Exclusive no holds barred access into the life and career of renowned DJ and Mo Wax record label founder, James Lavelle. A sweeping rollercoaster ride through his career, uprise to downfall, a raw and honest account of young fame and cataclysmic downfall

As part of a younger generation, I unfortunately didn't grow up with Lavelle being a household name but the doc very distinctly and masterfully transports us into this 80's/90's millennial urban world and progressive music industry.

Particular commendation like with any documentary has to go to editor Alec Rossiter and Director Matthew Jones. Whom have clearly trawled through hours of b-roll, interview and gig footage to compile the best and most relevant clips to craft the story. The cuts between the primary footage of young Lavelle spliced next to his coworker and or friend counterpart interviews for the doc as he begins to spiral and tarnish his friendships are excellently placed. However, the sheer volume of contributors and anecdotes from influential figures in his life can become a little overwhelming and I often found myself getting a little lost as to who was who. Aside from signed artist and friend DJ Shadow who then went onto collaborate on and create UNKLE with Lavelle. He is the most significant and arguably only 'character' within the film I understand and empathise with other than Lavelle himself due to their broken bromance.

The journey itself is set out in a very typical documentary rise and fall charting. Showing the incredible journey of an underground young teenager with huge aspirations and seemingly unattainable dreams which he managed to make a reality, defying any and all expectations. As stated 'James turned everything into gold.' The classic Midas touch until that came back to bite him. Aspirations are too high, stakes higher and the low points, catastrophic.

It's clear to see that success at that very early age can spiral, it's the age old story of a child star being given too much power and the temptation of drugs, pressures of the industry and the interview of him revealing his adultery, there's a deep insight and resultant understanding of how and why Lavelle's downfall occured.

Particular mention needs to go to the graphics interspersed throughout the film The animated record covers of vinyl after vinyl, contrasted with the grainy video archive footage of Lavelle, worked beautifully alongside one another. I appreciated that showing these wasn't all about the music and it was Lavelle's label identity as a whole, appreciation for all art forms, be that from the artists on his label to the visual collaborators whom he admired and enlisted to make his label identifiable and unique.

As Lavelle boasts "ching ching ching" he is evidently incredibly money orientated and this works effortlessly with the fast-paced editing and we're taken on the ride of his career with him and how his ego in the end got the better of him, or was he just misunderstood?

All in all an excellent and insightful watch both into Lavelle himself but also the pressures, record label politics, independent label declines and the dark underbelly to the music industry as a whole.

This is a film you have to see, it's honest, exhilarating and packed full of brilliant tracks. Even without being a die-hard Mo'Wax/UNKLE fan I could watch this film countless times, this is a profound story of dizzying success, crushing failure and everything in-between. Amazing home video from James Lavelle and DJ Shadow as well as some really insightful (and at times very funny) interviews with key people from from the worlds of music and art, Josh Homme, Futura, Ian Brown for example, make this film a must see.

I am the same age as Lavelle, and contend that the 90's hip hop and electro music has never been surpassed - apart from DJ Shadow, Blackalicious, Portishead, Massive Attack and the Beastie Boys (all referenced in this doco.), think Lamb, The Chemical Brothers and Leftfield just for a start; then the more underground artists like Coldcut, DJ Spooky, Kid Loco, Herbert, Coil...

Even if you were not into the scene, this was an entertaining biography following the dramatic peaks and troughs in the life of a gifted visionary and flawed human; even a kind of everyman story - perhaps resonant for every privileged gen-X male. It is questionable whether Lavelle is really an artist, or just a kind of curator - a particularly creative, ambitious marketing and A&R man, who was in the right place and time to make a career from his passion.

So many of the people interviewed in this film are fascinating in their own right, artists and producers pivotal to this early 90's London music scene and the amazing art that it produced - not only in the electronic genre, and not only music.

There have been some great music docos recently, and I look forward to more - especially this year's "Sisters with Transistors" which I haven't tracked down yet. So despite my obvious bias I believe this an objectively engaging piece of storytelling and recommend it unreservedly.