Daft Punk's 10 Best Non-Daft Punk Productions

It's been a year since Daft Punk took over the music scene with Random Access Memories, and at this point it's pretty safe to say that what the Beatle

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Complex Original

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It's been a year since Daft Punk took over the music scene with Random Access Memories, and at this point it's pretty safe to say that what the Beatles were to rock and roll, Daft Punk are to electronic dance music. With a Daft Punk documentary announced for 2015, it'll be interesting to find out more about the lives and creative process behind the robot masks of Thomas Bangalter and Guy Manuel de Homem-Christo. You'd be excused if you weren't aware that the two have produced a significant number of tracks outside of Daft Punk. We've decided to to take a moment to look at the best non-Daft Punk tracks they've put out. Just like their music, it spans a wide variety of style and gives some cool insight into their influences and tastes.

Stardust - "Music Sounds Better With You"

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If we were to actually crown a best track produced by the Daft Punk guys that is not a Daft Punk track then this would be it. This was produced by the French house dream team of Thomas Bangalter, Alan Brax,e and Benjamin Diamond. We can't put on this 1998 track without dancing. It's a scientific law. If y'all were into dance music in the late '90s, this was your jam, and was both a Mixmag #11 pick for greatest dance songs of all time and a Pitchfork top 50 pick for greatest songs of the '90s.

Together - "Together"

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In the early 2000s, Thomas Bangalter and DJ Falcon paired up to form the group Together. The two biggest tracks were this one and "So Much Love To Give." Some people have critiqued them as being very repetitive, but they don't get how they work. Pop either track into your phone or iPod or Discman and go for a stroll through your town or, even better, hop on a bus or streetcar and just look at the world. The repeated lyrics become like a mantra building to a type of sustained mental climax.

Le Knight Club - "Holiday On Ice"

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Guy Manuel de Homem-Christo co-founded the Crydamoure record label in 1997 with Eric Chedeville. Those two released several tracks on the label under the name Le Knight Club (get it?). It's a more raw and simple sound than Daft Punk, but infectuous in its own way. This track is a bouncy house stomper that should have no problem making your head bop. We bet it's doing it now.

Thomas Bangalter - "Spinal Scratch"

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While Guy Manuel had his label, Thomas Bangalter also created his own imprint Roulé back as early as 1995. It had some key releases like the one from Stardust, but this could be the most interesting release. If there was ever proof needed that Thomas Bangalter is a virtuoso, this is it. It's a groundbreaking mix of chopped funky guitar samples and scratching by Bangalter himself. It's like a foundation stone for French house.

Kavinsky - "Nightcall"

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We bet most of you didn't know this track was a co-production with Guy Manuel de Homem-Christo; check the liner notes. As if you needed more proof of the sheer awesomess and versatility of the Daft Punk guys. Like, when you watch the movie Drive and this song comes on at the beginning, it just gets you on board with it. This track has so much swag that both Lupe Fiasco and Childish Gambino had to rhyme of it.

Le Knight Club - "Nymphae Song"

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Had to have another Le Knight Club track in here because they made quite a few solid French disco house tracks. This is the kinda track you listen to at a club on the French Riviera coast. Goes well with supermodels, Cannes film festival parties, and loose inhibitions.

Alan Braxe - "Vertigo (Virgo Mix)"

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The first half of this track is another showcase of Thomas Bangalter's genius. He starts it off like its a minimal track until it finally erupts into a disco house rush where you feel like you should be partying on a rooftop in Paris. He makes this track like a considerate lover. He takes his time to get to the crazy stuff teasing you with the payoff.

Bob Sinclar - "Gym Tonic"

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There's a controversy around this track. It's credited to Bob Sinclar and it's on his Paradise album, but it actually a collaboration with Thomas Bangalter. It's been theorized that he disassociated himself from it after Jane Fonda, whose voice was sampleled from her famous '80s workout videos, wouldn't give them the rights. Sinclar puled a YOLO and put the track on his album anyway, but Bangalter prefered to have nothing to do with it.

Sebastien Tellier - "Divine"

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This one is a little wacky, but the video is so endearing that it has to be included. For those who know the antics of Sebastien Tellier this is par for course but if you're not familar I suggest you look him up as his music is good and his videos are hilarious. This track is produced by Guy Manuel de Homem-Christo, and was a surprising entry from France in the 2008 Eurovision song contest. It didn't win.

Thomas Bangalter & DJ Falcon - "Call On Me"

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This track actually has quite the tale behind it. I'm sure a lot of you are scratching your heads right now–isn't this an Eric Prydz track? It is, and we're all familiar with the infamous, vaguely pornographic aerobic studio music video that helped make the track famous. The curious thing about sampling, however, is that permission is usually an afterthought. Turns out Thomas Bangalter and DJ Falcon were using that vocal loop from Steve Winwood's "Valerie" as a DJ tool "years before" Eric Prydz produced "Call On Me." While there's a noticeable difference between the polish of this DJ edit and Prydz' cleared and released final version, there's no denying the clear, almost 1-for-1 basis that Bangalter and Falcon's production provided for the version of "Call On Me" that we all know today.

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