Largely produced by 044 (real name Gerald Mitchell) and featuring vocals from one of his relatives (one Ron Mitchell), 'Hardlife' is not so much a sci-fi techno anthem as a mid-90s US garage/soulful house workout with sparkling, undeniably intergalactic, Motor City synths. As it did back in 2001, it comes backed with a fine remix from the late Aaron Carl that successfully re-frames the track as sparse, bouncy chunk of soul-fired peak-time techno.