A story of evolution in this new video for an unreleased Daft Punk track that may just be the last we hear from the robot duo, although that hopefully won't be the case.
The old Abel Tesfaye that we know (i.e., his dreads) is symbolically gone as The Weeknd enters the next phase of his career with this Daft Punk-produced track directed by frequent collaborator Grant Singer. Call it the millennials' burning of George Michael's "Faith" jacket.
Welcome to Fall Fest, as hosted by Pharrell Williams, Daft Punk and film director Edgar Wright. Despite the intergallactic leanings of all involved, things are kept fairly natural as they pay homage to the breeziest element. That's not to say they entirely stay earthbound: We have a troupe of ribbon dancers who could have blown in from the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon remake and the (forgive the pun, please) very rocking Daft Punk cameo takes flight as well.
If you caught the teaser clip from the VMA telecast, then you basically know all you need to know about the new Daft Punk video — the first official one to be released off Random Access Memories. Our favorite French robots get joined by Pharrell and guitar/disco legend Niles Rogers for a glittery performance to an adoring crowd. There's a feel-good innocense vibe to it all, that depending on how jadded you are will be either underwhelming, or a welcome respite from the NSFW onslaught.
Although Daft Punk is one of the stronger visual bands out there — from the robotic imagery to a track record of excellent creative videos — we're still waiting for an official clip from the duo's breakthrough album, Random Access Memories. Which in the create and remix culture of the web is not a huge deal, since people are more than happy to roll their own. Case in point is Daft Signz, a group of L.A.
Nature abhors a vacuum. And since we are still waiting for the real, full video for Daft Punk's booty shaking 'Get Lucky' the internet has been offering up all kind of alternate, fan-made versions. Last week, the epic Soul Train super-cut was the best in town. This week, every dancing movie character you can imagine has come to see if they too can get a bit of luck.
Hard to imagine but the 1997 introduction to Daft Punk didn't feature Daft Punk and their distinctive helmet heads at all.
Instead they let director Spike Jonze deliver a typical, yet certainly odd New York story about a man named Charles. Correction: Charles is a man with a dog's head, played by Tony Maxwell of the band That Dog (which is possibly a coincincedence, but certainly awesome). And he looks like he might Get Lucky, despite the busted leg.
Who needs NASCAR when Daft Punk can go Formula 1 with the Lotus F1 team. This odd combination launched with a series of teasers that's now been capped by a full 30 second spot directed by Jonas Akerlund.
My main question is: Do the Daft Punk guys show up for all the promo shoots, or do they just ship the helmets around the world and just hire people to play the parts?
