Daft Punk - Human After All Remixes [Review]

You may recall that a few weeks ago, the French enigma that is Daft Punk quietly unleashed a remix album of tracks from their 3rd studio album, Human After All. It largely went unnoticed, but it was kind of a big deal - until then, it had been a Japan-only exclusive for the better part of a decade, and this updated, worldwide version includes a remix from one of Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo’s side projects that had been thought lost.

The question is though, was it worth the almighty wait? Um… how do I put this nicely… No. No it wasn’t. Wanna know why? Read on.

A remix album for Human After All seems like a very good idea given the quality of the source material. It’s not widely regarded as one of Daft Punk’s best albums - not even close - but the passage of time has been kind to the record, with a newfound appreciation for what the robots were trying to say and achieve.

There’s even some fairly big names providing remixes. Heck, Daft Punk themselves have done a remix for it. Of themselves. Surely that will be good, right?

No.

I love Daft Punk, but I have to be totally honest and unbiassed with you - this is without a doubt one of the worst collections of remixes I’ve ever had the displeasure of listening to. There are a couple of highlights, but these really are few and far between.

Almost every remix is an abhorrent stream of noise. Daft Punk’s own remix of Robot Rock, for example, is just terrible. I’m not lying when I say that it is literally the very first bar of the original, over and over again. But distorted and overdriven. The duo should really just learn to leave their own great originals alone - they did a remix of their massive number 1 hit Get Lucky from Random Access Memories, and that was utter crap too.

Justice’s remix of title track Human After All is, as you’d expect, a highpoint. Theirs really is one of the only remixes on the album that does anything vaguely creative, but then you’d expect no less from the Frenchmen. Even this, though, is far from being their best work.

Really, I could go through track by track, but I won’t waste any more time on this. Do feel free to have a flick through the tracks on Spotify to see if you agree with me, but other than that, I would seriously avoid this one.

Japan are welcome to it.

The Octopus’ Rating: 2.5/8

Release Details:

Name: Human After All Remixes
Artists: Daft Punk, Others (Remixers)
Label: Warner Music France
Release Date: 11 August [OUT NOW]
Purchase: iTunes

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Alex Simpson

Writer, musician, and all-round top guy. I set up Excited Octopus. Currently, I'm on a one man team. It gets lonely sometimes. But I don't mind, because I love you all.

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