See, for me, it's more than half-baked disco and so any vocoder use just makes what I see as a good disco/pop record sound more like trademark Daft Punk. I'd find it odd if they didn't use it.

Yes but that's like saying... okay, imagine if The Sword transitioned to indie pop for their next album. Except they kept the sick metal riffs, because listening to The Sword would be odd without sick metal riffs, right? But would indie pop actually sound good with sick metal riffs? I ****ing doubt it. It's using a tool on a medium where it doesn't really belong.

Who is to say it doesn't belong?

I personally agree its more suited to their older material, but I don't agree that it sounds out of place or hurts this one.

Yes, but that's not the best example seeing as Daft Punk have been known to do things a bit different. The Sword have never really gone away from their sound, whereas a lot of Daft Punk's music has some significant difference, which is why I wasn't too bothered by the way they went with RAM.

Interesting take. I love that description.
It totally works for me though. Like many, I'm fairly addicted to the album.

Well, I don't think this is true but I do think Daft Punk have made a far more significant shift in their sound and personally I feel it works. I don't feel that the use of a vocoder or anything else has hurt the transition or the output.

RVCA and myself have a tendency to see eye to eye but I think this will have to be an exception. It's a fair point to make if thats how he feels, and given the mixed reviews and feedback I don't think he's short of people to share his opinion with. I just don't agree with him.

Out of the four albums that they've released, only one of them has really been known to be a bit "cleaner" in terms of difference. Otherwise, I find that any changes they have made have been pretty subtle. And as you said, it's more noticeable with Daft Punk.

I think they have changed their sound gradually, only slightly with each record. I do think that if you compare their debut to the new one though, there is a shift. Maybe not as noticeable as Daft Punk but there definitely is one.

I think the album is ear candy and pleasant to listen to. I hear a lot of '70s disco influences reminiscent of Nile Rodgers/Chic productions. Daft Punk could do a whole lot worse in his choice of a musical direction.

*Their.

Two dudes, dude.