Daft Punk announce official solo projects
Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo have made an official statement
The future of Daft Punk has been revealed.
In an official statement, Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo have announced the solo projects that they will be continuing with.
Bangalter will be creating a new record label and alias called Roulette which he will use to anonymously release his own material as well as that of producers within his extensive contacts book. "I wanted to get back to the real," Bangalter told Mixmag. "The grit and the dirt of underground music made specifically for dark nightclubs and the feeling and atmosphere of the dark nightclubs where that underground music is played."
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The name is a play on his cult label Roulé, via which he released a series of club-focused 12"s in the late 90s and early 00s. It also riffs on the approach of this new label and alias. "I want to keep things focused on the music," Bangalter said. "I'm not interested in being in the spotlight and I want to continue the mystery that surrounded Daft Punk. The Roulette label will feature music by myself and my friends who also want to cut club tracks to vinyl quickly and spontaneously. I'll also be DJing sets made up exclusively of Roulette material in small capacity clubs, which is where it all began for me."
The label has a very specific aesthetic approach too: Roulette must always be italicised, a decision Bangalter didn't come to lightly. "Many artists now spell their names in capital letters, or with the vowels removed. That's just child's play. I'm the first one to use italics; it's a statement of intent."
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Guy-Man will rekindle his love of live performance with a new project called REVISION, which is set to include a concept album made with a cast of his past collaborators including the stars of the French Touch scene and new-school American funk and 'r'nb.
"I've always played in bands, that's where my heart lies," Guy-Man told Mixmag. "I've worked with so many great musicians and have vivid ideas of what I want to achieve with the album format, now is the time to bring this vision to life."
The title of the project is a follow up to Daft Punk's seminal 'Homework' as Guy-Man explains: "That was our radical album, made on machines, aimed at the kids who tell their parents they're going to a sleepover but actually they go to a nightclub and stay out until dawn. Now I want to introduce those kids to the other side of my personality, the other side of music. The stuff they can listen to in the days in between weekends. REVISION is the missing half of 'Homework', an exploration of music."
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Sources close to Guy-Man reveal that he's wanted to go full steam ahead on a concept album after he felt that 'Random Access Memories', Daft Punk's final studio album, "didn't go far enough". Mixmag is told that Guy-Man wanted the Giorgio Moroder monologue to last at least 15 minutes and that he pushed for the LP to be released as a triple-disc edition spanning over three hours.
"I will be bringing REVISION to life very soon," Guy-Man also told us. "I'm currently testing a beta version of the show and will likely debut at Burning Man, their Kingdome concept sounds incredible and exciting."
The artist declined to comment on his partner's comments about capitalised pseudonyms.
We will bring you more news when we have it. Welcome to the future.
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