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Mark Fisher would have some shit to say about this.
Below are scans of Italian label, UMM’s (Underground Music Movement), merchandise catalog. UMM was Italy’s foremost purveyor of American-rooted house (and occasionally techno) during its run from 1991 to 1998. Early releases were licensed from Underground Resistance, Blake Baxter, Todd Terry and Roger Sanchez but soon the label developed its own cadre of home-grown talent. Enrico Mantini (and his Transitive Elements project), the Visnadi brothers, Swiss duo Delicious Inc. and more would come to dominate the label’s output. A slew of classics emerged, including Visnadi’s ‘Racing Tracks’ and Delicious Inc.’s ‘Eau de Chanté’. While not the first imprint to champion Italian house, UMM became its most important.
I’ve come across two copies of this catalog. One in a sealed copy of this 1996 bomb, the other I don’t recall. The rest of my UMM jams are from ‘95 or earlier, so I’m gonna pin this as their 1995 edition. There’s many compelling things here: its novelty as a physical artifact of 90’s culture, the endearing mistranslations, how frickin cool everyone looks. But what grabs me most, by far, is how (nearly) everything in this catalog – its graphics, layout, models, clothing – are nearly indistinct from a 2022 visual campaign. Every model and every fit are just as at-home in the present day as 27 years ago. If the little order form on the last page still worked, you know I’d be faxing in for the UMM Hard Long Sleeve, an UMM Raincoat, a few of the Progressive Audio Element tops and a record bag.
Back to Mark Fisher. Neoliberal capitalism isn’t conducive to the formation of new culture. We live in the timeless void of the Now, unable to articulate our present moment through new aesthetic forms. Instead we recycle and regurgitate more “authentic” styles – of music, clothing, art, etc – from times when culture was actually going somewhere. This is the crux of much of FIsher’s cultural critique as well as his concepts of hauntology and lost futures. This catalog is a microcosm of dance music’s cultural macrocosm. Trance, Jungle, Progressive House, JNCO jeans, 90’s graphics design are all back, baby. Having not lived through the 90’s the first time around, I’m not as dour as Mark. However, I can certainly understand the intense disappointment he and others of his generation felt when the future promised to them never arrived.
Speaking of hauntology, the fact that all of the beautiful, timelessly hip people in this catalog are now 27 years older is so uncanny as to be eerie. Even the CHILDREN towards the end are unquestionably older than me now. Very bizarre.
All of this said, and as somebody who was actively engaged in the wasteland of 2010-2014 house / techno culture, I am grateful for the rich tapestry of sounds and styles available in 2022. I’ll take a breakbeat trance bomb from Roza Terenzi over a dour Levon Vincent record any day of the week.