Mention the name of Laurent Garnier in some circles, and people get a funny look on their face. Part reverence, part envy that they weren’t born so damn cool. This is an interesting album that leaps all over the place frankly, so it’s not one for a dinner party or a relaxing loll around on the sofa. However, it’s an apt and clever demonstration of the man’s finely honed talents for putting his own irreverent tweaks into whatever genre he chooses. Thus, I hope he won’t be insulted by a slightly irreverent review with a touch of whimsy – it’s the mood the music inspires!

While the album kicks off with the anthemic, party time vibe of No Music, it quickly segues into Freeverse Part 1 with MicFlow, which is a stripped back, ultra-cool slice of French hip hop. Oh let’s face it, all French hip hop is cool. They could be saying “Let’s go to the shops and buy a few tomatoes and perhaps a piece of brie,” and it would still sound cool. What MicFlow sings on this track is anyone’s guess, but it’s delivered with just the right amount of spitting gallic passion, raucous drums and even wailing electric guitar.

Quite unlike the next track, which is dark, unnerving, rattling, horn laden and beat driven – aptly, the “horny monster mix” – of Gnanmankoudji, which sounds like a terrifying Norwegian monster of children’s fables. Dealing with the Man is stoned sounding, laid back and jazzy and overlaid with some slightly dodgy poetry about, well, dealing with the man. Whoever he is.

Last Dance @ Yellow is a suitably dreamy, trancey piece of music one might expect to hear at a nightclub laden with smoke and mirrors at 3am, the sort of song that still manages to tug at the belly’s invisible strings long after one should have gone home. Skipping ahead, Pay TV is an interesting mash-up of porn, eerie horror film overtures and clashing drums. Surely a real song about Pay TV would feature the sounds of Snuggie, non? The excellent, refined drum n’ bass riff of Bourre Pif (bath time!) is another genre departure with a killer beat.

Back to my Roots really speaks for itself – the man is still proving he’s a master of a genre for which he is well known – while Food for Thought with Winston McAnuff sounds part poetry recital smashed up with messy dub and reggae. And if that ain’t enough, the whole thing wraps up with a sweet little slice of chillout From Deep Within.

If you’re after variety, you’ve got it in spades. This is an album which grows more interesting with each listen – it comes highly recommended.