I am the same age as Lavelle, and contend that the 90's hip hop and electro music has never been surpassed - apart from DJ Shadow, Blackalicious, Portishead, Massive Attack and the Beastie Boys (all referenced in this doco.), think Lamb, The Chemical Brothers and Leftfield just for a start; then the more underground artists like Coldcut, DJ Spooky, Kid Loco, Herbert, Coil...
Even if you were not into the scene, this was an entertaining biography following the dramatic peaks and troughs in the life of a gifted visionary and flawed human; even a kind of everyman story - perhaps resonant for every privileged gen-X male. It is questionable whether Lavelle is really an artist, or just a kind of curator - a particularly creative, ambitious marketing and A&R man, who was in the right place and time to make a career from his passion.
So many of the people interviewed in this film are fascinating in their own right, artists and producers pivotal to this early 90's London music scene and the amazing art that it produced - not only in the electronic genre, and not only music.
There have been some great music docos recently, and I look forward to more - especially this year's "Sisters with Transistors" which I haven't tracked down yet. So despite my obvious bias I believe this an objectively engaging piece of storytelling and recommend it unreservedly.
Even if you were not into the scene, this was an entertaining biography following the dramatic peaks and troughs in the life of a gifted visionary and flawed human; even a kind of everyman story - perhaps resonant for every privileged gen-X male. It is questionable whether Lavelle is really an artist, or just a kind of curator - a particularly creative, ambitious marketing and A&R man, who was in the right place and time to make a career from his passion.
So many of the people interviewed in this film are fascinating in their own right, artists and producers pivotal to this early 90's London music scene and the amazing art that it produced - not only in the electronic genre, and not only music.
There have been some great music docos recently, and I look forward to more - especially this year's "Sisters with Transistors" which I haven't tracked down yet. So despite my obvious bias I believe this an objectively engaging piece of storytelling and recommend it unreservedly.