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**Daft Punk - Homework**
★★★★☆

Twenty-seven years on, it's almost impossible to imagine a world without the silvery sheen of Daft Punk's robot personas, but back in 1997, Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo were just two fresh-faced Parisians with a secondhand sampler and an unshakeable belief that French house could conquer the world. Their debut album *Homework* didn't just announce their arrival – it kicked down the door of electronic music and rewrote the rulebook with a cheeky Gallic grin.

The duo's origins trace back to the indie rock outfit Darlin', a forgettable venture that earned them a scathing review in Melody Maker describing their sound as "daft punky trash." Rather than sulk, Bangalter and de Homem-Christo embraced the insult, adopting it as their moniker and pivoting entirely toward the burgeoning French touch movement. Their early singles "The New Wave" and "Da Funk" had already caused seismic shifts in underground dance circles, but *Homework* was their manifesto – a full-length love letter to the possibilities of electronic music that felt both futuristic and deeply rooted in disco's golden age.

Musically, *Homework* is a masterclass in controlled chaos. The album sits squarely in the house tradition, but Daft Punk's approach is distinctly maximalist, layering filtered disco samples, squelching acid basslines, and relentless four-four kicks into something that feels less like traditional dance music and more like a cyborg fever dream. There's an almost punk-rock urgency to tracks like "Revolution 909," which transforms a simple drum machine pattern into a full-scale sonic assault, complete with sirens and what sounds like a warehouse rave being raided by the authorities.

The album's crown jewel remains "Da Funk," a seven-minute odyssey that builds from a simple bass riff into something approaching the sublime. Its accompanying Michel Gondry-directed video – featuring a dog-headed man wandering New York with a boombox – perfectly captures the album's blend of the absurd and the profound. Equally essential is "Around the World," a hypnotic mantra that proves repetition can be revolutionary when deployed with surgical precision. The track's genius lies in its restraint; for nearly seven minutes, Bangalter and de Homem-Christo resist every temptation to overcomplicate, instead letting the groove do the heavy lifting.

"Burnin'" showcases their skill at sample manipulation, transforming Edwin Birdsong's "Cola Bottle Baby" into something entirely new yet respectfully familiar. Meanwhile, "Rollin' & Scratchin'" sounds like what might happen if Kraftwerk decided to make gabber music – all metallic percussion and industrial textures that somehow remain danceable. The album's deeper cuts, like "Rock'n Roll" and "Oh Yeah," demonstrate their range, incorporating everything from vocodered vocals to acid house squelches without ever losing the thread.

What made *Homework* so revolutionary wasn't just its sound, but its timing. Released at the height of Britpop's dominance and electronic music's commercial nadir, it arrived like a transmission from the future. While guitar bands were looking backward, Daft Punk were already living in tomorrow, creating music that sounded equally at home in sweaty Ibiza clubs and suburban bedrooms.

The album's DIY ethos – reportedly recorded in Bangalter's bedroom using relatively basic equipment – proved that innovation didn't require expensive studios or major-label budgets. This bedroom-producer approach would go on to influence countless artists, from Justice to Deadmau5, establishing a template for electronic music production that remains relevant today.

*Homework*'s legacy is written in the DNA of modern electronic music. It didn't just launch Daft Punk toward global superstardom; it legitimized electronic music as an art form capable of both intellectual rigor and pure hedonistic pleasure. The album's influence can be heard everywhere from mainstream pop to underground techno, its fingerprints visible on everything from The Chemical Brothers' stadium-sized anthems to the bedroom laptop compositions of countless bedroom producers.

While later albums like *Discovery* and *Random Access Memories* would bring greater commercial success and critical acclaim, *Homework* remains their most vital statement – a reminder that sometimes the best way forward is to get