Daft Punk to release live album

By M&C News Nov 28, 2007, 20:10 GMT

For fans of brazen electronic music, few acts offer the longevity, consistency, and booty-shakin\' insistence of Daft Punk. In a kind of tenth anniversary celebration of the Parisian duo\'s limited-edition live album Alive 1997, Alive 2007 captures a long and sweaty concert performed before 18,000 hometown fans. There\'s almost nothing by way of original material here, though the performance culls all of Daft Punk\'s many notable singles from their uncompromising ...more

The forefathers of French electro-house music, Daft Punk, will release a live album - entitled ‘Daft Punk Alive 2007’ on December 4th. The album is available digitally now on iTunes. The album was recorded at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, an 18,000-capacity sports arena in Paris, on June 14th, 2007, the CD captures the exuberant multi-media spectacle of Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo's first hometown show in 10 years in front of a capacity crowd of thrilled fans.

Virgin Records will release the album as a single CD edition and as a two-disc set packaged as a bound book. The latter, an enhanced CD, features five extra tracks from the show's encore and 50 pages of photographs shot on tour.

The first single from the album is a live version of "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" from Daft Punk's 2001 album Discovery, accompanied with a video directed by Olivier Gondry (older brother to acclaimed film director Michel) that features live footage shot by fans.

The video will be included on the enhanced CD. The album version of "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" is currently enjoying a second life and a surge in digital sales thanks to being sampled by rapper Kanye West on his current Top 5 hit "Stronger." The Daft Punk robots, in their signature retro-futuristic robot gear, also appear in West's "Stronger" video.

Daft Punk first emerged on the dance music scene in 1993 with their debut album ‘Homework,’ a provocative blend of progressive house, funk, electro, techno, and hip-hop styled breakbeats that is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential dance recordings of the '90s.

‘Discovery’ followed in 2001, spawning the hit "One More Time," which cracked the U.S. Top 40, followed by their first live album, ‘Alive 1997,’ filmed at the Que Club in Birmingham, England. Daft Punk's last studio album release was 2004's ‘Human After All,’ which featured the club hits "Robot Rock" and "Technologic."

A Daft Punk anthology CD/DVD, entitled ‘Musique Vol. 1 1993-2005,’ was released in April 2006.

In June, Daft Punk hit the festival circuit in Europe, the duo's first major tour in a decade, with shows in the UK, Italy, and the U.S., including a co-headlining performance at Lollapalooza in Chicago and a transcendent, sold-out show at Keyspan Park on New York's Coney Island that the New York Times described as "a euphoric celebration of the Daft Punk legacy."

As one fan put it on brooklynvegan.com: "To call it a concert or show is an understatement. Daft Punk called down rain from the sky. Best show in a lifetime." Daft Punk recently returned to the U.S. on October 27th for a performance at the Vegoose Festival in Las Vegas.