The KLF were arguably the oddest pop group ever to be the biggest-selling artist on the planet, but for years it’s been nigh-on impossible to legitimately listen to Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty’s back catalogue. Now, this has changed.
On New Year’s Eve, a statement appeared online saying: "KLF have appropriated the work done between the 1st of January 1987 and 31st of December 1991 by The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, The Timelords, The KLF." The purpose of this move is, according to the statement, "to tell a story in five chapters using the medium of streaming. The name of the story is SAMPLECITY THRU TRANCENTRAL."
The KLF originally deleted their back catalogue in May 1992, a move that in the pre-digital era was a radical cut-off point. The arrival of file-sharing and the piracy of the group’s back catalogue puts a different slant on things, and it makes total sense to now make their incredible body of work available for mass consumption.
We’re told the emergence of the music will be in "five chapters" and the statement continues: "If you need to know more about the work done by The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, The Timelords or The KLF, you can find truths, rumours and half-truths scattered across the internet. From these truths, rumours and half-truths, you can form your own opinions. The actual facts were washed down a storm drain in Brixton some time in the late 20th century. Further information can be found on a poster, fly posted under a railway bridge on the Kingsland Road in London on the 31st of December 2020."
An eight-track collection, entitled Solid State Logik 1, has been released today, including singles ‘Doctorin’ The Tardis’, ‘3am Eternal’, ‘Last Train To Trancentral’ and ‘America: What Time is Love?’ The aforementioned posters also suggest there will be a second part of the Solid State Logik release, in addition to four other reissue releases, under the overall SAMPLECITY THRU TRANCENTRAL title. The other four "non-consecutive chapters" are entitled Kick-Out D’Jams, Pure Trance Series, Come Down Dawn and Moody Boys Selected.
The KLF have made music and videos available on a new YouTube channel that can be found here, while you can find other music on Spotify and other streaming services.
Read tQ’s Strange World Of The KLF here.
