{ "slug": "laurent-garnier", "name": "Laurent Garnier", "description": "Laurent Garnier appears 3 times in our Laurent Garnier — A Life in Twenty-One Records list. Hand-curated, with a reason for every pick. They also curate a list here.", "updated": "2026-08-29", "url": "https://waxonia.com/artist/laurent-garnier/", "appearanceCount": 3, "distinctRecordings": 3, "years": { "first": 2000, "last": 2009 }, "highestPlacing": null, "appearsOn": [ { "kind": "curator", "slug": "laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records", "name": "Laurent Garnier — A Life in Twenty-One Records", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records/", "entries": 3 } ], "tracks": [ { "trackKey": "laurent-garnier--the-cloud-making-machine", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/laurent-garnier--the-cloud-making-machine/", "title": "The Cloud Making Machine", "year": 2005, "label": "F Communications", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "What Bashung's turn gave me. I did not want to make another techno album — I wanted to write for choreographers and for cinema. I listened to this one thousands of times while making it, and it opened those doors.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Laurent%20Garnier%20The%20Cloud%20Making%20Machine", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzk0FjgZSv0", "exact": true } }, "rank": null, "on": { "kind": "curator", "slug": "laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records", "name": "Laurent Garnier — A Life in Twenty-One Records", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records/" }, "artist": "Laurent Garnier" }, { "trackKey": "laurent-garnier--the-man-with-the-red-face", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/laurent-garnier--the-man-with-the-red-face/", "title": "The Man With The Red Face", "year": 2000, "label": "F Communications", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "My way into jazz. I cut it with my saxophonist during a stretch when I was deliberately pushing at the edges of what I already knew how to make.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Laurent%20Garnier%20The%20Man%20With%20The%20Red%20Face", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=KJkoBH68njQ", "exact": true } }, "rank": null, "on": { "kind": "curator", "slug": "laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records", "name": "Laurent Garnier — A Life in Twenty-One Records", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records/" }, "artist": "Laurent Garnier" }, { "trackKey": "laurent-garnier--dealing-with-the-man", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/laurent-garnier--dealing-with-the-man/", "title": "Dealing With the Man", "year": 2009, "label": "PIAS", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A blues of my own. Played live with the band, at Pleyel or anywhere else, it brings something human and sweaty into the concert that I would not want to do without.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Laurent%20Garnier%20Dealing%20With%20the%20Man", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=kug_fz5xdaU", "exact": true } }, "rank": null, "on": { "kind": "curator", "slug": "laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records", "name": "Laurent Garnier — A Life in Twenty-One Records", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records/" }, "artist": "Laurent Garnier" } ], "curates": { "bio": "French DJ and producer, resident at the Haçienda in Manchester before returning to France, where he became the central figure in the country's electronic music scene and co-founded the F Communications label.", "link": "https://www.laurentgarnier.com/", "pickCount": 21, "selections": [ { "slug": "laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records", "genre": null, "genreUrl": null, "brief": "Twenty-one records picked and talked through one at a time: Gainsbourg to Bach, La Piscine to the Haçienda, and a seventeen-year-old son's drill playlist. The reasons are his.", "updated": "2026-08-29", "ordered": false, "playlists": {}, "pickCount": 21, "picks": [ { "trackKey": "serge-gainsbourg--histoire-de-melody-nelson", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/serge-gainsbourg--histoire-de-melody-nelson/", "title": "Histoire de Melody Nelson", "year": 1971, "label": "Philips", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "One of the two records I buy compulsively. Every time a flea market has a clean copy I take it, and there must be five of them at home by now, purely in case the first one ever wears through.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Serge%20Gainsbourg%20Histoire%20de%20Melody%20Nelson", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=OXUrl3fGknM", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Serge Gainsbourg", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/serge-gainsbourg/" }, { "trackKey": "donna-summer--i-feel-love", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/donna-summer--i-feel-love/", "title": "I Feel Love", "year": 1977, "label": "Casablanca", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The other record I buy on sight. I have played it so many times that I want pristine copies waiting behind the one that is in the bag.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "disco", "name": "Disco", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/disco/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-roots", "name": "Roots", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-roots/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Donna%20Summer%20I%20Feel%20Love", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=yEbaeLv-aOo", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Donna Summer", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/donna-summer/" }, { "trackKey": "alain-bashung--samuel-hall", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/alain-bashung--samuel-hall/", "title": "Samuel Hall", "year": 1998, "label": "Barclay", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Bashung mattered enormously to me, and Fantaisie Militaire is where he went somewhere darker and more electronic than anyone expected of him. It is the record that told me to break my own routines and take the risk.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Alain%20Bashung%20Samuel%20Hall", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=THrsHPSRcS0", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Alain Bashung", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/alain-bashung/" }, { "trackKey": "laurent-garnier--the-cloud-making-machine", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/laurent-garnier--the-cloud-making-machine/", "title": "The Cloud Making Machine", "year": 2005, "label": "F Communications", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "What Bashung's turn gave me. I did not want to make another techno album — I wanted to write for choreographers and for cinema. I listened to this one thousands of times while making it, and it opened those doors.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Laurent%20Garnier%20The%20Cloud%20Making%20Machine", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzk0FjgZSv0", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Laurent Garnier", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/laurent-garnier/" }, { "trackKey": "new-order--blue-monday", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/new-order--blue-monday/", "title": "Blue Monday", "year": 1983, "label": "Factory", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The classic of classics. I first danced to it at sixteen at La Piscine, a new wave club in Paris; two years later I was in England playing the Haçienda and hanging around with the band. A whole chapter sits in it.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "madchester", "name": "Madchester", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/madchester/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-both-rooms", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Both Rooms", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-both-rooms/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/New%20Order%20Blue%20Monday", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=9GMjH1nR0ds", "exact": true } }, "artist": "New Order", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/new-order/" }, { "trackKey": "the-sugarhill-gang--rappers-delight", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/the-sugarhill-gang--rappers-delight/", "title": "Rapper's Delight", "year": 1979, "label": "Sugar Hill", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The first hip-hop record I ever heard, at thirteen or fourteen. It opened a door onto a music that has not once left my life since.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Sugarhill%20Gang%20Rapper's%20Delight", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=mcCK99wHrk0", "exact": true } }, "artist": "The Sugarhill Gang", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-sugarhill-gang/" }, { "trackKey": "afrika-bambaataa-and-the-soulsonic-force--planet-rock", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/afrika-bambaataa-and-the-soulsonic-force--planet-rock/", "title": "Planet Rock", "year": 1982, "label": "Tommy Boy", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Where electro begins, for me. Those enormous synthesizers carrying a rhythmic energy that lands like a rock record — I had heard nothing put together that way before.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "electro", "name": "Electro", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/electro/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Afrika%20Bambaataa%20%26%20The%20Soulsonic%20Force%20Planet%20Rock", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=SqS8X-5aIns", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/afrika-bambaataa-and-the-soulsonic-force/" }, { "trackKey": "dizzee-rascal--i-luv-u", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/dizzee-rascal--i-luv-u/", "title": "I Luv U", "year": 2002, "label": "XL", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "I am a serious fan of English music, and this is grime at the moment it arrived — something new that owed nothing at all to what the rest of us were doing.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "grime", "name": "Grime", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/grime/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Dizzee%20Rascal%20I%20Luv%20U", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=YH0KWX2a8zY", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Dizzee Rascal", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/dizzee-rascal/" }, { "trackKey": "gazo-and-freeze-corleone--drill-fr-4", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/gazo-and-freeze-corleone--drill-fr-4/", "title": "Drill FR 4", "year": 2020, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "My son, who is seventeen, played me this. I make a point of staying open: listening to what the younger generation is on is how you learn the codes of French drill rather than guess at them from outside.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Gazo%20%26%20Freeze%20Corleone%20Drill%20FR%204", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=lbeUyW6axeA", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Gazo & Freeze Corleone", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/gazo-and-freeze-corleone/" }, { "trackKey": "dj-rolando-underground-resistance--jaguar", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/dj-rolando-underground-resistance--jaguar/", "title": "Jaguar", "year": 1999, "label": "Underground Resistance", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A monument. Chicago house felt like a natural continuation of disco; Detroit techno broke the rules altogether and sounded like the future. And this one everybody played — house DJs and techno DJs alike.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "detroit-techno", "name": "Detroit Techno", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-detroit-in-europe", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Detroit, Heard in Europe", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-detroit-in-europe/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Rolando%20%2F%20Underground%20Resistance%20Jaguar", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=gw7vrBSBQwk", "exact": true } }, "artist": "DJ Rolando / Underground Resistance", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-rolando-underground-resistance/" }, { "trackKey": "serge-gainsbourg--en-melody", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/serge-gainsbourg--en-melody/", "title": "En Melody", "year": 1971, "label": "Philips", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "I like throwing a curveball into a set, and this is what stays in the crate for it: two minutes of psychedelic guitar that takes a floor out of its comfort zone and starts telling it a different story.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Serge%20Gainsbourg%20En%20Melody", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=6D9xRzCH8T8", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Serge Gainsbourg", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/serge-gainsbourg/" }, { "trackKey": "front-242--controversy-between", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/front-242--controversy-between/", "title": "Controversy Between", "year": 1983, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "EBM, and exactly the kind of rock-adjacent electronic record I like to drop into a set. It sits at a techno tempo without any help, and it is part of the foundation of this music rather than a novelty beside it.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Front%20242%20Controversy%20Between", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=j9sW556IBjo", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Front 242", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/front-242/" }, { "trackKey": "the-stooges--i-wanna-be-your-dog", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/the-stooges--i-wanna-be-your-dog/", "title": "I Wanna Be Your Dog", "year": 1969, "label": "Elektra", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "I cut my own edits and loops of rock records like this one so they can live in a club without falling apart. It is there to put raw punk energy into the room, so that nobody in it ever gets comfortable.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Stooges%20I%20Wanna%20Be%20Your%20Dog", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=3gsWt7ey6bo", "exact": true } }, "artist": "The Stooges", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-stooges/" }, { "trackKey": "berurier-noir--porcherie", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/berurier-noir--porcherie/", "title": "Porcherie", "year": 1985, "label": "Bondage", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "I played this the night before an election to say one thing to the floor: do not vote for shit. A dancefloor can be a political place, and a DJ can hand a crowd its own feeling back to it, amplified.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/B%C3%A9rurier%20Noir%20Porcherie", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ5YOxwY8tI", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Bérurier Noir", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/berurier-noir/" }, { "trackKey": "fela-kuti-and-africa-70--zombie", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/fela-kuti-and-africa-70--zombie/", "title": "Zombie", "year": 1976, "label": "Coconut", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "This one is Radio Nova. I had come out of a very Anglo-Saxon club world in England, and the people there kept putting African and Brazilian records in front of me until my ears were open to all of it.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "afrobeat", "name": "Afrobeat", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/afrobeat/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "nineteen-seventy-six", "name": "1976", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-seventy-six/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "dancing-to-bad-news", "name": "Dancing to Bad News", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/dancing-to-bad-news/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "martin-solveig-what-his-father-left-him", "name": "Martin Solveig — What His Father Left Him", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/martin-solveig-what-his-father-left-him/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Fela%20Kuti%20%26%20Africa%2070%20Zombie", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=RUSg31Ignw4", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Fela Kuti & Africa 70", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/fela-kuti-and-africa-70/" }, { "trackKey": "laurent-garnier--the-man-with-the-red-face", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/laurent-garnier--the-man-with-the-red-face/", "title": "The Man With The Red Face", "year": 2000, "label": "F Communications", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "My way into jazz. I cut it with my saxophonist during a stretch when I was deliberately pushing at the edges of what I already knew how to make.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Laurent%20Garnier%20The%20Man%20With%20The%20Red%20Face", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=KJkoBH68njQ", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Laurent Garnier", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/laurent-garnier/" }, { "trackKey": "miles-davis--so-what", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/miles-davis--so-what/", "title": "So What", "year": 1959, "label": "Columbia", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "While recording The Man With The Red Face I could not tell the jazz musicians what I wanted, because I did not have the words. A friend handed me Kind of Blue and said: study this, learn the vocabulary.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "jazz", "name": "Jazz", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/jazz/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "mac-tyer-what-the-house-was-playing", "name": "Mac Tyer — What the House Was Playing", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/mac-tyer-what-the-house-was-playing/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Miles%20Davis%20So%20What", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ylXk1LBvIqU", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Miles Davis", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/miles-davis/" }, { "trackKey": "the-jon-spencer-blues-explosion--skunk", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/the-jon-spencer-blues-explosion--skunk/", "title": "Skunk", "year": 1996, "label": "Matador", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The best door into the blues I know — electric, furious, nothing polite about it. Hearing it sent me down an internet hole for months, pulling down every blues record I could find.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Jon%20Spencer%20Blues%20Explosion%20Skunk", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=9gj_8ZDFlPI", "exact": true } }, "artist": "The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-jon-spencer-blues-explosion/" }, { "trackKey": "laurent-garnier--dealing-with-the-man", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/laurent-garnier--dealing-with-the-man/", "title": "Dealing With the Man", "year": 2009, "label": "PIAS", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A blues of my own. Played live with the band, at Pleyel or anywhere else, it brings something human and sweaty into the concert that I would not want to do without.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Laurent%20Garnier%20Dealing%20With%20the%20Man", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=kug_fz5xdaU", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Laurent Garnier", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/laurent-garnier/" }, { "trackKey": "nina-simone--love-me-or-leave-me", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/nina-simone--love-me-or-leave-me/", "title": "Love Me or Leave Me", "year": 1959, "label": "Bethlehem", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Her story is the thing. A Black woman in a segregated country, refused the concert-pianist career she had trained for, who took that training and put it straight into jazz and blues instead.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Nina%20Simone%20Love%20Me%20or%20Leave%20Me", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=dAvQ-ltLGdk", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Nina Simone", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/nina-simone/" }, { "trackKey": "johann-sebastian-bach--brandenburg-concerto-no-5", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/johann-sebastian-bach--brandenburg-concerto-no-5/", "title": "Brandenburg Concerto No. 5", "year": 1721, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The bridge to Nina Simone, and why it is here at the end. Listen to Bach and you hear the exact classical piano she is playing inside her jazz records — which is the whole argument: it is all one music.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Johann%20Sebastian%20Bach%20Brandenburg%20Concerto%20No.%205", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=_V7oujd9djk", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Johann Sebastian Bach", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/johann-sebastian-bach/" } ] } ] } }