Homework

The debut album, made at home in Paris over about five months and sequenced to fill four sides of vinyl.
Daft Punk, 1997

Released: 20 January 1997
Studio: Daft House, Paris
Label: Virgin Records, Soma Quality Recordings
Producer: Daft Punk

Making it

Daft Punk signed to Virgin in 1996 after the success of their Soma singles. They planned to keep releasing singles, then realized they had enough material for an album. The title refers to recording at home: Bangalter said they made it "at home, very cheaply, very quickly, and spontaneously". The album was mixed and recorded in their Paris studio, Daft House, and mastered by Nilesh Patel at the Exchange in London. Bangalter said they made so many tracks over five months that they realized they had a good album. The order was set to cover the four sides of a two-disc vinyl set.

Pitchfork reported that the pair worked no more than eight hours a week and described a setup of two sequencers, a few samplers, synths, drum machines and effects, and a Zip drive. Bangalter said the point of control was freedom, and the duo owns the masters through Daft Trax while Virgin holds distribution rights.

The tracks

Daftendirekt is an excerpt of a live set recorded in Ghent on 10 November 1995 and opens the record as it opened their shows. WDPK 83.7 FM is a tribute to American FM radio, and Revolution 909 reflects the French government's stance on dance music, with police sirens and megaphone orders to stop the music. Teachers lists the duo's influences, among them George Clinton and Dr. Dre, and nods to Romanthony, DJ Sneak and Todd Edwards. Alive is the final version of The New Wave, and Funk Ad is a reversed clip of Da Funk.

The singles were Da Funk, Around the World, Burnin' and Revolution 909. A video collection, D.A.F.T.: A Story About Dogs, Androids, Firemen and Tomatoes, followed in 1999. Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry and Roman Coppola were among the directors.

Packaging and reception

The cover shows Homem-Christo's wordmark on the back of a satin jacket, and variations of the logo were the cover of every studio album until Random Access Memories. Only 50,000 CDs were pressed at first, since the duo wanted most copies on vinyl.

Homework reached number 3 in France, number 8 in the UK and number 150 on the Billboard 200. It went gold in France in 1999 and in the US on 11 July 2001. BBC Music's Chris Power wrote in 2010 that it could have been a superb 40-minute album but that at almost twice that length it had longueurs, and that the rise of the robots started here. Clash called it the accessible entry point for a movement on the cusp of splitting the mainstream seam. In 2012 Rolling Stone placed it first on its list of the greatest EDM albums.

Track listing

Daftendirekt2:44
WDPK 83.7 FM0:28
Revolution 9095:26
Da Funk5:28
Phoenix4:55
Fresh4:03
Around the World7:07
Rollin' & Scratchin'7:26
Teachers2:52
High Fidelity6:00
Rock'n Roll7:32
Oh Yeah2:00
Burnin'6:53
Indo Silver Club4:32
Alive5:15
Funk Ad0:50

Personnel

Thomas Bangalter performance, production, sleeve concept, art direction
Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo performance, production, sleeve concept, art direction
Nilesh Patel mastering
Nicolas Hidiroglou cover and central photograph
Philippe Lévy black and white live photograph

More from Daft Punk

Discovery (2001), Human After All (2005), Random Access Memories (2013)

Sources

Homework (Daft Punk album), Wikipedia
Daft Punk: Homework, Pitchfork (2018-12-02)
Daft Punk Homework Review, BBC Music (2010)
Classic Albums: Daft Punk - Homework, Clash
The 30 Greatest EDM Albums of All Time: Daft Punk, Homework, Rolling Stone (2012-08-02)