memories, with an additional 35 minutes of unreleased music. Exactly a month later, they released the first track, “The Writing of Fragments of Time.”
In February 2022, Daft Punk dropped the 25th-anniversary edition of their debut studio album, Homework, originally released in 1997 so they’re no stranger to these anniversary albums.
As well as the lyrics and instrumentals, the “documentary track” features commentary from the duo’s collaborator Todd Edwards about the creation of the track. During their recording of Random Access Memories, the artists recorded the full session, which capturing the entire creative process. Our favorite part has to be when Edwards discusses the intensity and emotions during the writing of the song and one of the Daft Punk members responds, “We are making it forever.” Well, if not forever, a decade is very impressive.
Daft Punk was founded in Paris in 1993 by Thomas Bangalter (the one recorded speaking above) and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. They actually met at school in 1987 and had an indie rock band together, Darling, prior to Daft Punk. The duo achieved popularity in the late 90s as the French house movement grew. They became known for their unique combinations of house music, funk, disco, rock and pop. They have since become a worldwide sensation, even without releasing an album in 10 years.
The duo has been nominated for a Grammy twelve times and won six times. Their first nomination was for Best Dance Recording in 1997 for “Da Funk” and 2008’s “Harder Better Faster Stronger” got them their first win for Best Dance Recording. They didn’t have their first Billboard 200 number one album until 2013’s RAM but the track “Get Lucky,” featuring Pharrell Williams, also hit number two on the Billboard Hot 100.
Random Access Memories 10th Anniversary Edition will be officially released May 12 but you can listen to the preview tracks now.