Daft Punk: Human After All

Herald rating: * *

French electronic duo say they're human. There are enough annoying robotic farts here to prove otherwise It had to wear thin. Squelch, burp, fart. And then the monotonous outbursts of repetitive beats and vocoder vocal kick in. Someone kill that vocoder please. Daft Punk - Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo - were innovators with their first two albums, Homework (1997) and Discovery (2001). They made electronic music more emotional and yes, weirdly, even human. But Human After All sounds like they're still robots but they haven't advanced.

The reasonably long gap between their first two albums didn't affect the Paris duo's inspiration. But the equally long gap between Discovery and Human After All perhaps indicates this latest album was a struggle, and it shows in its flatness.

A song like Television Rules The Nation is an indulgent drone and makes you wonder why the thing is on the album. The static of a TV channel with no signal is more interesting.

To be fair, from the first strains of tracks like Robot Rock and Steam Machine, you think, "Here comes another daft punk banger." But oh dear, how can songs lose their way when they don't actually go anywhere? They just go on, and on, and on.

Technologic sounds like Madonna's Vogue-freestyle done in a chipmunk style while the dreamy vocoder action on Emotion sums up why daft punk need to get out more. Then, and only then, should they step back into their own world and make music.

Human After All is a collection of 10 songs that go nowhere.

It's a shame because daft punk were always going to the best place in music - where no one else dares to tread or has the nous to discover.

But now they're just lost.

Label: Virgin