20 albums celebrating 20 years in 2017
A toast to 1997
Laurent Garnier '30'
There are plenty of reasons Laurent Garnier received the French Legion of Honour. A few of them are detailed in this piece, and his second solo album '30' is another. Ambience, techno, dub, acid, house, it's got it all. Swooning opener 'Deep Sea Diving' dupes you into thinking the record may be going down the downtempo route, but really LG's just easing you in to what's a genre-riding trip. His Haçienda affiliations shine through on 'Mid Summer Night' and funk-flexing 'The Hoe', while 'Crispy Bacon' is evidence of his dancefloor-damaging mastery. DT
Luke Slater 'Freek Funk'
It's clear from the very first kick on Luke Slater's 'Freek Funk' that the album is going to be tough techno excursion. But that track's a walk in the park compared to the bleep-filled intensity of 'Origin' or the relentless scuzz of 'Engine One'. There's plenty of ferocious techno bark throughout the 16 tracks, as expected from one of the genre's key names, but the trip-hoppy 'Zebediah' and finisher 'Walking The Line' bring an element of tameness to it. He doesn't release under his own name these days, instead opting for his Planetary Assault Systems alias on labels like Ostgut Ton, but revisit 'Freek Funk' to remind yourself of the magic he conjured up 20 years ago. DT
