Laurent Garnier Pumps Out Possibility
Friday June 09, 2006 @ 06:00 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff

Laurent Garnier

You would think that after years of masterfully mixing dance music and having become a world-renowned DJ/producer that Laurent Garnier would feel secure in today's club land. Well, think again, because even though Garnier remains one of the reigning kings of techno (and calls David Morales and Frankie Knuckles by their first names), the pint-size DJ from France feels more vulnerable than ever.

"I'm in a great position right now in my career, but I'm not in a powerful position," Garnier says. "I can't fuck it up, I can't afford it. To stay where I am, you still have to work hard."

Having built a career on constantly pushing the dance world limits by mixing virtually unmixable types of music and creating challenging techno albums, Garnier feels a bigger strain than ever.

"When a club is waiting two-and-a-half years to hear you play, you have a lot of pressure to give them a good show. You have to know your records, get your music ready, and have to respect where you go. I haven't been to Toronto for more than two years. If they come to see me after that time and I say, 'Well fuck off, I got drunk in Montreal last night and I don't care,' it wouldn't work. The more you touch people with your music, the more they're waiting. The more you take risks the more pressure you have."

The 40-year-old's latest creation, Cloud Making Machine, is a moody, cinematic landscape of upbeat and obscure down-tempo electronic tracks. However, more than any of his past exploratory and dark dance records, this one shows listeners the man behind the boards.

"Cloud Making Machine reflects exactly how I've felt and how I've lived for the last four years," says Garnier. "I had to get it all out.

"I didn't make a concept album. I didn't make this album to piss people off. I just made a very honest album. There were 14 years between the first and last album. Fourteen years ago I wasn't married, I didn't have a kid. I was getting drunk, smoking pot and going out six nights a week. Fourteen years later, I live in a very different place."

Although many critics continue to question the album's layers, Garnier is just happy that his machine is still able to pump out clouds of possibility.

"By calling this album Cloud Making Machine, some people took it as a concept album, which it's not. It's a land of nowhere. We don't know where we are, but the album is telling us. Try to see where you are after listening to each track. It's some kind of a dreamland. Dream or nightmare, I'm still not sure, but it's some kind of somewhere else."

—Phil Villeneuve