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Watch Panda Bear Gush Over Daft Punk for ‘Collaborators’ Video

panda bear, daft punk, random access memories, the collaborators

Daft Punk’s ridiculously anticipated fourth album, Random Access Memories, arrives on May 21 via Columbia Records and the French duo continue to build excitement with the latest entry in “The Collaborators,” a video series that spotlights the album’s, uh, collaborators. We’ve already heard from Random guests Giorgio Moroder, Todd Edwards, Nile Rodgers, and Pharrell Williams, and now Animal Collective’s Panda Bear (a.k.a. Noah Lennox) has offered his perspective on the Human After All follow-up. 

In the above eight-and-a-half-minute clip, the Tomboy singer talks about his reverence for the “ritualness” of dance music, discusses how he and his brother bonded over a shared love of Daft Punk’s debut album (1997’s Homework), and admits that before he was summoned to Paris to record something for RAM, he repeatedly asked DP’s Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo if they would remix some of his own music (alas, the disco droids declined). Lennox doesn’t divulge many details about the three days he spent with the Discovery pair, but says they came up with a sound that worked “right at the last moment.” 

“It’s a huge honor for me, but to talk about it more than that is still a little bit difficult at this point,” he says. “I feel like it’s a cool way to say thanks for the inspiration.” 

Daft Punk seem to appreciate the gesture — they recently described Panda Bear’s vocals on Random Access Memories track “Doin’ It Right” as “angelic.” 

Be sure to check out SPIN’s recent Daft Punk-focused feature, Digital Love: 9 Great Internet Remixes of Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky.”