Discovery - Daft Punk | Iconic Album Covers

Discovery 's futuristic artwork​ by Daft Punk

In our series of Iconic Album Covers, it ’s the turn of Discovery by Daft Punk ! Sometimes you see an album cover and you know : this is a time capsule. An image that looks back and forward. The cover of Discovery , Daft Punk ’s second studio album , is a perfect example of this . In glittering letters, as if they were stuck on an arcade machine from 1983 , there is only Daft Punk . No robots, no album title, no photo, just a logo that says as much as an entire chapter of music history.

With Discovery Daft Punk took a new path . Less underground techno, more pop, funk and rock influences. But always with that typical robotic soul . And the cover? It sums it all up in one luminous design.

Retro- futurism

The album was released in 2001 , at the beginning of the new millennium. Technology was central to the culture, but also a nostalgia for the 70s and 80s was growing . Discovery plays into this perfectly musically and visually : the logo on the cover is written in a metallic, luminous font that recalls airbrushed arcade art , old-school sci-fi movies , and glam rock . The black background makes the logo appear to glow in space : a sparkling neon sign in the digital void .

That feeling of retro- futurism - old styles in a new guise - is the essence of Daft Puink and Discovery . Think samples of George Duke, Electric Light Orchestra and Edwin Birdsong , mixed with futuristic production and robot voices. The cover reflects that perfectly.

The Makers: Roboticons as Artists

The artwork was designed by Cédric Hervet ( Daft Punk 's creative director ) and graphic designer So Me , in close collaboration with the duo themselves: Thomas Bangalter and Guy- Manuel de Homem- Christo . As always, they controlled every aspect of their visual presentation. The robot identity they fully embraced on this album also had consequences for the design: No faces, no poses, no band photos. Their identity has long been a mystery, but on their first album Homework we saw childhood photos of the 2 members! The cover is anonymous and recognizable at the same time, just like the music.

Discovery as a total project: music, images and animation

What Discovery What makes it extra special is that the artwork does not stand alone . The entire album was visually translated into the anime film Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem , directed by Kazuhisa Takenouchi , with animation master Leiji Matsumoto as art director.

With this Daft Punk made Discovery a total experience : music , image, story and style came together. The cover feels like the front of a portal — you put on the record and step into another world .

This cover doesn't have the raw emotion of Nevermind for example , nor the nostalgia of The Freewheelin' , but rather a Smooth, stylized perfection . Exactly what you 'd expect from an album that balances on the intersection of man and machine.

💿 Come to Bob's Vinyl and rediscover Discovery , or order it here: