Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk has released online a set where he plays all his favorite songs.

He did it for The Lot Radio, a Brooklyn radio station, which put the entire set online for free. Bangalter announced nothing, he simply got into position and started playing.

On June 8, Thomas Bangalter appeared at The Lot Radio, the independent station in Brooklyn, for a set lasting an hour and fifteen announced only when the stream started. The tracklist is a map: it opens with the Greek composer Iannis Xenakis (the piece is Diamorphoses I), then moves to one of the founding musical groups of electronic music, Tangerine Dream, with the track Sequent ‘C’.

Bangalter then transitions to Polynomial-C by Aphex Twin, followed by Jana Irmert, Oksana Linde, Xenakis again, The Voidz, Oklou, Nala Sinephro, JACK Quartet, Bernard Parmegiani, Jean-Claude Eloy, Jerskin Fendrix, Burial. He then increases the BPM with Chicago house from Dj Deeon in Debo Juke Slide. And then again: Flying Lotus, Philip Jeck and Jacob Kirkegaard, Dirty, John Carpenter and Alan Howarth, Dirty Boots by Sonic Youth, Jessica Ekomane (Manifolds), plus two tracks from his latest gem, Mythologies (the tracks are ArèsandCirconvolutions). At this point, we are almost at the end, one last push with Octave One (Blackwater), Joey Beltran (The Start It Up), Plastikman (Hellikopter), Raymond Scott (Night and Day), Boards of Canada (One Very Important Thought), Galaxy 2 Galaxy (Amazon). ThenContact by Daft Punk (as if anything else was needed), and it’s over. This is not a playlist designed to make a room dance; it’s a personal catalog, a sonic essay. Above all, it’s a gift.

Last year, at the Centre Pompidou in Paris with Fred again, Busy P, and Erol Alkan, Bangalter played solo and without a helmet for the first time in sixteen years. It was an event, in the fullest sense of the word – anticipated, commented on, unrepeatable. At least, we all thought it would be unrepeatable, since Bangalter, after the breakup of Daft Punk, had dedicated himself to something entirely different, to ballet soundtracks. Then came Alexandra Palace with Fred again, now available on Apple Music. Finally – for the moment, at least, at this point it is reasonable to expect more – The Lot Radio, Brooklyn, announced literally at the last second. Looking at these precedents, it is clear that Bangalter’s return is neither planned nor a communication strategy; he is simply an artist rediscovering a rhythm, little by little, without building anticipation, without explaining anything, and without creating any unjustified expectations. By the way: if you are hoping that these are all signs indicating an imminent Daft Punk reunion, we are sorry for you, but Bangalter himself has denied it.

Closing withContact, the last track from the last Daft Punk album, the piece with which Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo ended everything, is not random. It is a quote, a reference point, perhaps a farewell. Or maybe it’s just a nice song to end a set. With Bangalter, it’s hard to know where aesthetic choice ends and meaning begins. What is clear is that in a year he has gone from the first set in 16 years to showing up unannounced at a radio station in Brooklyn with a tracklist and the desire to start playing right away.