As rumors spread last week that Daft Punk were playing Cochella 2013 (they aren’t), the duo — Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter — must’ve been laughing their collective asses of as today it was revealed that the French duo have inked a worldwide deal with Sony. The signing comes after the company added Depeche Mode to its roster and finalized a deal earlier this week with Ultra Records. No word yet on when their fourth album will be released (rumor mill says it will be released in the spring), but what we do know is that famed Chic producer Nile Rodgers has worked on the as-yet unnamed full-length along with Giorgio Moroder, singer-songwriter Paul Williams, bassist Nathan East and Feist collaborator Chilly Gonzales. Daft Punk’s most recent album, recent full-length, Disney’s Tron: Legacy, was released in 2010. Last October they created a mix for Saint Laurent’s fashion show.
Last week it was announced that Global Spin Awards, a new ceremony honoring DJs, will take place on November 19 in New York City. Reads a blurb on GSA’s website: “Actors have the Academy Awards…Recording Artists have the Grammy’s…And Now…DJ’s have the GSA’s!!”
Good idea, we initially thought.
GSA is the brainchild of Shawn Prez, an employee at Bad Boy Records. He told to the New York Post that “GSA is not about the hip-hop community. It’s about the DJ and their music. Award shows like these would help get awareness to what influence DJs have on social culture.”
However, looking at the list of nominees, I’m not so sure I agree with Prez’s statement not being only “about the hip-hop community” — a scan of GSA’s list of nominees clearly gives dance music DJs gets short shrift.
Out 200 nominations in 42 categories, only a handful of the DJs affiliated with electronic music are in the mix. Some of the nominations seem entirely random, such as nominating Daft Punk for Dance DJ of the Year. Aside from creating a mix for Saint Laurent’s show during Paris Fashion Week last week, the reclusive French duo rarely DJ and haven’t toured in ages.
While every publication (including BS) is guilty of typos, there are several on the list of nominations — specifically the spelling of dance music DJs Paul Van Dyk, Armin van Buuren and deadmau5 — on GSA’s site. My guess is that they are likely the result of the organization’s unfamiliarity with EDM (we’ll table our issues with the list of nominees for another day):
While Global Spin Awards promise musical diversity it’s also interesting to note that only hip-hop DJs — Funkmaster Flex, Kid Capri, Sway Calloway, Clinton Sparks and legendary DJ/producer Marley Marl — were present at the kickoff press conference. Big Shot didn’t receive an invitation to cover the press conference, and judging by the dearth of coverage on EDM sites we’re going to assume invites weren’t extended much beyond hip-hop press.
Honoring DJs is unquestionably commendable, but saying you’re paying homage to all DJs is quite another.
In the future, let’s hope the organizers cast as wide a musical net as possible and solicit help when paying tribute to DJs beyond their own personal comfort zone. After all, we all get by with a little help from our friends.
Three major electronic music artists are involved in scoring upcoming films. In June word broke that Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter has scored the music for “First Point,” a short film starring Lindsay Lohan as a surfer (see trailer below). Daft Punk’s previous film work includes scoring 2010’s Tron: Legacy. Likewise, Skrillex is contributing music to Harmony Korine’s upcoming film, Spring Breakers starring Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens, due out in 2013. Skrillex confirmed the news on Twitter, posting, “it’s more or less traditional scoring…dont expect dance floor bangers!” Likewise, M83‘s Anthony Gonzalez (pictured) has been tapped to compose original music for Tom Cruise’s new thriller, Oblivion, out on April 26, 2013.
While we can’t attest for the quality of the screenplay and acting, one thing is certain: the music on these films will most certainly be worth the price of a ticket.
