Daft Punk at Coachella

When I went to Coachella in 2004 my favorite band to see was not Radiohead or the Pixies...it was Basement Jaxx. And I never would have been sure how cool they were unless I saw them.

This year I gave away my Coachella ticket (what am I thinking) and it turned out one of the really suprisingly cool acts was Daft Punk.

I don't know what I think of live blogging events like concerts but some people have blogged about them.

• cool photo from last night
• video from last night - poor audio quality, but check out the crowd reaction
• past video

And then you get free market analysis

Daft Punk's music has, IMO, an advantage over other electronic acts in terms of appealing to mainstream audiences, and I think this advantage is based on their simplicity. Yes, Daft Punk makes simple, 4/4 based music which rarely strays from the techno/house framework. They do, however, bring a lot of personality and texture to the music, giving it an advanteage over more austere techno acts. But ultimately, I think Daft Punk may be more successful in terms of crossover appeal than other, less orthodox dance acts just because their music is so damnedly simple and primal. I'm convinced that dance music, at its core, is universally appealing, and that only the weird socialization of American culture under the dominance of record companies prevents dance music from being more popular here.

I don't think most people can tell the difference between ad and content, but what people are talking about also leads to additional searches and purchases. Posted at May 1, 2006 1:15 AM