BUNKR - Antenne (2024)

We could never pinpoint the location of Antenne. Unlike the other pirate stations, with their hyperactive MC's and postcode shout outs, Antenne transmitted 24 hours a day 7 days a week devoid of any human voice to provide us with clues. No big ups for the SW9 crew, no ads for the turbo-sound rave with 30-colour laser show down a local disused warehouse. We don't even know if Antenne was indeed the name of this enigmatic station, we just affectionately lent it that title as it sounded a touch more exotic than antenna and seemed fitting for its seemingly unending broadcast of widescreen techno, breakbeats, ambient washes and occasional forays into obscure German synth music.

And then, during an after-party in the twilight hours of a crisp November morning in 1996, the Antenne transmission abruptly ceased. Our beloved 97.9 FM frequency once vibrant with all manner of cosmic sound was replaced with the eerie stillness of fizzing radio static.

Who or what was behind Antenne we may never know; without doubt the unknown makes it all the more alluring. But this album serves to keep the memory of Antenne alive along with the countless other faceless pirate stations from the golden era of electronic music. Just maybe those radio waves continue to hurtle through space like gradually decaying echoes from a once brave new world, readying to connect with our brothers and sisters on the back side of the sun.

Antenne transmitted and informed, we listened and absorbed.