It’s been a long gap between releases on Underground Resistance—just over a year—but those expecting Mad Mike to come back with some sort of reinvention of the UR wheel will be sorely disappointed—but only for a second. “Hi-Tech Dreams” is classic Detroit techno funk, deep and smooth but with a distinct grit to it thanks to the slightly harder elements of the main bass riff and snapping beats. Distorted vocals come courtesy of UR Agent Chaos alongside some female wailing, giving the jazzed-up space groove a sharper edge, as do the rather sinister out-of-time breakdowns and rhythmic jumps. It won’t make you forget “Jupiter Jazz,” but it’s definitely cut from the same cloth.

On the flip, “Hold My Own” is a downtempo hybrid of rock, funk, and hip-hop that works as a political statement but not really as a memorable piece of music, but “Lo-Tech Reality” is the A-side’s evil twin, reprising the rhythmic punch of “Hi-Tech Dreams” in a stripped-down mode and a sinister voiceover explaining that “You don’t really understand any of this.” Oozing with urban politics and some truly wicked analog noise loops, “Lo-Tech” is what ghetto menace sounds like when transmitted from Detroit directly to Mars. This is a fine return to form, and as long as they don’t take a year to issue a follow-up, UR should be back on top of the Detroit techno dogpile in no time.

Underground Resistance / UR-071
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[Todd Hutlock]