haozertree's Full Review: Unreasonable Behaviour by Laurent Garnier
We often hear debates about where best techno artists come from. Most would argue London, and some would argue Detroit. This is not too surprising since these are the two places where most believe Techno was born. France, while close to England, never really picked up techno. Instead the French seem to enjoy 70s funk much more than the keyboard and computer sounds which dominates the techno music scene.
It is a pleasant surprise then, to listen to Laurent Garnier’s “Unreasonable Behavior” because it IS good techno, and it is from France, not England.
The first word which comes to my mind when I think about this album is: “dark”. Having been a Progressive Trance fan for the last few years, it is refreshing to hear something very different. This album differs from others (Trance or Techno) because it sets an extremely dark mood. The sometimes slower beat, and the flat notes gives this listener a feeling of… sheer evil. Let me remind you that Techno/Industrial music started out with some very dark melodies, only over the years the “lighter” and more uplifting (faster beat) trance, or dream (precursor to today’s trance IMO) had taken the mainstream. But there are some who still believe that Techno music should remain dark, to those people this album is a great listen.
There are 12 songs in this CD. After listening to the album a few times, four tracks simply stands out far above others. The four best tracks on this CD are “Sound of the big Babou”, “Man with the red face”, “Communications from the lab”, and “Greed”. The rest of the CD is pretty good as well, but the four songs which I mentioned are extraordinary. Each of the four songs differs greatly in terms of style. “Sound of the big Babou” contains a faster beat and some very dominating synth tones. The “Man with the red face” is a work of Acid Jazz and techno, combined into one art form. “Communications from the lab” is a slower, but darker tone featuring an amazingly deep melody, like some stuff from the UNKLE album . Finally, “Greed” is the darkest track in this CD featuring some distorted vocals chanting and some bass & drum.
This album is reminiscent of some past great Techno artists such as Orbital and Apex Twin. Although this album sounds more repetitive than Orbital’s “Middle of Nowhere” CD, it differs also in the fact that it will put you into a creepy mood as opposed to an ecstatic one. “Unreasonable Behavior” pulled some great concepts and combined them, the result is a refreshing and innovative album that any serious Techno fan would love.
At this point I would like to point out some cons of this album (this is a review after all). The biggest problem with this CD is the fact that it is not appealing to everyone. In fact, this CD is not appealing to most people. The main stream here in the US are not going to accept this “weird” techno stuff, even my friends who enjoy listening to trance do no like this CD much because it is too dark for them. Like the recent Orbital albums this album does not have many songs which people can dance to. This fact alone will turn off most teenagers “ravers” (or raver wannabes) who think techno music is for dancing only. This album is definitely for hard core techno fans. If you like the recent Orbital and Apex Twin albums, you are likely to enjoy this CD.
Recommended:
Yes
Great Music to Play While: Getting ready to go out
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