As the title suggests, the group’s second album goes in new directions. Dropping the guise of rebel ravers who have cornered the market on crafty originality, the twosome embrace a world of kitsch. The album’s single, “One More Time,” is the embodiment of the group’s newfound infatuation with disco. The song’s funky loops and tacky vocals by Romanthony — who sounds frighteningly like Cher in “Believe” — is a throwback to Europop. Nearly every track on the disc calls to mind a cheap disco or pop artist from the ’70s — “Digital Love” has echoes of Abba, “Something About Us” sounds like Daryl Hall, and “Crescendolls” could pass for early Prince. All the while, bad synthesizers and sappy computer-altered vocals fill the songs, especially “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” and “Short Circuit.” Fortunately, Daft Punk doesn’t just regurgitate old beats; it creates ambient scores in songs such as “Voyager,” “Veridis Quo,” and the album’s best dance track, “Face to Face,” which features singer Todd Edwards. But in the end, Discovery is a shameless excursion into the corporate world of pop, led by music’s all-time pop hybrid bastard: disco.
This article appears in Mar 22-28, 2001.