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Laurent Garnier and the RFI electro award

Electro Goes Global?


Moscow 

09/07/2003 - 

Last month Russian duo Alexandroïd became the proud winners of the RFI Electro Award 2003. As the duo prepare to play in Moscow tonight and Petersburg on 12 July, RFI Musique interviews Laurent Garnier, the French electro star who chaired the jury that voted Alexandroïd this year's winners.

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RFIMusique: What made you agree to chair the jury at the RFI Electro Awards?
Laurent Garnier: Well, I can't say I'm a big fan of official contests in general, but I happened to think these awards were particularly relevant. The winner's given a very concrete form of aid to develop their career. What's more, the contest also helps catapult young unknowns to the forefront of the music scene. And that can only be a good thing because believe me, it's extremely tough to make a name for yourself in the electro world these days!

What did you think of the work of the ten artists who made it through to the finals?
I have to say I was very impressed by the quality of their albums. You have to realise that over the past three or four years an increasing number of techno records have been coming out of Eastern Europe. And when I say "techno" I include all the records that are aimed at the club scene and the dancefloor. The thing that really surprised me about the ten finalists this year was just how few of them fell into the "techno" category. Only two of the ten finalists can really be classified as dance acts, the rest have much more of a "lounge" feel to them. I'd say that's due to the recent success of the Costes and Ibiza compilations in Eastern Europe.


But what about the technical side of things? How good do the ten albums actually sound?
Well, I'd say nine out of ten of them could be released directly without having to be reworked by sound engineers. You know, the first time I performed in Russia - that goes back to about ten years ago now - a lot of musicians in Moscow came up and gave me copies of their work on Revox tapes. Well, you realise those days are well and truly over now! I have to admit I haven't read any of the biographies of the artists who made it into the final selection, but I often had the impression I was listening to stuff produced in the U.S. or the U.K. And that just goes to show there are no barriers in the electro world these days. There's nothing to stop you doing Detroit techno in Paris and Chicago house in Australia! Having said that, however, it's easy to hear which acts have influenced the finalists. It's easy to spot the finalist that grew up on a diet of Aphex Twin and Daft Punk, whereas others have been more influenced by the minimalist techno movement in Berlin. But the interesting thing is it's impossible to identify which countries the finalists themselves come from.

Given the "borderless" state of the electro scene don't you think there's a risk all the music will end up sounding the same?
No, I don't think so. It's very hip right now to be into Detroit techno and hate New York house. You know, people think it's cool to be into German hardcore and look down on the hardcore coming out of Belgium… Believe me, there are a lot of snobs in the electro world and that's why I think it's healthy to reach a stage where you can't identify artists' country of origin! It's thanks to that that we can get back to the essentials of music – and that "is it any good or not?" People shouldn't give a damn who wrote the stuff or what label it comes out on! That's why I've always been a great fan of "white labels" (vinyls with no identification tags).
The way I see it, music belongs to everybody. When the electro scene first emerged it's true there was a specific sound attached to each place. There was a distinct Chicago sound and Detroit and New York had their own sounds too. The thing is, back in those days people didn't travel around so much so things evolved in a sort of microcosm. Detroit was influenced by European synth music like Kraftwerk and P-Funk and Chicago lived through the disco backlash, you know, there was a point when they actually burnt disco records in public stadiums in the U.S. in the late 70s. Add to that the huge influence of the black and gay sub-cultures and that's where the Chicago house sound came from. Then in New York you had Mancuso, the legendary DJ and owner of the Loft club… In Germany you had the whole electro-pop thing with Kraftwerk while France had a bit of a disco culture. After all, they were the only French artists selling abroad at the time.
So back in the days when this music first arrived on the scene it was really easy to tell where a record came from. These days it's not! And that's for one very simplereason: and that is that a DJ from Detroit will end up playing in Paris more often than he does in the States and a Chicago DJ will end up playing in New York more than Chicago. These days DJs travel to the four corners of the world and the sounds get mixed up in the process. All I can say is, I think that leads to a very healthy situation all round!

Willy  Richert