Daft Punk - Discovery

Great expectations have stifled the careers of more than a few great acts in the past. So when it came time to record the follow-up to Homework – an album that effectively still serves as a blueprint for sample-based dance music – Thomas Bangalter & Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo must have been feeling the pressure. But rather than stutter and fail, the Parisian duo decided to go off and throw an interstellar party. Discovery is the robotic disco soundtrack to New Year’s Eve on a space station, owing as much to the soft-focus schmaltz of Supertramp and ELO as it does to DJ Hell. Still guranteed to detonate any dancefloor or house party, it also gave this decade some of its biggest singles. (Paul Harrington)