Famed French DJ puts the best to the test

The biggest and boldest independent dance music event to emerge this year has to be the new Terminal party. Launched in April to a packed house, Terminal features the city’s best hip-hop in Arena with top electro DJs spinning in Amber across the hall. The next schizophrenic showdown goes down on June 2.

Terminal is the brainchild of O2 Culture, creators of the Yen parties. But while Yen is all about the minimalist warehouse party ethos, where any space can be turned into a throbbing dance music maelstrom, Terminal offers more creature comforts. Terminal is Yen’s older, slightly more well-behaved sibling. Tactfully avoiding the throbbing neon and fussy fuwuyuans of Gongti, Terminal brings the Yen model of a quality party back within the Third Ring Road and classes it up a bit. Most interestingly, as Kiko Su, director of O2 Culture points out, Terminal intends to bring in top international DJ talent. This last bit is interesting as the original intention behind the Yen party was to provide a platform for local DJs to spin.

The next Terminal party will see legendary French DJ, Laurent Garnier, spinning what should redefine the Beijing standard for an “eclectic” set. Garnier started out at the renowned Hacienda nightclub in Manchester in the late ‘80s and was one of the first Europeans in the U.K. to mix the house and techno newly limported from America. Nowadays, the title of “best DJ” is pretty much decided by a few thousand teens with internet access. Garnier, however, is widely considered to be one of the best all-around DJs in the world, respected by both the Detroit godfathers of techno and also by the younger generation. Beijing based DJ Mael says a few things make Monsieur Garnier stand out: “Technical skills, of course, he is amazing, but he can literally satisfy any crowd, and plays all kinds of music–techno, house, reggae, drum n bass, all in the same night. That’s why I think he’s the best DJ on earth.”

Garnier’s extreme versatility factors into why many view him as one of the living legends of dance music. Live collaborations with Norwegian Jazzman Bugge Wesseltoft at Montreaux Jazz and Sonar Festivals, spinning drum n bass records back-to back with DJ Marky at The End in London–this guy plays music he believes in. In an interview with IDJ Magazine, Garnier put it best, “I think anyone can learn to beat-mix, but I don’t think you can really learn to DJ, it has to come from your heart. It’s like DJs that can’t dance! How the hell can you pass on the fever if you can’t even catch it? With a little bit of work anyone can put two records together and play big tunes to get a crowd to put their hands in the air, but being able to read a crowd is a whole other game. It’s all about taking your dance floor on a journey, tripping them out and surprising them. DJing is about sharing, if you don’t understand that, I don’t think you’ll ever be a true DJ.”