what is up with Laurent Garnier gushing over every record anyone sends him?

"stunning. just stunning."
"absolutely fantastic. will keep in my bag"
"A++ will play again"

He loves everything. I'm he's a nice guy and everything but this is totally untrustworthy behaviour. There are other DJs like this. And who pays attention to these recommendations I wonder - it's all a bit shill shill shill don't you think?

"If you don't say anything nice, I won't send you any more records." Actually I think I don't trust these little blurbs at all, even if it's a DJ I like

the couple of times i saw him play he was on for like 6 hours and did play all sorts of terrible shit so i can believe he's sincere tbh

I've never seen Laurent Garnier, but I really want to read some feedback like 'okay, this record was interminable. I only played 30 seconds"

where did your read those?

No offense, but I don't know why anyone would bother looking twice at these reviews, they're as if someone started sending Peter Travers record promos, although I guess there's a lot more scratching of each others backs between producers. Although I'm amused at the relatively indifferent blurbs that are there only for the DJ's name beside it, like "the b side is the side for me", "I'd play it" etc.

moonship: when record companies send out promos, they have these little one sentence reviews on the one sheet. You can see them at places like wordandsound.com also.

lol I went to wordandsound.net and there he was the second quote on the page:

DANNY KRIVIT: “Simply great!”

LAURENT GARNIER (FCom): “Lovely release! ”

But to be fair to Monsieur Garnier surely the record companies will only be putting the positive quotes with the promo. If you've got any marketing sense you're not going to be including things like "This record is absolutely terrible" on the one sheet. So I guess if he ever does not rate a record we'll never get to see the quote anyway.

Since this thread is here, it seems like a good time to ask whether his new album, Tales of a Kleptomaniac, is any cop.

haha this has been the case for years and years and years. he'll praise anything and everything from every genre, some desperate shit. what's amusing is on the Irish dance forums you'll have some guy who's released a track on a v small digilabel, some fairly nasty electrohouse or something, and he'll start a thread "Laurent Garnier says my record is excellent".

Funk D'Void used to be a nightmare for this as well.

As for the feedback in general I agree most of the comments are uninspiring eg "B1 is the one for me" has become such a horrible cliché (and I've seen people on forums saying this, as if this makes them sound more DJ-like) but, as someone who has only recently got promos that have feedback forms as opposed to just via email (not that my feedback is going to influence anyone whatsoever) you don't think "right, now I'm going to write a mini-review of this with my entire heart and soul poured in". That would possibly be even more weird.

If you like it you think you want to say which tracks you liked and a brief reason why. Or else maybe you indicate that you like whoever the artist is genuinely and his recent releases or that the label is one you like, if that's the case. I mean, if you genuinely do like the music and think it's really good and you're playing it then it seems fair enough to say so. Prob with Garnier is there's just no credibility after you see him on every single record.

As for the value of the comments etc, obviously the main test for buying records is listening to them, but if you're flicking through websites and trying to check out stuff you know nothing about having exhausted your own knowledge, if you click on something with a huge amount of good feedback from DJs you like it might be worth a listen. It's another part of the mix after the title of the record, the cover, the genre the site labels it, etc etc etc.

No filter is perfect but that's why nobody hears every record they would enjoy.

The whole process of promos/feedback in dance music is quite interesting though and seldom discussed.

But to be fair to Monsieur Garnier surely the record companies will only be putting the positive quotes with the promo.

I've seen negative quotes on promos at Word and Sound but I'm never sure if they get through cos the guys running the site don't detect their inevitably stealthy negativity.

LAURENT GARNIER (FCom): “Lovely release! ”

Maybe he was actually talking about a dump he made recently? Drugs can really mess up your brain.

Honestly why bother even reading these quotes? It's just filler.

Lovely release!

xpost: do dumps have b-sides though? otoh, maybe he releases his as ltd. ed. single-sided ones (sorry to destroy this thread with crap jokes).

I'm going to put "This is some lovely hurling!" on the next feedback form I get, for the Irish amongst you. Or "Love this, Anonym is a terrible man for the house music all the same!"

I think Garnier actually does love everything. It's more than likely that Garnier will play that nasty irish electro clash at the height of his set (dancepig...), and yeah he can be horribly uneven but even when he's not he's still going to drop an unknown demo into his set.

I've seen worse than Dancepig (who is a friend actually, but yeah don't like the tunes) repped for by Garnier. Much worse.

"A right little belter!" - Laurent Garnier

"One for the purists so it is"

I saw the crowd were off the line and the records just come out of the sleeve and its just sat up nicely Richie and dink - I've just dropped the needle and it went in

what amazes me is that he has the time to listen to all the promos he gives feedback for. i get about 100 digital promos a week so i can't even begin to imagine how many he gets. i always leave the most minimum feedback possible to try and avoid being quoted on the sales notes. there have been several records i read were "in my box" that i gave "not for me" feedback for.

is it not often the case that they ask DJs if they can put their name to a generic complimentary quote and they just say yes because it's less hassle? i can imagine that as a common scenario at least.

x-post you mean they changed "not for me" to "in my box"?

I always imagine a sort of comedy sketch of Garnier listening to record after record, for hours on end, and just leaping out of the seat: "THIS, THIS IS INCREDIBLE!" after every one, like he took an E sometime in 1994 that never wore off.

"this would definitely not be in my box" -> "...in my box..."

is it not often the case that they ask DJs if they can put their name to a generic complimentary quote and they just say yes because it's less hassle? i can imagine that as a common scenario at least.

they never ask, they just do it which makes me cringe when i'm quoted as playing a record i wouldn't touch with a bargepole.

x-post you mean they changed "not for me" to "in my box"?

or "played by"

laurent's apparent over enthusiasm may be genuine but when quoted on nearly every release in every genre becomes somewhat worthless.

that's desperate...

(I did a blog post about the whole thing just now have some spam ilm)

great post! it has inspired me to be a bit more creative in my feedback on the releases i do genuinely like. i think i'll upgrade to "b1 is ABSOLUTELY the one for me",

or you could experiment with listening to b2!

it actually would be amazing to write huge literary feedbacks....beginning "it was march of 1841, a grey sky barely lit the snowfields" and lasting for 1000 words or so, and see what they used.

"Doesn't spare the horses"

it actually would be amazing to write huge literary feedbacks....beginning "it was march of 1841, a grey sky barely lit the snowfields" and lasting for 1000 words or so

DJ LJ

lol

as if by magic, i just read this -

Absolutely massive tune from Eskimo! The original "Yes Maam" is a forgotten track from Mr. Visti, originally tucked away on the "Hotel Costes" comp, but never got the attention it deserved. Eskimo now give the track a proper outing featuring a fresh and up to date version from Visti & Meyland, next to remixes from Trentemoller and Henrik Schwarz. Visti's version is a collision of broken electro breaks, Spanish guitars and that BRILLIANT call and response sample. On the remix tip, Trentmoller straightens the beats out, but keeps the ratchety percussion, adds some well-placed key riffs and a fluid bassline. Tech-house with a heart! Bringing up the rear Henrik Schwarz delivers another of his wonderfully deep techno remixes - check out that new emotive piano line! Cleb DJs getting in a lather over this tune include Harvey, JD Twitch, Ame, DJ Hell, Aeroplane, Mungolian Jetset, Eric and Thomas Rub N Tug, In Flagranti, Low Motion Disco etc - and once you hear it, you will be as well!

it's possible i did but i have no recollection of leaving feedback on this. surprised laurent didn't say he loved it.

Laurent wrote the entire blurb, in one excited txt message, while playing it for the first time, at 3am, in the middle of a set

a lather!

Not every record provides Laurent with a lovely release:

"It would be fair to say, then, the Monsieur Garnier is not all that impressed by the antics of Pedro Winter’s Ed Banger stable. In fact, he seems positively saddened by it. “Now it’s all about marketing and how to exist in the scene, even without making music,” he laments. “There have always been tons of French producers, but now you see them more because it’s all about the image. You know what? A lot of the new guys now, we wouldn’t have signed them to F Communications, because it’s not our thing. Musically it doesn’t excite us at all. Some of them I like—I’m not saying it’s all crap—but a lot of it just doesn’t talk to me. I feel a lot of it is marketing more than anything else. This is why I feel dubstep is more exciting, because I feel those guys are making it for the right reasons.”"

maybe laurent is still hungry because Oizo is now signed to ed banger?

btw I totally agree with him.

Laurent Garnier (FCom): "musically... I like... I feel... more exciting... for the right reasons.”

Since this thread is here, it seems like a good time to ask whether his new album, Tales of a Kleptomaniac, is any cop.

― Enormous Epic (Matt DC), Tuesday, 19 May 2009 08:55 (4 hours ago) Permalink

I liked it - it's quite a melting pot of an album. Lots of genre-hopping, but he does it well on the whole. I like the drum'n'bass effort a lot.

"Musically", the new fragrance by Laurent Garnier: "I like....I feel....exciting....for the right reasons"

to be honest i've never paid any attention to these blurbs, it's obvious the DJs are just paying lip-service, like writers gushing hyperbole on the dust jackets of their friends' books.

judge the record for yourselves.

I don't think it's just lip service really...not always. Like with anything else you learn the names that you see on every release and the ones that only sporadically comment.

to be honest i've never paid any attention to these blurbs, it's obvious the DJs are just paying lip-service, like writers gushing hyperbole on the dust jackets of their friends' books.

Sure but I'm assuming that (a) not all these records are made by Laurent's friends and (b) he's not in a position on the ladder where he needs to butter up labels/PR co's to stay on their mailing lists!

the way that these feedback quotes have eventually boiled down to a few variations that everybody uses is like eBay feedback; "A+ seller. Would buy again".

xpost Actually if I'm not mistaken, the authors get paid or it's done by writers by the same publishing house? (Am I saying this correctly?)

mind you Garnier is pretty funny tho. Read this conversation on another forum:

A fan says to him "You were perfect this evening except for this one mix you did"

to which Garnier replied

"the crowd was perfect this evening except for you"

I would not be surprised if some office intern does this for him.

xpost. That is epic win.

Churchillian.

I think Churchill was hugely better than that. Despite the whole wanting to obliterate Ireland thing.

Churchill's main zinger was "you're ugly". Which isn't hugely impressive, but it's more the turnaround aspect.

Someone's been reading ILM

http://www.residentadvisor.net/review-view.aspx?id=6203

"PROPER ILM dance thread. Bookmarked A+++."

Wolf+lamb put some unfavourable comments on their website:
International DJ Magazine: "sorry abit too deep for me"
Pete Tong: "tracks are good, but didn't blow me away sorry"

At least, that's different attitude to promotion.