The Robots Win Again
"Instant Crush (featuring Julian Casablancas)" by Daft Punk. Spoiler: I used to like the Cage the Elephant cover more. Yikes. Part 1 of my 2011-2013 golden era series
I truly believe some of the most heart-shattering lyrics ever sung in this human world are “one thousand lonely stars/hiding in the cold (*bu bu bum*)/take it/I don’t want to sing anymoreee (*epic and tragic guitar riff*).” That is right, “Instant Crush (by Julian Casablancas),” a song on an album with not one, not two, but now—with the release of the 10th Anniversary Edition of Random Access Memories— three Pharrell Williams features, has *objectively* one of the most beautifully sad songs on the planet. Maybe it takes three happy’s to balance out one sad. A question for another time.
I told a friend what I thought about these lyrics and this song and they said they ‘honestly don’t listen to the lyrics on that type of song,’ which I guess they meant EDM songs. Interestingly, in my Wikipedia research, I learned that only two songs on the album incorporate electronic drum kits — everything else is a live studio performance, even special sound effects like dripping water. They also took their vocals very seriously, spending weeks searching for the right vocodor and recording the lyrics. Random Access Memories is such a rich album, with so much amazing production on such a diverse range of songs. But this is not an album review! There are too many of those and I really only have the expertise to have opinions informed by my instincts alone.
The beauty of “‘Instant Crush” owes a lot to its production, but I think the lyrics are super striking on their own. I will admit right now I used to think the Cage the Elephant cover of “Instant Crush” was better than the original. I went through a huge Cage the Elephant phase, and I didn’t realize until I listened to them side by side that Matt Shultz nose voice is more jarring than it is moving. Nonetheless, I think that cover is good considering the challenge of covering a song when the original has flawless robot voices. And while I don’t relate to my friend who said they don’t listen to the lyrics when electronics are involved, I think that Cage the Elephant’s cover really highlights just how gut-wrenching those lyrics actually are— something about a human singer singing “I don’t want to sing anymore” is just a little more obviously tragic than the same lyrics filtered through a vocodor.
In my maturity, though, I have come to enjoy the subtlety of the robots. The lack of a human voice adds to the loneliness of the song. They are quiet and equanimous, and let the music carry the emotion. Let the music carry the heartbreak. Isn’t that one of the greatest functions of music, after all? Capturing the shattering complexity of human experience when words just won’t do? Even when we don’t want to sing anymore, we want to listen.
I forget the exact saying, but someone told me once, “you only know you are heartbroken when the lyrics start making sense,” or something along those lines. I think once you been so down bad you can’t even find the stars beautiful and don’t want to sing anymore, once your heart cracks like that and someone has put it into words for you? A robotic rendition is the only bearable way to digest that image ever again. But god it’s so beautiful. This song is amazing. So is the album. I have been listening to it a lot because of the 10th Anniversary release. “Infinity Repeating,” another Julian Casablancas feature, is a good addition, but my favorites are still from the original tracklist: “Instant Crush” (obviously), “Giorgio,” “Lose Yourself to Dance,” “Get Lucky,” and “Fragments of Time.”
I said in the deck this is the first in a series about “the 2011-2012 golden era.” My next project is gathering evidence to work towards what I mean by this, namely, trying to prove my thesis that 2012 was the best year for indie music in the 2010s. That could take a while, but in the mean time I might write more about old favorites because I’m getting old and nostalgic. Or I might write about something else. I am definitely going to listen to “Instant Crush” again right now and I am going to sing along.
Peace love happiness—but not too much happiness. That would be despicable!