The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu will return to music after a 23 year self-imposed exile, as reported by The Quietus.
The Justified Ancients, also known variously as The KLF, K Foundation, the Timelords, and 2K, were pioneers of hip-hop-influenced electronic music. Consisting of Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty, the band disbanded 23-years ago but have now announced their return via a rather surreal and cryptic poster, entitled ‘2017: What The Fuck Is Going On?’, discovered on a wall in Kingsland Road, Hackney, London. The poster was discovered by Cally Callomon, editor of the Eastfolk Chronicle, and also manager of one half of The KLF, Bill Drummond. Most importantly and intriguingly, it seems to promise new music on the 23rd August 2017. 23 is clearly an important number for the band; returning on the 23rd after a 23 year absence, and this is nothing new as the band played 23-minute sets at a 1997 reunion show. Whether they will tour again remains to be seen.
The full text of the poster reads:
‘2017: What The Fuck Is Going On?
It is almost 23 years since the Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu announced a self imposed and self important 23 year moratorium. The reasons for the moratorium have now been lost in time, space, and a rusting shipping container somewhere near Sizewell B Nuclear Power Station.
What is known is:
The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu have zero involvement with any video clips, films, recorded music, documentary productions, biographies, West End musicals or social media chatter relating to the letters K L or F, now or at any other time over the previous 23 years.
Furthermore:
The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu have no interest in anything that seeks to comment on, bounce off, glorify, debunk or resurrect their historical work.
The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu are currently at work in their light industrial unit. This work will not be made public until the 23rd August 2017.
For more information contact the K2 Plant Hire Ltd.’
During their career the band were musically influential, earning critical acclaim with albums including 1990’s ‘Chill Out.’ However, the band were also a huge commercial success; ‘3 a.m. Eternal reached number one on the UK singles chart and number five on the Billboard Hot 100. Indeed, it was this commercial success mixed with the band’s more anarchic tendencies that created some of their most famous moments, for example the incident at the 1992 BRIT Awards where, during a performance of ‘3 a.m. Eternal’ with Extreme Noise Terror, Bill Drummond fired machine-gun blanks into the audience. In maybe their most famous stunt, the band recorded a video of themselves setting light to a million pounds of their own money, which you can check out below.
