DJ Cassidy feat Robin Thicke & Jessie J - Calling All Hearts

After the massive success of Daft Punk's "Get Lucky", Duke Dumont's "Need U 100%" and Storm Queen's "Look Right Through" (as remixed by MK) throughout the world, there has been a recent revival of the Disco sound. DJ Cassidy's new project on Columbia records involved nearly a dozen major players in the music industry, fusing together sounds of the past and present. Robin Thicke and Jessie J sound perfectly at home on this stunning Disco number, complementing each other so well. This has all the makings of a club hit and a possible crossover hit.

Listen to the original here (YouTube)

Grade: A+

Cazwell - No Selfie Control

Rapper Cazwell is known for his sometimes outrageous and humorous songs, videos, and performances. This song is a biting commentary on selfies (the act of taking a photo of oneself on their smartphone) and the subsequent posting of the photos on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Vine. He half raps, half sings the song that most of could relate to over an instrumental bearing a striking resemblance to Daft Punk's massive hit "Get Lucky." The accompanying music video features Cazwell taking selfies in various states of undress. This song is lots of fun.

-Watch the music video here (YouTube)

-Buy the song and music video here (iTunes)

Grade: A-

Jessie Andrews - I Never Knew

This is new single from the adult film actress, DJ, singer, and jewelry designer. It is a throwback to mid 90s French House. With the recent revival of retro sounding club tracks, most notably by Daft Punk and Duke Dumont, this one follows that style. The song has only a few lyrics, but they are sung pleasantly. The looped vocals definitely call to mind some of Daft Punk's dubbier tracks. The production changes up enough though so it compensates for there being only a few lyrics. Overall, this is a fun song.

Listen to the song:
 

Buy it here (Beatport), or here (Amazon), or here (iTunes)

Grade: A-

Daft Punk feat Pharrell Williams - Lose Yourself To Dance

This is the followup to the surprise international success that was "Get Lucky." This also features Pharrell Williams on vocals. Given his return to the music scene with a number of production and vocal appearances, this should also do fairly well, though not quite on the same scale as "Get Lucky." The repetitive nature of the vocals and production will necessitate a succinct edit. The funky song's tempo is a bit slower, but that would really help it to stand out on radio.

Listen to the song here (YouTube)

Grade: A-

Daft Punk - Get Lucky (Daft Punk Remix)

After a whole slough of bootleg mixes flooded the market, the first and probably only official remix of the song has surfaced. Staying with the Disco aesthetic of the song, they opted for a mix which doesn't stray much from the original. The song has been re-arranged considerably with some new sounds and changes to the way the vocals are sequenced, particularly during the chorus. The song has an overall fuller, warmer sound to it. The single edit had some of that though it seemed like the album version was missing that.

Listen to the full mix:
 

Grade: A

Daft Punk - Get Lucky (feat Pharrell Williams)

The French duo's first studio album in almost 8 years, entitled Random Access Memories will be released in a few weeks. The first single is a collaboration with the legendary Nile Rogers (formerly of Chic) and singer/producer Pharrell Williams (of N.E.R.D. and The Neptunes). "Get Lucky" is a funky Disco-flavored number with Pharrell singing in falsetto for much of it. He is a perfect match for the smooth, soulful production. The song sounds like it could have been made during the Disco heyday of the 70s, but it sounds fresh. With Dance music being ubiquitous on Pop radio right now, it would be an excellent opportunity to send this song to that format. Only the Radio Edit is available right now. The full album version that is 2 minutes longer will be released later on, probably when the album is.

-Purchase the song here (iTunes)
-Purchase the song here (Amazon)

Grade: A

Kanye meets Daft Punk

Kanye West doing Dance music? Okay. It's sort of true, but not really. Mr. West has creatively sampled from French Electronica duo Daft Punk's 2001 club hit "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger." The robotic vocal hook from the chorus makes a very regular appearance in Kanye's empowerment song "Stronger." This may seem like an unlikely marriage of Kanye's fierce rhymes and these robotic vox, but it works. In fact, it works very well. This is not the first time Daft Punk's music has inspired a hip hop/rap track. A few choice vocals from "Technologic" became the basis for the chorus of "Touch It" by Busta Rhymes which burned up the radio and music video channel airwaves.

Taken from his forthcoming Graduation album, this song is a breath of fresh air amongst the various other new songs that contain a rather familiar sample. The music video is very futuristic and high tech and goes very well with the nature of the song.

Grade: A-