Giorgio Moroder, the electronic music pioneer and "father of disco" who wrote and scored dozens of soundtracks from the '70s and '80s, has teamed up with neo electro act Daft Punk for their upcoming album.
Daft Punk, despite their newfound celebrity in the post-millennial era, have actually only released three proper studio albums in the past two decades, the last of which was the highly controversial 2005 Human After All. That album was actually my introduction to them and it holds a special place for me in the summer of '05 when I graduated from high school. I loved it then and I still do now. But after their live album and score for Tron, it's going to be interesting to see what they do next.
Now Moroder, who is age 72, has recorded a rap with Daft Punk in which he speaks about his life and career making electronic music. They set him up in a recording booth and asked him to speak about his experiences from each decade starting with the '60s while speaking into microphones from the corresponding era. Supposedly he asked if anyone would know the difference and the sound engineer responded "They will know." Because this is Giorgio Moroder we're talking about.
Nile Rodgers and Paul Williams are also working on the album.
If you look at Giorgio Moroder's discography, it's lengthy on collaborations but short on straight up studio releases. But I guess when you're the person who created "The Chase" for Midnight Run and helped Donna Summer make the prototypical trance song "I Feel Love", you don't need to prove yourself. Not surprisingly, his work also drops off the radar in the early '90s (although not before one last tango with Ms. Summer with the excellent "Carry On") and has not done any producing that I'm aware of this century. But because his original works were so mesmerizing and his physical appearance in the '70s and '80s so cheesily memorable (handlebar mustache, aviator sunglasses), he has been cited as the source of inspiration for countless electronic music artists across several generations and is a household name. Which means that since he hasn't made many appearances, he's ripe for a comeback. He's already expressed interest in working with Nicki Minaj and Rihanna.
Now if only someone could coax Harold Faltermeyer out of the shadows.
