by Don Crispy

Freedom Village

Laurent Garnier

A new house party kicks off tomorrow at the stylish Ball Room in Ebisu with one of France's finest behind the decks. Meanwhile, the French club scene is also the name of the game next Saturday at Yellow, where one of the country's veteran DJs will be dropping in as part of a Japan tour.

With the assistance of two expert deep house DJs, Freedom Village looks set to get off to a strong start. Headliner Frederic Galliano is one of France's most innovative DJ/producers, an eclectic thinker whose work for the F Communications label and with his Electronic Sextet have won him growing acclaim worldwide.

Frederic Galliano

Based in the south of France, Galliano in his first two F Communications releases, Espaces Baroques and Lives Infinis, examined the links between electronic music, jazz, and African culture. Forming his own label, Frikyiwa, in 1998, Galliano's latest release is this year's Frederic Galliano and The African Divas. The album was the result of collaborations with more than 50 guests from the jazz and African music scenes. Galliano previously visited Tokyo in 2000 when he brought his Electronic Sextet to Blue Note.

Joining the French DJ will be Tokyo's own omnipresent DJ Kaoru Inoue a.k.a. Chari Chari, whose January release In Time spawned the dancefloor hit “Aurora.” Also of interest will be the work of light team Shin Kiro, who used to work with legendary director Akira Kurosawa...
Turning away from the south of France to the capitol, Paris, one of the stalwarts of the city's house scene and a mentor to Galliano will be making his first appearance in Japan since last year's Electraglide as part of the upcoming “Acid Eiffel” installation of Yellow's regular Spice! events.

Laurent Garnier and his F Communications label have been practically synonymous with Parisian house since the early '90s. Honing his chops as part of England's late '80s Madchester acid house explosion, Garnier returned to France, establishing F Commnications in 1994 as a vehicle for his expansive, techno-tinged tracks. Soon after this, Garnier made his first visit to Japan as headliner at one of the epic parties that used to be held at the Laforet museum.

More recently, at a time when audiences have begun to grow weary of the reigning 140bpm orthodoxy, Garnier injected a much-needed sense of humor into his music, in particular on the zany video for the club hit “The Man with the Red Face.”

Garnier will be in strong company at Yellow with Spice resident DJ Simon Templar and Robert Palmer (Retrogression) behind the decks. And for those who can't make it out Saturday, the word is that Garnier will also be making a cameo appearance at Yellow's sister club, Module in Shibuya, the following Wednesday.

Freedom Village@Ball Room, 11/30, 9pm, ¥3,000 (adv), ¥3,500 (door). Info: Disk Garage 5436-9600.
Spice!@Yellow, 12/7, 9pm, ¥3,500. Tel: 3479-0690. www.club-yellow.com.

Galliano credit: Freedom Village
Garnier credit: Spice!