- A ten-minute acoustic trifle from one of the all-time great dance music artists.
- Full disclosure: I have, in the past, bought a record purely because it came with a poster. (In my defense, it was DJ Sprinkles' Midtown 120 Blues, an album I'd already loved for years.) I have to think that's why most people bought Thomas Bangalter's soundtrack to DAAAAAALÍ!, which Ed Banger released as a 10-inch with a beautiful fold-out tucked into the sleeve. Or maybe they were Bangalter completionists, the kind of people who also bought Mythologies, the former Daft Punk member's good-not-great classical album from last year. In any case, it's hard to imagine anyone buying this record because they love the music.
That's not because the music is bad. There's just barely anything here, which feels a little funny given the names on the marquee. To summarise: the latest record on Ed Banger, the game-changing Paris label that gave us Justice and DJ Mehdi, is the official soundtrack to DAAAAAALÍ, a film directed by Quentin Dupieux, AKA Mr Oizo, produced by none other than former Daft Punk robot Thomas Bangalter. All that in mind, is it wrong to feel disappointed by two tracks of plucked strings ("an ancient zither," according to the label)? The whole thing clocks in at ten minutes, and the B-side, "Âge Réel," is more or less a longer version of the title track. Both sound perfect for a surreal comedy about Salvador Dalí. Outside that context, they're completely unremarkable.
In a way this all makes sense. Bangalter, who made some of the best house music of all time and helped revolutionise electronic live performance for the big stage, can ease into his later years doing whatever he wants. Random classical albums, soundtracks for his friends, a beatless version of Daft Punk's worst album—fine. It's all part of a well-earned, slow-trot victory lap. But that doesn't mean we need to buy this stuff, and especially not this one. Daaaaaalí ! is not Irréversible, Bangalter's daring soundtrack to Gaspar Noé's nightmarish film. It's not even Daft Punk's bog standard orchestral score for Disney's Tron: Legacy. It is, simply put, a ten-minute nothing-burger propped up by a few big names. And, to be fair, a really nice poster.
TracklistA Daaaaaalí !
B Âge Réel