The ill-ec-tro-nic

Not many names in techno are respected as much as the mighty Underground Resistance collective. So it was with great anticipation that we went out last night to the European premiere of the Interstellar Fugitives 2 film. Now a techno documentary was always going to involve a certain amount of overly enthusiastic studio talk but to say I was not impressed with what we actually got to see is a serious understatement. Shot on a budget of about $5 (for the batteries in the camera) the video quality was nowhere near good enough for it to be shown on a full size cinema screen, the commentary levels were muffled and inaudible, the camera work was out of focus, shaky and shot in dark studios (ever heard of lighting guys?) and when you could actually hear someone speaking they were babbling on about how privileged they were to be a part of the record – no interesting insights into the history of the workings of the organisation here then! Thankfully the musical soundtrack accompanying the studio, DJ and live shots in the film were fully audible, towering over the spoken word and it was these bits that reminded you why you were watching this in the first place. UR’s ability to consistently deliver orchestral techno & electro masterpieces has never been surpassed due to a plethora of quality releases by artists including Drexciya, Suburban Knight, Mike Banks and DJ Rolando, the producer of arguably the greatest techno record ever made

The night, organised by The Outlet Collective, also included a showcase of the UR artwork by Abdul Haqq, unfortunately a dark club space is not the ideal location for an exhibition, and it was very difficult to see any details in the prints. A bit of a missed opportunity I think.

It was not a complete disaster though because the music played lifted the night to new levels, James Pennington aka Suburban Knight, was on top form mixing all styles of Detroit Techno and Electro effortlessly. A special mention also has to go out to Matt Chester of 11^th Hour Recordings who made his debut live performance, with a killer mix of his own material, building up the crowd beautifully in time for Pennington.

Having Jeff Mills as one of your founder members and with Robert Hood being involved along the way too is always going to result in some impressive releases & our recommendation to you is to check out ISF2 (the LP!) and go and explore URs back catalogue. And our message to UR is to stick at what they do best…especially as they do that so damn well!


The Aquanauts - Crackzilla Interstellar Fugitives 2 LP

Mad Mike & The Trinity - Burning Spear Interstellar Fugitives 2 LP