Sam Neil
Thomas Bangalter drops surprise Lot Radio set with Burial, Aphex Twin and Daft Punk closer: Watch
Thomas Bangalter has dropped a surprise DJ set on The Lot Radio. The Brooklyn independent station announced it only when the stream began on June 8, with the former Daft Punk member delivering a 1 hour 15 minute selection of deep, leftfield electronic music.
Crucially, the set leaned hard into experimental territory. Bangalter opened with Tangerine Dream‘s ‘Sequent C’ (Remastered 2018), weaving in his own ‘Mirage: Part VI’ straight away. As a result, the set immediately signalled that this would not be a club mix.
Notably, the selection ran deep across electronic music history. Burial‘s ‘Archangel’, Aphex Twin‘s ‘Polynomial-C’, Boards of Canada‘s ‘One Very Important Thought’, Flying Lotus‘ ‘Babble’, Plastikman‘s ‘Spastik’ and Octave One‘s ‘Black Water’ with Ann Saunderson all featured. Furthermore, Bangalter dropped tracks from The Voidz, Oklou, Sonic Youth, Joey Beltram and John Carpenter‘s ‘Escape From New York’ theme.
Meanwhile, the set also doubled as a preview of his new solo album ‘Mirage – Ballet For 16 Dancers’. Several tracks from the project surfaced across the run. Indeed, the broader flow placed the new material directly alongside Bangalter‘s personal sonic touchstones.
Equally, the closing moment hit hardest. Bangalter ended the set with the closing portion of Daft Punk‘s ‘Contact’. In short, the broadcast turned into one of the most emotional radio sign-offs of the year.
Furthermore, the surprise drop continues a deepening run of public moments for the producer. Bangalter‘s Alexandra Palace B2B with Fred again.. recently landed on Apple Music. That set marked their second pairing after appearing with Busy P and Erol Alkan at the Centre Pompidou in Paris last year, his first DJ appearance in 16 years.
Still, the full set lives on The Lot Radio‘s YouTube channel for those who missed the original broadcast. Crucially, Bangalter‘s post-Daft Punk arc keeps redefining what his public artistic life looks like, deep cuts and all.
