Unreasonable Behavior
by Laurent Garnier
  • Record Label: Mute
  • Release Date: Oct 17, 2000
Metascore
83

Universal acclaim - based on 10 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 10
  3. Negative: 0 out of 10
  1. AllMusic
    80
    More complex and idiosyncratic than his previous full-length works (and much less danceable as a consequence), Unreasonable Behaviour focuses on midtempo jams in the verge between evocative techno, electro-jazz, and even melancholy synth-pop. If 1997's 30 was his Chicago album, this one is definitely the Detroit installment...
  2. Alternative Press
    80
    Though nominally house music, Unreasonable Behavior's tracks expend as much energy on engaging the listener's mind as they do on moving the body. [Dec 2000, p.86]
    All this publication's reviews
  3. Armchair DJ
    90
    The secret to Garnier's accessibility lies in his ability to locate fresh specific sounds and organize them sparsely atop the existing framework of electronic dance music.
  5. CDNow
    80
    His latest album manages to find a middle ground between mindless crowd-pleasing and progressive sound manipulation.... Unreasonable Behaviour is obviously Garnier's attempt to push the creative envelope, with entirely satisfying results.
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  6. Entertainment Weekly
    75
    His sound has grown, and his latest unleashes acoustic bass, free-jazzy horns, and assorted birds in a rugged electro-soundscape. [10/20/2000, p.79]
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  7. Launch.com
    90
    An artist this gifted uses his skills to make music, not cling to style. While the familiar 808s and 909s of techno are rife on Unreasonable Behaviour, the music covers breakbeat, jazz, techno, beat noir, and even hints at Brazilian rhythms.
  8. Mojo
    80
    The Parisian has lost his cool, let rip, taken his metaphorical shirt off, and it sounds liberating.
  9. New Musical Express (NME)
    70
    An album of gloomy, almost gothic techno splendour. Beneath its typically sleek, urbane deep house grooves, it beats nervously with foreboding, fear and loathing for humanity as a whole.
  10. PopMatters
    90
    Unreasonable Behaviour is far from an easy listen. While Garnier is usually highly accessible, here he deviates in favor of a record much more tempestuous, menacing and genre-pushing -- all of which, though foreboding, is wholly more gratifying.
  11. Rolling Stone
    70
    Unreasonable Behavior is a dark techno melange that wriggles free of categorization... Garnier exploits the stylistic atomization of electronica, bringing together a whole palette of sounds to evoke one very specific thing: dread.

Awards & Rankings

17
#17 Best Album of 2000
85
#85 Most Discussed Album of 2000

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.6

Universal acclaim- based on 8 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 8
  3. Negative: 0 out of 8
  1. mikep
    Dec 21, 2003
    10
    absolutely fabulous!!!
  2. PaulA.
    Nov 29, 2001
    8
    Top album; takes a few listens but gradually tracks like communications from the lab grow on you. More accessible than last album 30.
  3. G3nesys
    May 12, 2011
    10
    I've been sorely dissapointed with metacritic's "house" and "techno" secetions, expecting to find some great electronic music. This is was II've been sorely dissapointed with metacritic's "house" and "techno" secetions, expecting to find some great electronic music. This is was I was looking for all along :D… Full Review »
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