The Smiley Smile Message Board

from Brian's facebook page:
http://news.radio.com/2013/06/17/daft-punk-geeks-out-on-star-wars-paul-mccartney-brian-wilson-j-j-abrams/

The Daft Punk duo were originally part of group named after the Wild Honey album song Darlin'. The third member of that group went on to play in the french band Phoenix.
Basically they're huge fans and while this article does not offer anything specific it is interesting that they would actually seek a collaboration. Little do they know the deal probably would include Joe Thomas  ;D

Daft Punk with farty synths? Yes please.


Seriously, I want this to happen.

Ding Dang Dance Remix

I'm thinking more along the lines of a side that's nothin but Shortnin Bread

It would still sound more organic than the last live album we got.

I was saying all along that the C50 live album was a stealth Daft Puink audition! That vocoder sound on Mike and Brian's vocals can't be a coincidence.

This'd be sweet.

I've never heard of Daft Punk.

Am I old?

Imagine BW writing a song for them, doing some vocal arrangements and the rest would be up to them. It's never going to happen, though.

You've might have seen this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGBhQbmPwH8

If i did it was quickly forgotten.

By the 10 seconds I listened to, these people are near the top of the list of people who should not collaborate with Brian.

(Joe Thomas is in first place)

But they're hip.

Well, I'm hip........

REPLACEMENT

And I'm ship........

DISPLACEMENT

You should listen to the new record, Random Access Memories, a much more organic sound if One More Time isn't yr cup of tea. It's probably my favourite record of the year. Killer disco tunes, and some more ambitious proggier stuff - check out this one, featuring Paul Williams (and honky tonk disco) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ultt_7jHyxE

(also, you totally missed the best part of One More Time, the breakdown in the middle!)

If this happens I'll be as happy as a pig in swill. They do genuinely love him, too - a track on their first album called Teachers, they reel off a list of influences, mostly chicago house DJs, Dr Dre, George Clinton, but BW is also in there as like, the fifth mention out of 30 or 40. Also read an interview where they claim Good Vibrations is the one song they wish they'd written. I think this is sincere, and whilst you can debate the level of influence apparent in something like Homework or Human After All, I think their more outre pop moments have a debt - Touch, linked above, Digital Love, Fragments Of Time (off RAM, could totally have been a 70's Beach Boys cut if you squint), a lot of Discovery and RAM in places have a kindred spirit in Brian's approach, not just 'lets sing block harmonies about the beach' sycophancy. 

It's odd how Brian wasn't approached for RAM, which is full of collaborators they love - Nile Rogers, Paul Williams, Pharrell, DJ Falcon, Giorgio Moroder, Todd Edwards, numerous amazing session musos - but 2012 might not have been his most available year and I don't know how easy it is to approach Brian and his management for such things.

I imagine getting hold of the big man is a hard thing to do. I recall reading a few years back that Rivers Cuomo of Weezer has been interested in collaborating with him for a while but having difficulty getting through.

+1

I'd been playing it in the car so much that my 7 year old, whilst out with his mum, spotted the lp and convinced her to buy it for my Father's Day present!

It is a GREAT sounding album, with musicianship and production to rival Aja, Off The Wall and all those kind of hifi records from the 70s.

I think hip, relevant collaborations would be fantastic for BW but I fear adult contemporary is his bag now.

Speaking of Giorgio Moroder, I watched "scarface" yesterday and Moroder's bleak score makes the movie.

Moroder is a genius. First "discovered" him when I was about 5-6 years old.

Brian really needs to get in the studio with Daft Punk. The results would be incredibly interesting

Here's some stuff from their new album, RAM (Random Access Memories):

Get Lucky: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5EofwRzit0
Give Life Back To Music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRJOk7z4mws
Doin' It Right (featuring Animals Collective's Noah Lenox): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RA5PRj7KPkE
The Game Of Love: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlruAIr_H28
Giorgio By Morodor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m4ZkEqQrn0

What I wouldn't give for Brian to do an interview track like Giorgio Moroder did for his track.

RAM is an absolutely awful album filled with uninspired, throwaway "library" music... I think it'd be easy to judge what a BW collab would sound like based on the Panda Bear song. Just imagine Shortenin' Bread with vocoders and soulless club-style boom-tsch-clap-boom-tsch-clap drum machines. No thanks.

This is a little close to that, even though it's a two-second sample that appears only a few times http://youtu.be/eSdXuct5MDw

Panda Bear is, lets be real, nowhere near the artist Brian is. Brian's vocal arranging skills far outstrip Noah, as he operates via vocal loops and improvised harmony on top - Brian learnt from intricate jazz harmony and still applies those skills in his modern work.

Doin' it Right is my least favourite song off RAM, btw. Uninspired. Fragments Of Time is where it's at.

Reckon Daft Punk could have made From There To Back Again much more out there and innovative than JT ever did - I mean, listen to Touch off RAM.

I have and it sounds really tryhard. Panda Bear is not that compositionally inclined, but he's still several levels above a group that released what is essentially a compilation album filled with dozens of songs that they passed off as their own. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8Ndijo2ysM)

Anybody could do better than Joe Thomas.

You have a dim view of collaboration, methinks.

'I mean, Pet Sounds?! Smile?! Why was Brian trying to pass off Tony Asher & Van Dyke Parks' songs off as his own? He didn't write the lyrics! He even got other people to sing them!'

I am no fan of Daft Punk, though I know people who share a good deal of my musical tastes and who *are* fans of Daft Punk. So there is something in their music.

Whatever the merits of them....it shows that a current, hip, relevant band recognises Brian as the genius that he is...and would like to collaborate with him. It proves Brian is still relevant himself because he's still influencing the young'uns.

From reading about, it seems Daft Punk also like Paul McCartney but the guy they really revere is....Brian Douglas Wilson.

Brian is this mysterious pop God in a sense that anyone really can at least appreciate his contributions to music and immense musical creativity. Imo I see far more modern groups listing Beach Boys as part of their inspiration than any other band. Sure Beatles are great, but hard to transcend their musical style to modern music. Beach Boys is timeless.

Honestly, it is remarkable

The incredible range of people who have come out and credited Brian and The Beach Boys as a major influence. Daft Punk, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Fleet Foxes, Kanye West. Just to name a few. The man is loved by all.