As everyone knows by now, Daft Punk, legendary electronic duo from La France, has been working on a bit of a “viral” campaign for what we all assume is going to be a new record. This would be their first since 2005's Human After All, if you don't count their work on the TRON: Legacy soundtrack. The viral campaign began with a GIFable image of two masks becoming one with small subscript reading Columbia Records that meant that they had signed with Columbia. Fair.
Now, this past Saturday, Daft Punk aired a 15-second clip showing only a glittered-out Daft Punk logo and the two masks again. However, this 15 seconds was 15 seconds of new music. And since the beginning of writing this post, some of the pirated versions of the clip have been removed from YouTube. Mysterious. Even more mysterious was the decision to air this ad during Saturday Night Live, a show that most electronica superfans and French aesthetes tend to avoid. Maybe they're trying to reach a larger market. The obvious speculation is that this is a minor league record announcement and we must all wait to see what comes next. But because we refuse to succumb to the whims and fancy of electronic music, we will now deconstrcuct the 15-second clip for potential clues of what this all may actually mean. It's time to start some rumors.
:02 We see our first glimpse of the Daft Punk shine on the bottom lefthand corner. This means that the new Daft Punk record will be deeply associated with leftist government policies, “leftist” being a term that was coined during the French Revolution. We can only assume that the new Daft Punk record will of course have heavy Les Miserables influences, features singing by Anne Hathaway.
:04 Gives us our first clue as to what we're looking at as the Daft Punk logo falls into view. Because four is divisible by two, Daft Punk will release two records this year, both of which can be listened to quadrophonically like that Flaming Lips project; both records come with 4D glasses.
:05 This could either be a new Daft Punk record or a new Chic record, my favorite disco group from the 70s. This would be convenient given Nile Rodgers' insistence on spoilers. Since no letters from the word “Chic” appear in the Daft Punk logo, one can only assume that this is the opposite of an anagram, all but guaranteeing the release of a Chic record in place of a Daft Punk record.
:06-07 Makes it overwhelmingly clear that we're to expect a second TRON remake called The Tron Supremacy. Daft Punk will be writing the score and releasing it on neon vinyl that you can only acess by finding a way onto the grid. Using your 4D glasses may help.
:08-12 The logo has come into plain sight. Two half-helmets have begun to collide toward each other. Is this a preview for a Daft Punk record or an announcement of a Third World War? Or an allegiance between divided nations? Or is the one half-helmet, gold in color, meeting the other half-helmet, silver in color, just a clever reinterpretation of “Silver and Gold” or “Black and Yellow.” Are Daft Punk going to release a covers album? Likely.
:13 Imminent domination via French electronica. World tour announcement. Political office. Everyone forced to wear helmets.
:14-15 The ad ends, shrouded in mystery, leaving us overwhelmed. Will there be a new Daft Punk record? How can we ever know? And how can 15 seconds of music supply us until we hear some new music?
Thankfully, one hero has come to the rescue with this 10-hour loop of our new favorite Daft Punk song, “SNL PROMO 2013.”
