Laurent Garnier & Carl Craig – Kings of Techno
October 26th, 2006 by rui
Kings of Techno is the sixth instalment of a compilation series put out by BBE and Rapster Records that brings together globally renowned DJs and producers to reveal their favourite tracks.
For the sixth in the series, BBE have really pulled out the stops and persuaded Laurent Garnier and Carl Craig to present their choices across two CDs and a quick look at the tracklisting has your reviewer licking his lips at the prospect of hearing such a diverse selection mixed by two of the world’s rightly feted proponents of the art.
The press release gushes: "This album is not your average ‘Techno’ mix album." No. No it isn’t. In actual fact, the promo CD your reviewer received courtesy of Rocketscience Media is not a mix album at all. Just 20 quality tracks selected by two of techno’s true legends seamlessly laid out with three seconds of silence between each. Excruciatingly frustrating and crushingly disappointing in equal measure. Like looking forward to that gourmet sandwich you bought for lunch only to find the bread is stale.
Fortunately, the tunes on this compilation are anything but stale. Laurent Garnier’s ‘mix’ is a tribute to the music of Detroit, past and present. From the proto-punk rock-out of The Stooges’ No Fun to the raw, gritty hip hop of Dabyre’s Game Over, the classics just keep on coming at you for just over 40 minutes.
The early to mid Seventies is dealt with masterfully, with Aretha Franklin’s Motown classic Rock Steady (probably) mixed beautifully into The Temptations Norman Whitfield-penned stormer Plastic Man and Funkadelic’s Latin groover Bettinos Bounce. We’re brought into the Nineties by the rounded strings and rolling basslines of Carl Craig’s No More Words, a fine example of the genre and a polite nod to his fellow compiler from Monsieur Garnier. I expect this is seamlessly blended into the horror theme confusion of Jeff Mills’ classic Utopia before we head back effortlessly to Carl Craig territory with BFC’s Galaxy, a steady building track that pitches drum machine and sequencer together in perfect harmony.
Garnier takes us on a lovely (if annoyingly interrupted) journey back down to earth with the space-age, Stephen Hawking-overlaid glitchy electronica of Arpanet’s NTT DoCoMo before we hit the streets with the electro-influenced freestyle hip hop workout that is D.I.E.’s Get Up and on to Dabyre’s collaboration with Jay Dee and Phat Kat for the finale. What I imagine is the beauty of this mix is the way I reckon Garnier has probably blended such a diverse range of styles into what is presumably a sublime mix.
Carl Craig takes a different tack and explores the sounds that have influenced his own music and shaped the development of techno over the years.
It’s an almost chronological journey that begins with Visage’s electroclash precursor Frequency 7, takes in the massively influential Yello and Art of Noise, tips a nod to the Italo-Disco classics of It’s a War by Kano and I Need Love (Instrumental) by Capricorn and acknowledges the undoubted influence of industrial standards like Nitzer Ebb’s Join In The Chant. Standouts for the techno purists would be The Black Dog’s astmospheric Virtual, Balil’s classic uplifting soundscape Nort Route and Choice’s warm, beauteous 303 epic Acid Eiffel, the three tracks that round off this mix with the last being an equally polite nod back to Garnier.
Overall, the two compilations are well labelled. Garnier’s History of Detroit is just that – a fine tribute to the motor city’s musical legacy – while Craig’s Influences and Developments explores the roots of techno by recognising those who have contributed to its emergence over the years. All truly excellent stuff.
So it’s maddening to have to imagine how well these mixes are crafted by two of the finest operators around. Suppose I’ll just have to go and buy it when it comes out.
review by: Ketsbaia
Kings of Techno is released on BBE Records on 6 November 2006
Tracklisting:
CD1 Laurent Garnier – History of Detroit
1. The Stooges – No Fun
2. Aretha Franklin – Rock Steady
3. The Temptations – Plastic Man
4. Funkadelic – Bettinos Bounce
5. Carl Craig – No More Words
6. Jeff Mills – Utopia
7. BFC – Galaxy
8. Arpanet – NTT DoCoMo
9. D.I.E. – Get Up
10. Dabrye – Game Over
CD2 Carl Craig – Influences & Developments
1. Visage – Frequency 7
2. Kano – It’s A War
3. Yello – No More Words
4. Alexander Robotnick – Dance Boy Dance
5. Art of Noise – Beat Box (Diversion 1)
6. Nitzer Ebb – Join In The Chant
7. Capricorn – I Need Love (Instrumental)
8. The Black Dog – Virtual
9. Balil – Nort Route
10. Choice – Acid Eiffel
