Doing Daft Punk’s Homework

By Delia Macpherson, Staff Contributor

Grade: B+

On Saturday, Jan. 16 at the Seahorse Tavern, Scientists of Sound performed Daft Punk’s debut album Homework: one of the most innovative and foolproof electronic albums of our time. And they did a bang up job.
Besides the usual hang-ups of any good show worth seeing: sobering 30-minute wait in line, over priced alcohol, hard-nosed bouncers and a packed dance floor, for the most part the night went on without fault.
Scientists of Sound have clearly put hundreds of hours into perfecting the album, studying it and mastering ever little detail that makes Daft Punk’s work undeniably good.
The accuracy of each song was staggering. It was truly nothing other than a privilege to watch the music being performed live.
The boys from Scientists of Sound are Aaron Collier and Craig Mercer, who both play a variety of instruments. Grand Theft Bus drummer Bob Deveau and Ruby Jean and the Thoughtful Bees producer Colin Crowell joined them.
The show started late: after midnight. The thousands of dollars of equipment found on stage was entertainment in itself. Hundreds of cables and chords covered the stage.
As the show was about to start, three figures clad in lab coats and scary animal masks took their positions on stage. The crowd went wild. Scientists of Sound kicked the night off with “Daftendirekt”, the first track on the album.
Musically, creatively and artistically speaking, the show was one of the best I’ve seen in the past few months. After speaking to a dozen random people at the show, all I heard were good things.
But there was something a little strange about the evening: the shocking amount of people who were completely and totally fucked out of their brains on ecstasy.
The common side effects according to Wikipedia are: mental and physical euphoria, mild psychedelia (enhanced colours and sounds), increased urge to communicate with others, enhanced sensation, reduced insecurity, defensiveness, and fear of emotional injury.
There are also side effects overlooked by Wikipedia: every 20 seconds or so feeling the need to yell, “I’m on ecstasy!”
People were falling over, they were crying, they were puking. It was chaos. Scattered groups of people drank casually and enjoyed the music, but for the most part the crowd didn’t seem to be appreciating the talent of the artists. Great show, tough crowd.