also, don't want to totally rehash an argument I'm sure has been had plenty of times
but I'd push back pretty hard against UR as po-faced
the early stuff especially is, mostly, very functional dance music, whatever else it is
pretty sure that charge is far more true of (a section of) their fanbase - esp in the 90s-00s? than them. in fact feels like a ca. early 2000s argument (tbc I wasn't aware or involved in such arguments at the time, but from what I've read/the vibes I get), when people cared a lot more seriousness and idk, credibility. also UR were the first ppl (I think?) to do the militant faceless techno thing - as an auteur whole, rather than just making anonynmous records I mean - and a million people have done it since (mostly minus the militancy) which has probably considerably diluted the impact of the original and made it seem like more of a po-faced affectation I guess - whereas UR was firmly rooted in a local, historical context in Detroit and more broadly America.
the inward, bedroom aspect of worldbuilding is true, but that's more of a Drexciya thing than UR proper, which does have some level of worldbuilding I guess but nothing approaching the Drexciyan level of detail, where Lardossa etc could practically be a D+D campaign setting (which sounds amazing tbh)