1994 & 2012 (for the Daft Punk ask thing)
1994: What do you find most striking about the band?
Now that we’re seeing the effects of it, I’d have to say: their silence.
DP have had an odd run. They were silent for lengthy periods between albums and only burst into being when they had a fresh one out. It’s a fundamental aspect of the Daft Punk kayfabe that they could not speak like human beings while they were under the robot guise - yet at the same time, it was part of their mythos that they were robots who sought to be like humans. I’m not surprised they chose to go out this way, irrevocably silent (in terms of new content, voiced goodbyes, a proper press release) but saying a million words at the same time. Quoting an entire film about themselves, the explosive conclusion. The end of DP’s silence silences them forever, but allows them to become their human selves again. I guess that may have been the intention of ‘Epilogue’.
Do I wish they could have been more talkative with us? Yes, for sure. But we don’t know what was going on behind the scenes. It seems to be the case that RAM was meant to be their final goodbye, but given their long dormant period and intermittent collaborations, it is possible they had other projects going that fell apart. They are notorious perfectionists and less than the best would not have sufficed. I can understand. I wish them the best.
2012: Do you have a favorite interview quote?
‘そのときに起こる思いつきという本質は、過去に経験した感情、思い出 (メモリーズ)、会話からランダムにアクセスされるもの …’
‘The essence of ideation is randomly accessed by memories, emotions that were experienced in the past, and conversations…’
- From the Cinra.com DP Interview (June 2013). I translated this interview some years ago, you can find it here.
