Throbbing industrial disco anyone? Or maybe a menacing dose of atmospheric synth music with a pulse that would make the soundtrack to Midnight Express seem tame? Homework (Virgin), the debut of the instrumental European duo Daft Punk, is a schizophrenic blend of textural techno-house and meandering moodiness. "We're young; We didn't grow up with the house music revolution," admits Frenchman Thomas Bangalter, pointing to a set of influences more classic American (Brian Wilson, Tom Verlaine) than ecstasy-drenched. "We can't claim to have bought all the original house music records. We didn't even start going out to clubs till '92." For being homebodies, Daft Punk manages expansive dynamics in a genre where complacency is often the norm. "We like hip-hop and '60s guitar bands like the Seeds and funk music but we don't try to recreate things," he says. Often muted in tone and tempered with wry commentary (see authoritarian voiceover on the song "Teachers"), Daft Punk work hard to keep things impure. Think of Kraftwerk with a harder edge; Yello on Prozac; Twin Peaks with a backbeat or Chic acting out Stomp dance routines with tin cans. "Daftendirekt," with its thudding machines and hushed verbal directives, starts off in a druggy aggravating haze. The relentless drum and twitchy telephoning of "Rollin' & Scratchin'" are intoxicating enough to make you scream Vertigo! The duo's emotive spinning forges something musty and unclean, far from electronica's sheen. ("We use electronics and we have a raw sound, but that's all," says Bangalter.) Hey, they don't even get into those clubby wonder drugs like X. "It's very bad when you're trying to make music because it controls your musical tastes," he explains. Whether tampering with speeds, screwing with drum machines or blurring once-beautiful synths with dirty, scratchy bits of nonsense, Daft Punk is always unpredictable.
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