[Still Music]

I have been listening to dance music for years, but I mostly know Laurent Garnier for the feedback he leaves other producers. When I spent more time checking these things, I remember him writing overwhelmingly positive comments about seemingly every new release — and always really mundane too, in the vein of, “5/5 will play! B1 is the one for me!” Garnier has thus come to represent a certain, not entirely positive sort of DJ for me — the sort who, out of some perverse sense of loyalty or true-school pride, actually plays every promo he receives, his sets made up of unsolicited scraps from shameless self-promoters. I digress — I’m just as bad. I put off listening to Swayzak for years because I didn’t like their clothes. I know Garnier is an elder I should at least grudgingly respect. And AF 0490, his big comeback single, arrives on Still Music, a very reputable label.

It’s not difficult to hear why it ended up there. It’s very much a house record about house, liberally borrowing from Chicago ghetto house records — “Beat (Da BoxX),” for example, interpolates large sections of Gant-Man’s “Bang Da Box 97.” Even if listeners are not familiar with that track, they should at least recognize some of the snips he uses. Ghetto house is still pretty trendy, but luckily Garnier doesn’t whitewash it as much as some of his contemporaries — he plainly grasps why dancers respond so enthusiastically to the genre. The record abounds with ghetto trademarks like spoken vocal hooks and funny sounds (the ringing cash register on “Beat (Da BoxX)”), and these ride persistent, energetic drums. In the middle of a party, it would be hard to deny the shouted refrain on “Bang (The Underground Doesn’t Stop),” or the high-pressure jack patterns on “Boom (Chakolak).” Like Gerd’s Geeeman project, AF 0490 applies a big-room approach to its stripped-down, utilitarian inspiration. Is this necessary? Dance Mania had its share of bad pressings, sure, but that’s kind of the point — it’s ghetto house. If you think those older records can’t cut it in a clean, modern set, go for it. Most people probably won’t know the difference. There is an eyebrow to be raised about a high-profile international DJ, one who apparently listens to everything and thus has a wealth of references to draw from, remaking this very basic, budget music. At any rate, this is an effective EP.