Daft Punk collaborator Nile Rodgers has told his story of working with the French electronic duo on their upcoming record Random Access Memories in the latest installment of ongoing series The Collaborators.
Playing on 3 tracks, according to a recently leaked guest artist list, the legendary producer spoke fondly about teaming up with Daft Punk and how the pair inspired Rodgers to up his already more than impressive game:
“When I worked with the guys it wasn’t just like I was Nile Rodgers doing a session or collaborating. It was inspired by people and artists that make you go to another level. They make you up your game, even if your game is pretty good.
“On Random Access Memories I wanted to be Nile but I wanted to be a new Nile.”
A self-described virtuoso of disco, Rodgers relished the opportunity to play with Daft Punk and help revitalise the dance music of the past and fuse it with the dance music of not only today but also the future:
“They’re in a style of music that I think I’m a virtuoso, I know pretty well. And I feel like I’m working with contemporaries. I feel like I’m working with people who grew up with me and who feel it the same way we felt the vibe when we were creating this stuff. It’s like they went back to go forward.
“Where I come from groove is everything. Groove is something that’s rewarding on a spiritual level, on a primal level, an intellectual level and a physical level. I mean, you feel it.”
As for how Rodgers and Daft Punk came together, Nile explains that they originally met by happenstance and had longed to work with each other but fate seemed to intervene until recently:
“90% if not higher of all recordings that I’ve ever made in my life have been the result of a very impromptu initial meeting that feels so natural and so organic that you have to take it to the next level.
“And that’s what’s happened here. We met years ago at a Daft Punk listening party in New York. And we almost hooked up in Paris … all of these close shaves and the next thing you know they said, ‘Hey, man, we’re in New York recording come on down to the studio. And it really basically happened in a really organic way.”
The interview also touches on Electric Ladyland, Jimi Hendrix’s legendary studio where Daft Punk recorded Random Access Memories and Rodgers old stomping ground, who used to jam at the venue before it became a studio and was still nightclub.
Check out the full episode below.
Watch: Daft Punk – The Collaborators Episode 3: Nile Rodgers
http://youtu.be/da_Yp9BOCaI
