u/Lucid47

Prior to giving a listen to this album, I’ve never heard a Daft Punk album from start to finish. Most of exposure towards their music comes from some of their biggest hits, like Get Lucky, One More Time, and Harder Better Faster Stronger, all of which are cool songs; in general I don’t particularly listen to this genre of music much though. I also know that they helped with making some of the songs on Kanye’s Yeezus, like On Sight or Black Skinhead, both of which are songs that I love. So going into listening to Discovery, I’d say my impression of their music was good for the most part.

Going song by song, to start, I love the party and celebratory vibe/sound on ‘One More Time’, and the bounce it has to it. Also, there’s something about it that subtly gives it a futuristic vibe; I think primarily due to the vocals. The part around the middle of the song that gets a lot more calm and solemn, and then gradually builds back up bringing back in all the other horns and sounds was great. And on this one, as well as many other songs on the album, I liked how they would just slowly transition/fade out of the song at the end.

Then on ‘Aerodynamic’, I liked how groovy the instrumental was, and all the techno sounds on the instrumental again added to that futuristic sound/vibe of the album. Also, the guitar break on it was pretty cool, and sounded quite familiar as I felt like I’ve heard from somewhere before.

‘Digital Love’ had just such an awesome feel good vibe to it, and the vocals on it kind of reminded me of the song ‘Fireflies’ by Owl City. The switch up in the instrumental around the middle of the song was pretty neat too, and the ending of the song at the part where they say ‘why dont you play the game’, yet again added to that robotic and futuristic feel to the album

‘Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger’ is nothing but nostalgic for me, as hearing the chorus of the song throws me back in time when I was a kid, and hearing both the original as well as on Stronger by Kanye. The vocal effects and remixing was great on it too. It’s hard not to emphasize how well the album does at sounding like it was from the future

The instrumental at the very start of ‘Crescendolls’ sounded the most intergalactic and alien-esque to me. And there was something about the repetition of the ‘heyy, everybody yall’ that felt like some sort of welcoming or parade of some sort for people travelling in space.

‘Nightvision’, at this point in the album, was by far the most peaceful, and calm song. It was very dreamy, and kind of fit in with the outer space aesthetic/vibe of the album. Like floating in outer space slowly, and seeing all the stars that go by.

All the repetition of ‘something’s in the air’ all throughout ‘Superheroes’ felt like a huge/grand build up towards the next song. And I loved the sounds introduced into the instrumental around the 1 minute mark. It sounded so beautiful, motivating and uplifting; it was just really nice. And then the ending of the song was just as nice and beautiful. 

Then I liked the vocals used on ‘High Life’. Upon first hearing it, I thought it was a sample from a Madonna song or something lol. This was yet another party song you could just get lost listening and dancing to. And the slowly fading outro felt really fitting for it too. I could imagine this being used during like an ending credits scene for a movie, and as it fades out, the film also fades as everyone’s just dancing to it.

‘Something About Us’ was yet another mad groovy song, but also quite chill at the same. The lyrics, vocal performance and melody on the song was great too, and despite being short, it felt really captivating, heartfelt and romantic.

‘Voyager’ again was another party type song, you cant help but just move and dance to. And I thought the airy sound used throughout the instrumental was quite nice. Towards the later half of the song, the instrumental then began sounding like it was straight from a Zelda game or something. And again, the slow fade out transition was a fitting end to the song.

The instrumental on ‘Veridis Quo’ sounded like it was from RuneScape to me and had a nostalgic feel to it for me. And the sounds brought in around the middle of the song added that futuristic feel, almost like travelling in outer space

‘Short Circuit’ had a more upbeat futuristic sound and vibe to it. The sounds used on the instrumental kind of reminded me of an OST or outro song from like a 90s show, particularly like YuYu Hakusho for me. The switch up/slow down around the middle part of the song was nice, and then the gradually increasing distortion/static on the song towards the end was curious, and had me a bit confused.

‘Face to Face’ was another smooth and groovy song, and the singing and verses by Todd Edwards on it was great. The remixing of his vocals on the chorus was pretty cool, the faint flute sound on the beat towards the latter half was nice, and I liked how the song ended, with him just saying ‘when you finally get involved face to face~’

Lastly, on ‘Too Long’, the repetition of ‘can you feel it’ was very catchy, and the vocals sounded real passionate too, even with just the little mmm’s and yeahh’s. The slight beat switch later on adding to the bounce of the song was cool, and I liked the build up towards the part where he says ‘you know you need it, hey~’, and how that was just repeated the entire time until it began fading out in the outro. 

This was a really fun, feel good album, and I had a good time listening to it. I’m curious to know when yall first heard the album, and how yall feel about it now? Also, did anyone hear it upon its initial release? And if so, what was that like and how was the initial reception towards it early on?

I’ve seen Lil B around for as long as I could remember. Whether it be from memes, or just simply seeing the thumbnails to his music videos on youtube. I’m aware of how he’s considered to be quite influential and is pretty revered, but I never sat down and gave a full listen to them, until just a few days ago. I gave a listen to some of his songs with my friend, namely ‘I Love You’, ‘I’m God’, ‘B.O.R’, ‘I Own Swag’, and ‘D.O.R’

I thought the beat on ‘I Love You’ was great. I loved how airy and heavenly it sounded (someone let me know that Jpegmafia produced it I think). But, right off the bat, his vocals and flow sounded pretty odd to me. Like, it kind of reminded me of like a mix of Icejjfish and Flightreacts in a way. On one hand it sounded bad, but simultaneously there was a sort of an appeal to it too.

The next song we heard was ‘I’m God’, which kind of surprised me in the sense that it sounded pretty decent. Like, I thought I was gonna hear something like ‘I Love You’ again, but that wasn’t the case. The beat, as well as his performance was solid on it. 

Same thing with ‘B.O.R’ I loved the sample used on the song. I also generally loved how nostalgic these songs felt; they had real heavy late 2000s to early 2010s vibes to them. 

And then with ‘D.O.R’, I liked the somewhat darker and grim vibe/aesthetic to this one. Definitely fitting toward the name of the song.

‘I Own Swag’ was the one other song where, it sounded a bit off to me, primarily because he sounded a bit off beat. But aside from that, the production and 808s used throughout it kind of reminded me of like a less distorted version of what I’d hear on the beat of like a hype X song.

So yeah, for the longest time, I thought Lil B was just a meme/‘joke’ type of rapper, especially after hearing ‘I Love You’, seeing the music videos, and the video titles. But the songs were not bad and sounded okay for the most part. 

I’m curious to know, during the time when he was releasing these songs and music videos initially, what the perception towards him and his music was, and how it has changed compared to now where he’s quite respected and given his flowers?