Laurent Garnier

In the world of dance music, Laurent Garnier is a grandaddy. While today's Duke students were in diapers, Garnier was spinning acid house at the Hacienda, the legendary Manchester, England, club where electronic music blew up before almost anywhere else. His career as a DJ and producer has lasted and thrived through countless fads. Laurent Garnier knows what's legitimate and what's rubbish--and much of what he hears today is rubbish.

Unreasonable Behaviour is a dark and unsettling record, straddling the ocean with one foot in the clubs of deep French house and the other in the barren intellectualism of Detroit techno. Garnier seems bent on avoiding easy classification because of his antipathy towards the ultra-trendy scene that dominates today's electronic music. His anger manifests itself in such angst-ridden tunes as "Downfall" and the charged house stomp, "The Sound of the Big Baboo." These tracks are often better suited for headphones than a surging dance floor, but the rest of Unreasonable Behaviour proves that he can still rule the clubs as well.

The scene is easy to picture: Laurent Garnier behind the decks at a huge club in Paris or New York, looking down at the crowd with striking ambivalence. He appreciates their attentiveness and enthusiasm that has allowed his music to grow to such prominence, but he despises them because of their affinity towards syrupy trance-candy. But like the wizened master he is, Garnier summons these emotions and slyly turns an eye towards the younger, more famous DJs, as if to say, "I'll show you how to move a crowd." The result is the euphoric anthem, "The Man with the Red Face," which kept Ibiza crowds begging for more all summer. As Philippe Nadaud's wailing saxophone reaches higher and higher, Garnier builds the song towards an urgent climax that leaves the crowd stunned.

With Unreasonable Behaviour, Garnier succeeds in making the point that techno and house music will live on despite the fads that dominate the scene. He also demonstrates his continued significance in the dance music world. Not bad for an old French guy.