Daft Punk Says: “Stop The World, Have a Dance Party!”
A teary-eyed reminder that my favorite band is the best band in the whole entire world, and I’ve got some songs for ya.
Are you enjoying Kat Scrawls? Do you think your friends would enjoy it? Please consider sharing this newsletter with a friend who likes good tunes and silly essays, and please always feel free to respond to this email and share your thoughts with me—or “like” it or leave a comment, or tweet it or something. Just spread the love and holler back, I’m always here for you ;)
Hey Friends!
Look. I’m gonna be real with you. I’ve been burnt the heck out. I’ve been writing and streaming, plotting and scheming, preparing for a move across the country in *checks calendar* five days, and when President’s Day came to the United States and gave me a day off work, I spent the whole thing 1) sick and then 2) writing a new cover story for Spin (that is going to come out Friday, look out for it!!)
All that to say, I was pretty fucking exhausted yesterday, and so I didn’t get this newsletter out like I intended—BUT OH MYLANTA, WAS I REWARDED FOR MY EFFORTS.
It is the honor of my life that so many people think of Daft Punk and then immediately think of me. On Feb. 2, 2021, I woke up to about 30 text messages of people asking me if I was okay. It was pretty alarming, I’m not gonna lie, but when I saw Daft Punk had broken up, it was a big sigh of relief.
Neither Thomas Bangalter nor Guy-Manuel de Homem Christo were dead. They just finally said out loud what we all knew to be true in our hearts. Those dudes were maxin’ and relaxin’, sitting pretty on the knowledge that they had given the world the perfect art career. The only thing was, everyone kept asking them to do another tour.
My response to all those texts was thus: “I saw Daft Punk live twice, lol, are you okay?”
I wrote a whole essay that day for Billboard explaining why Daft Punk is/was the most influential dance music act of its generation. To prove my point, the big bad trio (that’s a hint) my incoming cover story is about name-checked “Da Funk” as the record that helped them find their musical raison d’etre, and that was without me ever bringing it up!
That Billboard article did pretty well, and I was invited to speak on BBC Radio and SiriusXM about my favorite band. It was, oddly, one of the best days of my life, so you can imagine how moved I was when, at my lowest energy point, I once again received a bunch of text messages from people asking me what was up with Daft Punk posting to IG, only to find out from the Billboard editor and Daft’s publicist an hour later that we were ALL GETTING A SURPRISE CONCERT LIVESTREAM.
It’s weird to be so excited about a livestream, especially when you consider that the concert in question is nearly 25 years old and the footage is hella dark—but it’s not weird when it’s Daft Punk. A year after the project’s dissolution, the robots came through and broke the internet with an inspiring 1.5-hour long audio-video display that simultaneously united the disparate electronic masses and crushed the hope that anyone anywhere on Earth could ever be as cool and as deft at musical machines as these fucking mecs.
Within 10 minutes of the industry’s softest announcement, nearly 200,000 people dropped their work, turned up the volume on their phones or laptops, and tuned in to a concert that happened a quarter of a century ago. It sounded so fresh, so visionary, so mercilessly tight. Daft Punk could tour that set five years from now, and people would still be like “wait, how do they make that spine-crushing bleep-bloop sound so soulful?”
Trust that I’ve listened to Alive 1997 on vinyl, CD and DSPs about 500 times. I know that set from front to back. Yesterday, we were treated to a full 20-minutes of set before we got to the point where that recording even starts. We got hella-early versions of Discovery tracks being teased some four-years before they’d be released, and we got a live cover of a Giorgio Moroder track that now I can’t remember which one it was because the stream was ephemeral and not to be replayed and I was too busy dancing in my room to take proper notes!
The best part was this incredibly-moving rendition of “Around the World” that literally made me cry—all while we tweeted and texted and DMed with friends all over the globe, sharing the same incredible experience in real-time.
That right there is the point. When I saw Daft Punk (Miami in November 2006, and Chicago in August of 2007), the lights and the music were incredible, bar-none, unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before or will experience again; but what made those sets truly remarkable was the very real, very tangible feeling in the air that me and my friends and every single person in front of that stage was experiencing it together.
We all looked into each other’s wide eyes. We danced with strangers and without abandon. It’s a feeling that stays with me everywhere I go. It feeds my optimism and connects me to the world. True connection is possible, and I felt it at a fucking 25-year-old Daft Punk concert streamed on Twitch on 2/2/22 at 2:22 pm PT.
I’d bet money that stream will one day get brought up in an interview I have with some 22-year-old hot shot on the scene who is all “I was 10, and I saw this Daft Punk livestream that changed my life.”
And if you missed it, welp, Idk what to say man 😂
Nah but really like, it was posted to YouTube and taken down four hours later. That right there is just a snippet and the video bit is not edited properly (read: at all), but it’s still a taste. Someone somewhere probably has a downloaded copy of the full think, buuuuuuut I’m not outing anyone.
S/O to the robots for giving us life, and shout out for you for subscribing to my newsletter! Sorry if this isn’t my best essay, I’m still tiiiirrreeedd.
Alright. Here are some songs.
Absolutely Necessary
(This is the part where I share songs that are so good, they’re absolutely necessary to listen to. That’s it. That’s the bar.)
I made two Spotify playlists for this section that you can follow: one weekly playlist updated with just the new stuff every week, and one cumulative playlist that will host every song I pick ever (until Spotify tells me it's full). Check them out! I made them for you—and me, but mostly you.
Last week, I wrote about Tchami and Snakehip’s incredibly funky collab “Tonight,” and the weird-and-wonderful pairing that is Mr. Oizo and Phra (of Crookers) on an off-kilter Italian rap album. Both songs are on the Spotify playlists. Please do read and enjoy!
Drama - “3AM”
Love at first sight is pretty rare, but it only takes 30 seconds to fall for this incredible groove. Chicago-based duo Drama live at the corner of R&B and electro-pop, and “3AM” is a glitter-kissed star in the disco night. It’s the first track from the group’s EP Don’t Wait Up, which just dropped on DSPs.
Manu Dia - “Promise”
Valentine’s Day is over, but this tune from Spanish producer Manu Dia is as romantic as it comes. “‘Promise’ is essentially about the feeling of being in love,” he says in a press release. “I think it's the most emotional song in the album without having lyrics or a single word spoken—which I think is the beauty of this project and electronic music as a whole. After having had a pretty lonely and weird year, I had this realization of how grateful I was to have someone like my girlfriend that is in this journey with me. I am immensely grateful for my girlfriend and the support she gives me. This song is for her.” *collective aww*
Matt Taylor - “Godspeed”
This is my first time hearing of Mr. Matt Taylor, and I’m hooked. This DIY-ass video is pretty haunting. He’s got ghost eyes that say “I’m heading for a train wreck” and a mountain’s worth of chutzpah. He hails from Dublin, Ireland, which is fantastic news, and takes inspiration from the late-great Sophie. This song is fucking killer. Instant follow.
Isaac Dunbar - “Bleach”
Is it just me, or is this dude giving serious modern Freddie Mercury vibes? Turns out this singer-producer hails from Barnstable, Massachussetts—which I love because I’ve never fucking heard of that city and the best artists come from the middle of nowhere, right? Isaac burst onto the scene in 2019, but says “‘Bleach’ feels as though it’s my first single. I’ve taken a lot of time to hibernate and cultivate my sound these past couple of months, now I’m finally ready to let everyone into my world.” Sign me up, Isaac!
The Knocks - “Slow Song” Feat. Dragonette
Bloghouse has never sounded so Stevie Nicks, and this “Slow Song” makes me wonder why. Two dance-pop powerhouses team up on a disco ballad that’ll have you donning fringe and giving the world your best fucking’ twirl. Aquaria is the star that’s capturing your video queen heart.
Oliver Tree - “Swing & A Miss”
Gosh, I just fucking love Oliver Tree, even since he first pulled onto the scene in his JNCO jeans and technicolored Razor scooter. I don’t inherently love this cowboy album he’s got, but to be fair, I only heard one song before this one and that was the first-ever Oliver Tree song that put me off. This is a super fun pop jam, though, and I’m a real sucker for a cynical song that sounds like a sweet summer day. I’ll dig into the whole Cowboy Tears album, for sure, and I’m happy the weirdo is getting big radio play. Also, this video is great lol.
Dallas Woods - “Rasta”
Um, woooooow, okay. Can’t front on a song that opens with “it’s okay to be a misfit” and then follows through with some kind of Cypress Hill-meets-original dubstep womps. Turns out dude Dallas Woods is an aboriginal Australian, specifically of the Noongar peoples from the south-west corner of Western Australia. I’m incredibly intrigued by this energy, and I immediately want to see this guy live!
Jacob Aedam - “South Boulevard” Feat. Yung Shōgun
Oooh, this song was originally released at the end of 2021, and a remix pack came out today, but I’d never heard the original, so I’m sharing it here. Jacob is a Melbourne-based producer, and Yung Shōgun is a rapper that I think works with him a lot. I’m loving the whole vibe. The song is from a Spaghetti Western-inspired EP called Lone Mountain. Omw to listen to the whole project.
Tennyson - “Get Gone”
Oooof, this is gonna be one of my favorite album releases of the year. I’ve been a HUGE Tennyson fan since I first interviewed the brother-sister duo for Red Bull in 2017. Rot is a big evolution for the project with a truly mind-blowing backstory, and Tennyson is my guest on Kat Calls this Thursday! Yay!
Somni - “Drift”
This song sounds like a quiet car ride home with friends on the last night of a really great trip. You’re tired and full on joyful memories, and there’s something bittersweet about the fact that you’ll all start getting dropped off one by one, the trip is done, and there’s work or school in the morning—but you’re still so happy and sleepy, and no words must be shared. Your stomach is still aching from all the weekend’s laughter.
Here’s what’s coming up:
Thursday, Feb. 24:
Kat Calls: Tennyson
Yes! The day has come. Rot is out, and both Luke and Tess are in for a chat with me and all those who tune in. These two are wonderfully weird. It’s going to be great, I just know it.
7 pm ET / 4 pm PT
Thanks for tuning into my newsletter. Listen to the playlists on Spotify. One is updated weekly with all the songs from each edition. The other is cumulative with all the updates ever!