Biri 'N' The Geezer – All Power To All The People

I've been sleeping on this one for months, but as long as I just ordered this record I decided to write a few words on it.

This is 2019 and techno is in a tough situation. Whole industry is flooded by the sell-outs, capitalist bootlickers, clueless posers and snobs, underground wannabes who make a fashion statement out of it in order to be cool, and so on. One of the symptoms of this situation is the sea of empty, soulless, meaningless and politically correct music, detached from any positive content and released in order to meet short-term, hedonistic purposes and quickly disappear (which may not be that unusual for this music, one might argue).

To be honest, all three tracks from this release are good, but musically I think that UFO010 is not the best one from the label - I can list at least 2-3 ufo records that have better tracks on them. BUT, what makes this release so special is something completely opposite to what I have described above. Release is themed around the legendary political struggles of the black people in the USA of the 60-70s. The messages are more than actual nowadays - "against inequality, against racial oppression, RISE UP", as we hear in the B1 track "The Spark".

Of course, I am far from arguing that pressing records and playing them on parties is the best way to fight against issues like racial oppression or inequality. But, there are not many techno artists out there these days who even care about delivering important messages like this. Most of the time we encounter conformist wankers instead. We need more music like UFO010.

All power to the people!

Another top-class installment for the wonderful UFO label. The title track "All the Power to All the People" is a massive fire-storm with great acid work and some excellent use of choice samples and rhythmic/percussive vocals. Cracking track and very much in the style the label has been charting out since the beginning.

"The Spark" is also a banger, though of a darker and slightly more menacing nature. The acid has a bit more snarl and attitude, though I don't think the vibe is evil, really; it's just a bit sharper and more aggressive, and has some excellent trippy background synths after the main break, as well as more fantastic acid work. Top tune once again.

"The Law of the Streets" is a bit more austere, direct and rumbling with some quick, quivering acid work. In the main breakdown, some delightfully nasty synth work gives the track a demented, gritty sound, which carries nicely into the final third and gives the tune a dissonant edge. Another top track.

Please keep the UFO flying! :D