*** Laurent Garnier
UNREASONABLE BEHAVIOUR
(F Communications/Mute)
As the distorted female voice coolly states on "Last Tribute from the 20th
Century," Laurent Garnier's third album is "a tribute to New York, Detroit, and
Chicago . . . cities full of soul, vision, and inspiration." A
well-known French DJ/producer since the late '80s, Garnier conjures sleekly
sculpted grooves that take their cues from American house and techno, but
that's not the whole story. His genre-tripping compositions also gather
together the deep sub-sonic tones of drum 'n' bass, the
bleeps-and-blurts of twitchy IDM (intelligent dance music), and the mid-tempo
snap and disengaged cyborg vocals of electro. Like recent albums from Mocean
Worker and Photek, Unreasonable Behaviour furthers the disintegration of
electronic music's cliquish tendencies by embracing eclecticism. Not that the
album sounds scattered -- it's actually one of the most cohesive and holistic
electronic-music albums of the past year. Using a well-defined sonic palette,
Garnier creates a dark and despairing mood that hangs over the beat
experimentation like an ominous storm cloud. So even when on "The Man with the
Red Face" he introduces a soulful, deep-house signifier -- yearning tenor
saxophone -- it sounds more like a cry for help than a joyful noise.
-- Michael Endelman
(Laurent Garnier spins this Saturday, November 11, at Avalon. Call
262-2424.)
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