Random Access Memories Image
Metascore
87

Universal acclaim - based on 47 Critics What's this?

User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 648 Ratings

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  • Summary: The fourth studio release for the electronic duo features guest appearances by Julian Casablancas, Todd Edwards, Panda Bear, Paul Williams, and Pharrell Williams.
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 42 out of 47
  2. Negative: 0 out of 47
  1. May 29, 2013
    100
    This is a dazzling album, steeped in soul and brimming with an uncommon musicality, all rhythmic urgency and compelling melodies and anthemic choruses.
  2. May 13, 2013
    100
    Daft Punk's best album in a career that's already redefined dance music at least twice. It is, in short, a mind-blower. [Jun 2013, p.88]
  3. May 20, 2013
    90
    Random Access Memories is also Daft Punk's most personal work, and richly rewarding for listeners willing to spend time with it.
  4. May 13, 2013
    80
    At times, the album is a victim of its own ambition. But it wouldn't be half as awesome a ride if it had aimed any lower.
  5. May 21, 2013
    80
    What Daft Punk have done on Random Access Memories could be seen as a methodically curated, musical museum of the future, rather than a conservatory for experimental collaboration.
  6. May 20, 2013
    80
    It has no chance in hell to answer to all the hype and buzz around it, it’s not going to impact the dance music scene that reveres the robots so and you might as well be playing it on shuffle, but it’s a rich and warm musical experience that suits both the dancefloor and concentrated headphone listening in equal amounts that forms an important part of the duo’s musical journey.
  7. May 9, 2013
    60
    On paper these might sound like mad genius, but Daft Punk somehow misplace the wit and the light touch that’s pretty much their trademark. Instead, these long epics become somewhat tedious and there is a strong whiff of egoism and self-indulgence.

See all 47 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Negative: 22 out of 168
  1. Aug 15, 2013
    10
    Beautiful from start to finish and elegantly crafted with excellent attention to detail.
    It is Daft Punk's musically strongest album with gre
    at variety and emotion. Expand
  2. May 24, 2013
    10
    If discovery is the album of the first decade of the XXI century, Random Access Memories is the album of the 2010's. Daft Punk's choice of using real drums is very effective and you can hear it. With this album they succeded in mixing progressive rock (see the intro in Touch), Jazz (see the electric piano medley in Giorgio by Moroder) electropop and of course dance togheter. They found a synthesis between all this genres and their style with their great autotune samples (get lucky, lose yourself to dance). Expand
  3. May 21, 2013
    10
    Random Access Memories is in the simplest of terms a triumph. Despite Daft Punk's robotic visage, every song on the album feels incredibly heartfelt, from the love letter to the Synthesizer that is Giorgio by Moroder, to the laid back and hypnotic Fragments of Time.

    Despite having few collaborations prior to this record, Daft Punk clearly know how to get the best out of their new recruits. By selectively choosing artists and musicians that they look up to and admire, Daft Punk have managed to easily intertwine their inimitable electronic class with the likes of Nile Rodgers' incredibly catchy guitars, Todd Edwards' smooth cut-ups and Panda Bear's confident indie feel.

    From the reviews and opinions I've gathered so far, the album's biggest point of contention seems to be 'Touch' the collaboration with Paul Williams. Whilst definitely not the best track on the album, it's certainly one that grows on you, especially when it hits that magnificent 3:20 mark.

    Definitely not an album that should be missed by anybody.
    Expand
  4. Oct 13, 2013
    9
    Random Access Memories can easily be described as Daft Punk's finest material to date and one of the most memorable moments of 2013. The lead single, "Get Lucky", was a summer smash and could be considered a contender for being one of the finest pop songs of the 2010s thus far. Although its 70s disco and funk throwbacks might not charm all audiences, it's certainly a welcoming album to anyone even remotely interested in escaping the electro craze that's done nothing but dominate the top 40 in recent years. The vocoders have since become their signature sound, but are more than welcoming in the opening four tracks "Give Life Back to Music", "The Game of Love", and the 'robo-gloom' ballad "Within", which both alienate younger audiences whilst still remaining the listeners in their comfort zone. "Giorgio by Moroder" magnificently narrates listeners through the process of becoming a musician whilst "Instant Crush", featuring The Strokes' lead singer Julian Casablancas, somehow manages to channel the same melody found in the Christmas classic "Last Christmas" and could easily make it into the soundtracks of the duo's punk fans. "Doin' It Right" channels late-70s synthpop and sends euphoric chills into listeners through its mesmerizing use of the vocoder and Panda Bear's effortless vocals. Overall, the album may be overhyped in the media and some may not fall for its worldwide charm, but RAM honestly earns all the hype its given and has the charm to make its way into about every listener's iTunes. The hiatus may have seemingly lasted forever, but it was damn sure worth the wait. Expand
  5. May 24, 2013
    8
    Daft Punk returns to the spotlight by taking a step back into past and bringing the wonders of a forgotten era of disco into the modern world. A hypnotizing and engaging effort, that keeps the listener hooked time after time, despite a couple of questionable sections.

    Full review is on my blog. (http://wp.me/p36iAh-3M)
    Expand
  6. May 21, 2013
    6
    With this album, the highs are extremely high and the lows are quite low. Tracks like "Instant Crush" are far too poppy for my liking, but then tracks like "Give Life Back to Music" and "Within" are exquisite. Too hit-and-miss as an overall project, unfortunately. Expand
  7. Jun 6, 2013
    0
    As the streets sings of the 'joys' of Thomas and Guy's new musical collaboration fill the air, I cannot be left with any feelings but sadness and disappointment.

    From what the advertisement and early reviews told me, this album was to shake the earth, leave cracks in the foundations of music, fill the air with the thunder it so lacked, and yet all I observed was a small push at what was meant to be brilliance.

    As I listened to the artist who's music literally shaped my tastes in music, and my childhood, I found myself nearly crying with disappointment, around eight years of waiting, eight years of promises, and this is what is thrown to the masses.

    The bigger, kinder part of me wants to dismiss the album as a mistake, but I know that all of the reviews claiming this is one of the 'best' and most 'redefining releases of modern times, are all wrong, coming from people who were forced into bad music, and even worse rappers.

    This seems to me to be some mighty call out to re-ignite the passion of Daft Punk that hadn't been allowed to breathe for so long. And yet, we receive some let down of a bestial war-cry of god-like proportions.

    I can only pray that releasing the ten minute song, of Giorgio Moroder giving us his life of music in some verbal biography was intend as a in-joke for the team. I can only hope this proves example to the pair that they should stick to what they know, which is making heavenly noise of samples.

    I do not care how much the masses cry, it will take more than one song that sounds half decent to change my opinion of this pile of good wishes, and bad noises to sound good to me.
    Expand

See all 168 User Reviews

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