Personnel: Thomas Bangalter, Guy-Manuel De Homem-Christo.Producers: Thomas Bangalter, Guy-Manuel De Homem-Christo.Recorded at Daft House, Paris, France."Da Funk" was nominated for a 1998 Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording."Around The World" was nominated for the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording.Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter, the two French twenty-something DJs who make up Daft Punk, are relentless dance-music aficionados and historians. And unlike many of their contemporaries, their interests don't just lie in the electronic beats that have been rockin' the clubs since the mid-80s. The two knob-twiddlers are just as well-versed in Giorgio Moroder's Eurodisco grooves, Chic, and the old-school rhythms of Afrika Bambaata and the Sugarhill Records catalog, as they are in the Chicago house and Detroit techno traditions. When they're not assembling catchy-as-hell bits of electro-pop ("Around The World"), throwing down slabs of minimalist funk ("Da Funk"), or marrying Miami bass to Kraftwerkian blips ("Oh Yeah"), Homem-Christo and Bangalter try to impart a little knowledge. On "Teachers," they use a Ween-esque distorted vocal line to name-check a broad list of influences that includes Brian Wilson, Dr. Dre and Armand Van Helden. Their broad focus, utopian determination and, of course, their way with a beat earn Daft Punk's HOMEWORK a well-deserved "A".
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