The article didn't mention why they'd release a version of their album without drums.
I’ve always wondered how remixes come to be. Some sound muddy and obviously full of muted layers. But others sound like they had access to the individual tracks.
You can also create your own stems, typically of usable but not perfect quality, using AI track separation software like demucs. ("Demux," get it?) I've used them to censor a track, or to isolate just percussion and piano, for example.
Are there other big bands that have done this? While not getting down to raw assets, home movies have had special features describing filmmaking techniques since the 80s. I’d guess at least 10% of current home video releases come with some type of commentary, featurette, or the like. Why is this so much less common in the music industry?
It's like an initiation step for bedroom producers. You build up your reputation by having a couple of remixes released by an actual label, your remix gets played by DJs associated with that label, you start to develop relationships with the industry people in the process... It's an entire ecosystem based around free stems.
This on the other hand is aimed at DJs who use vinyls to layer on top of different drums, but it's the same principle. They want their tracks to be sampleable to other artists.
https://www.discogs.com/release/27604-Moby-Feeling-So-Real-R...
I used to sample these and put them in a MOD tracker and make my own remixes that way in the early 90s.
I suspect they Daft Punk also enjoy how deep the pocket groove on the work is. When you have Nile Rodgers and Nathan East playing on tracks it's just incredible. And because they recorded to Omar Hakim's drums originally, his groove sticks even when you can't hear him. I hope he still gets credit!