*** 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.)