Back yet again + UR video

After a number of false starts, I'm back on this blog for good. It'll be a place for discussion of items mostly relating to music and pop culture, but also a place for links to pieces I've written. Hope you enjoy!
To start things off, here's a video that Timh at 555 Enterprises tipped me off to, about Underground Resistance, from Current. Click here to watch.

A little bit about Underground Resistance: Also known as UR, it's one of the best techno labels out of Detroit, the city where the genre was born. Started by "Mad" Mike Banks, Jeff Mills, and Robert Hood, it presents a militant, yet also artistically open, response to excess and cults of personality in the music industry. Notably, Mad Mike refuses to be interviewed without wearing a bandana to cover his face - you can see this in the Current video, and also in the clip below, from a documentary called Universal Techno:




UR are well worth getting to know, but it's hard to provide a great jumping off point. Many of the best albums released by UR are difficult to find these days. In the mean time, here are some great songs to start with, including "High-Tech Jazz," which became the de-facto genre name for the style it pioneered:

Galaxy 2 Galaxy - "Hi-Tech Jazz"


Jeff Mills - "Changes Of Life" (original is also very good)


Mad Mike - "Death Star"