All the Grid’s a stage — for robots

Max TamahoriA&E EditorThere shouldn’t be any doubt in anyone’s mind that a Daft Punk record is long overdue. The duo — French robots Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo — last emerged from their Paris studio with the stripped-down-electro, viciously addicting “Human After All” in 2005. The world begged for more, and the two took to their pyramid and produced the Grammy Award-winning “Alive 2007” while on a 48-date world tour.But then they vanished, receding from the public eye without a trace to leave the music industry without a single remix or collaboration with the Daft Punk stamp. The world again begged for more, but the lords of electronic music did not answer.Or so we thought. The world’s favorite robots hadn’t been chilling in the south of France or on Mars … far from it, actually. For right before the final leg of the “Alive 2006/2007” tour, KCRW music director Jason Bentley and freshman film director Joseph Kosinski tapped Daft Punk for potential involvement in musically contributing to the remake of a 1982 Disney sci-fi cult hit.“[Daft Punk] are very meticulous; they don’t do anything without thinking about it,” Kosinski said in an interview/soundtrack preview conducted by Bentley last month. “They wanted to make sure that this was something they could commit themselves to, creatively and completely.”After a year of courtship with the studio and two years of production in the U.K., the soundtrack to the upcoming “Tron: Legacy” was released last week.And they didn’t disappoint. For a group that is at the center of the canon of electronic music, Daft Punk are not only living up to their reputation, but also breaking out of the “dance” label and establishing themselves as media-hopping maestros who are as comfortable and successful with a symphony orchestra as they are with a synthesizer.Tracks like “Solar Sailer” and “Falling” illustrate Daft Punk’s raw musical power and genius through their seamless integration of hardcore electro elements and traditional orchestral themes.“[We all] knew we wanted to create a classic film score that blended electronic and orchestral music in a way that hadn’t been done before,” Kosinski said. “It was a pretty amazing process.”What really sets this apart from the majority of other scores is the fact that the film was largely edited to fit the music. Most soundtracks are primarily supplemental affairs that add color to what’s happening onscreen, but after listening to tracks like the explosive, glitched-out “The Game Has Changed” or the unsettling and powerful “C.LU.,” one gets the sense that the music is as critical to the cinematic experience as the images.“When you’re going to be so married to a musical piece there are certain rhythmic beats or cycles that you can’t fight,” Kosinski said in his interview with Bentley. “There are scenes where really the picture is cut to the music … those tracks would come in and they’d inspire you to add more energy to the cut or take the edit in a slightly different direction.”“Tron: Legacy” doesn’t hit theaters until this Friday, Dec. 17, so all we can do is hope that the film lives up to its soundtrack.But now, “Tron” aside, the big question: will Daft Punk tour? Can they construct a performance with a film score as the base? If anyone can, it’s Bangalter and de Homem-Christo; they’re bad-ass sonic architects who can make a catchy mash-up out of anything in their repertoire. Imagine classic Daft Punk hooks mixed with punchy brass lines, their signature arpeggiated synth lines working in tandem with spiccato orchestral strings — it can work.And it’s worth noting for potential Coachella revelers that … well, we’ll see when April rolls around.

Key tracks on Tron:

Derezzed: Daft Punk released this as the first official, full length song on a trailer cut to the track's pumping, four-on-the-floor beat. Plenty of heavy modulation and digital blips.Solar Sailer: Probably the most beautiful of them all. A steady electronic bass provides the perfect foundation for the following entrances of majestic and yearning orchestral parts.End of Line: Bangalter and de Homem-Christo are making a cameo appearance in the film as "DJ Programs" during a nightclub scene, with this track accompanying it. This slower club track features a down-tempo backbeat and a simple analog bassline.Fall: This track cuts right to the chase with a ruthlessly grainy kick pattern, then adds a screaming crescendo of white noise behind a rhythmic string line and sustained brass chords. Epic.Adagio for TRON: This one's a complete departure from anything one would expect to hear from Daft Punk. Slow, string-heavy and slightly cheesy.mtamahori@thesamohi.com