The KLF are continuing their surprise comeback with the release of their reunion movie, Welcome To The Dark Ages.
Just days after the duo began to share their classic hits on streaming services for the first time, they dropped the new project, directed by Paul Duane.
It follows members Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty from their 2017 reunion as they become “new age undertakers” building The People’s Pyramid – a monument featuring bricks forged from the ashes of the dead.
“Welcome To The Dark Ages begins in the 23rd century, in a post-apocalyptic wasteland which was once the northern English City of Liverpool. In the district once known as Toxteth, a mysterious pyramid stands among demolished buildings,” reads a synopsis.
“Returning to the late 20th century, we revisit the origins of the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, The JAMs – otherwise known as the KLF – who became the top-selling singles act in the world and then left the music business, burned £1 million of their own money and signed a contract agreeing to a 23-year silence.
“23 years later, in Liverpool, this silence ended at 23 seconds past midnight on 23 August, 2017. On this day the KLF were no longer pop stars but had become undertakers, and were planning to build a 23-foot-high pyramid in Toxteth, Liverpool, made from bricks which would each contain 23 grams of a dead person’s ashes, proposed as a new British ritual for the commemoration of the dead.”
The film, which tracks the first year of this project, is available to rent or buy now.
Following their extended break, the pair announced their surprise return in two posters under a railway bridge in Shoreditch, east London, alongside graffiti referencing The KLF.
In a statement on the band’s YouTube page about their new eight-track collection, titled Solid State Logik (named after the mixing desk they used to create their biggest hits), they revealed the streaming release is the first of five planned drops.
“KLF have appropriated the work done between 1 January 1987 and 31 December 1991 by The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, The Timelords [and] The KLF,” reads the post.
“This appropriation was in order to tell a story in five chapters using the medium of streaming,” it continues. “The name of the story is Samplecity Thru Transcentral.”
Other projects set to come into fruition include Kick Out The Jams, the Pure Trance Series, and a second volume of Solid State Logik.
