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LAURENT GARNIER - Retrospective

April 2003, LAURENT GARNIER was playing the Music Box, a mythical Manchester nightclub, packed with a capacity crowd of 600 people. He served up a rare, eclectic, and passionate DJ set that night, lining up classic rave anthems from the nineties and cutting edge electronica, vintage hiphop and techno gems from Detroit, disco hymns and reggae classics. Suddenly, Garnier cut the music off. A lone voice rang out criticising the war in Iraq. The second Gulf War was already under way; Blair’s government had dragged England into a war that the people didn’t want. A clamour began and burst into a scream when military drum rolls boomed out. It was 'War' by Edwin Starr. At this moment, Manchester went crazy.

I saw t-shirts flying through the air, gangsters dancing like lunatics, girls twisting their bodies outrageously and guys literally hanging out of the ceiling. This was not a club anymore, this was not even a DJ set, this was now a pagan temple in which everything was allowed; eccentric behaviour, loss of control, blissful smiles and improbable gestures. I remember looking at Laurent plunged in his record boxes looking for a last record, hesitating nervously between Farley Jack Master Funk 'Love Can’t Turn You Around' and Marshall Jefferson 'Move Your Body'. He chose his last record. It sounded like a riot was going to start when the record ended with a spluttering hiss.

That night in Manchester is my clearest memory of Laurent Garnier’s art: generous, urgent and capable of miracles.

However, if like me, you have been following this artist for quite a while, you already know how diverse he really is, and how the term 'one of the best DJs in the world' is an expression that does not do the man justice. It has to be said again and again that here is a man who has a one in a million fighting spirit, and who has been fighting for over fifteen years to get great music to the public. Garnier has always avoided theories and preferred action; he doesn't like needless repetition or empty compromises and less still wasting time.

Since his third album, Unreasonable Behaviour, and the subsequent world tour, Laurent has definitely not been wasting time. There have been a series of legendary concerts, whether it was replacing Guns N’ Roses at the last minute in the Torought Werchter festival in Belgium or playing in Vietnam (!). After a year as Radio Nova’s music programmer, Garnier set up PBB (www.pedrobroadcast.com), his own web radio, conceived as a radical response to French radio’s conservative approach to music. This outlet allows him to share treasures from his record collection.

PBB, which doesn’t care about styles, crosses King Tubby with the Sex Pistols, links Underground Resistance to Alain Bashung or Karen Young. Shortly after, F.U. FM was also set up. The little brother of PBB,  a pirate radio station, F.U. FM illegally broadcast its programmes across Ibiza during the summer of 2003.  Nowadays, PBB is completed by a weekly show “It is what it is” on several European radios.

And now, twelve years after creating the F Communications record label with Eric Morand, this Retrospective album presents a selection of the best work he has done since 1994. Music from his albums, 'classic'  tracks dedicated to the dancefloors, remixes he has done or works that friends have done on his own works.

An album which reflects the artist. It is demanding, passionate, dare-devil, gifted, curious and versatile. Different.  

LAURENT GARNIER - Retrospective (2CD) is available through F Communications, and distributed by Creative Vibes

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