LAURENT GARNIER Vinyl & CDs

Review: Titanic French techno talent and famously nice bulk Laurent Garnier has announced recently that he will be stepping away from touring quite as much as he currently does in the future. He softened that blow, though, with news of his new album 33 Tours Et Puis S'en Vont', via his COD3 QR label. It is his first solo long player in some eight years and finds him firmly focused on the dancefloor. His fizzing, synth-heavy techno style dominates, but there are plenty of lush vocal cuts, influences from hip-hop and broken beat, with even a drum & bass experiment appearing in the form of 'Sado Miso'. A fine return for this true legend.

Review: Although his earliest LPs did contain plenty of dancefloor workouts, Laurent Garnier has traditionally used the album format to explore his full range of influences. It's rather pleasing, then, to find that his latest full-length excursion - his first solo set for some eight years - is a righteous and predictably impressive collection of full-throttle club cuts. It's naturally rooted in house and techno - he's a masterful producer of both - but there's still plenty of variety to be found across the album. For proof, compare, and contrast, the buzzing and hypnotic, arpeggio-driven trip of 'Tales From The Real World', the modular tech-house-meets-hip-house flex of 'In Your Phase', the spine-tingling moodiness of Alan Vega hook-up 'Saturn Drive Triplex' and the starry melodies and locked-in grooves of 'Liebe Grube Ausn Cucoron'.

Review: There's been much debate over the years about whose version of this seminal track was in fact the best. Laurent Garnier's 1997 classic "Crispy Bacon" gets a vinyl re-issue and it still stands the test of time. You can just imagine how innovative and futuristic this adrenalised peak time weapon sounded like in the mid-nineties. On the flip, the equally legendary Jeff Mills delivers his take on the track, keeping in mind that this is one of only a handful he's ever done. There's relentless and punishing cyclicality on offer here; the sharply resonating loops, that brutally overdriven 808 kick.. it's one of those secret weapons that never leaves the bag of the best techno DJs. Choose your side, but either way it's a definitely a classic!