"This compelling, impressionistic documentary by director Hans Fjellestad focuses on three subjects that, as a whole, paint an arresting picture of modern day Tijuana. Frontier Life is a celebration of humanity and creative expression, an unforgettable glimpse into another world."
- David Cooper, Salina Journal

"...a quick-paced, smartly edited doc that boasts an innovative score..."
- Filmmaker Magazine

"Extraordinary!"
- The Latin Film Network

"Looking past the stereotypical city of vice, Fjellestad negotiates the chaos to reveal a heart in the infrastructure and subcultures of Tijuana."
- Rich Lim, Tokion

"Tijuana's seamy underbelly is exposed clinically, unflinchingly, as if it were the Byzantine Empire ... prettily made and offers an original concept..."
- Meg Van Huygen, Resonance Magazine

"Frontier Life, its content as well as its formal properties as a cutting-edge documentary film, represents the best artwork that is coming out of our region that we loosely define as Los Angeles to Baja California."
- Rachel Teagle, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego

"A vibrant, fascinating, funny, and often surreal experience of life in 21st-Century Tijuana."
- Voz Alta

"Frontier Life exposes the musical genius of Mexico's most notorious border town."
- Zach Dundas, Willamette Week

"Feeding off the innovative and electronic sounds of the Nortec Collective music movement, the stories of illegal drag racers and the insights of young artists and social anthropologists, Fjellestad has created a documentary that brings to light the urban and artistic realities of contemporary Tijuana... The film, in part, challenges Tijuana myths and stereotypes. But most important, it captures a moment in the history of this young Mexican city."
- Hiram Soto, San Diego Union-Tribune

"There is more to life in Tijuana than just cheap pharmaceuticals, bars with no last call, and prostitutes. The documentary Frontier Life proves it. Truly, necessity is the mother of invention - and the queen of Tijuana."
- Crystal Meers, Nylon

FRONTIER LIFE: Banda Sonora

"This CD opens up a whole new field of exploration for lovers of electronic adventure."
- Elisabeth Vincentelli, Time Out New York

"This soundtrack album is the result of a collaboration across the USA-Mexico border between Trummerflora artists and members of the Nortec Collective. The music is mostly in the electronica vein, minimal techno and experimental dub forming its core with contributions from artists like Panóptica, Clorofila and Latinsizer. The latter manages to integrate Mexican folk culture into its techno without it sounding kitsch or forced -- a rare feat. But the best music comes from those who push things further. Fjellestad's own 'Phone Damage' is a very fine layering of odd ambiances..."
- François Couture, All-Music Guide

"Ominous and sprawling, it's a fascinating collaboration between two left field groups separated by politics, culture and people with guns."
- Troy Johnson, San Diego City Beat

"The soundtrack to Hans Fjellestad's documentary Frontier Life mirrors the film by diving past the surface image of Tijuana to find the hidden culture that has arisen on the frontier. Great Music that is more laptop than Latin."
- Fitz Gitler, XLR8R

"...plenty of head-crackling minimal gear and percussive downtempo to confuse your ears. Nice work."
- Jane Fitz-Gerald, Update Magazine

"Soundtracks to documentary films hardly rank in the 'must seek' factor but this little affair from Mexico is a notable exception. With the likes of Panoptica, Marcos Fernandes and Point Loma on board 'Frontier Life' acts as a fitting introduction to the country's fruitful electronica scene."
- Steve Mclay, DJ Magazine

"There is all the adventure you might imagine when thinking about a 'border town'; but, there's something else, too - a real sense of 'strange', in a futuristic sense... lots of beats, electronic manipz & things different than you might expect. The music is pretty much unclassifiable, certainly doesn't fit into any pigeonholes. Less Latino flavoring than I expected, much more rhythm oriented. A well recorded album that gets a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED from us, especially if you want to hear something that speaks of strangers in strange lands."
- Rotcod Zzaj, Improvijazzation Nation

"[Banda Sonora] pleasantly throws one off, in terms of what might be typically expected of a documentary about porous borders and dusty Mexican cities... This is seriously experimental territory and so curious in parts, it makes one want to watch the documentary. A good effect, undoubtedly and a sign of more delightful things to come from the Nortec collective."
- Vinita Ramani, Exclaim! (Canada)

"...an innovative and intriguing collection of tunes..."
- Paul Sullivan, Dotmusic.com

"'Phone Damage' von Hans Fjellestad vibriert monoton auf dunkler Ebene, ein geradezu avantgardistisches Stück. Rhythmus findet vordergündig nicht statt. Das ist ein exquisit gesetztes Tonfragment, das mal wie eine Tropfsteinhöhle und mal wie eine Schlosserwerkstatt klingt und doch absolute Ruhe ausstrahlt... Accretions ist ein Label, das sich ungewöhnlicher Klänge annimmt. Electro Avantgarde, Jazz und neue Töne, Alltagstöne mischt das Label auch auf dieser Veröffentlichung genial. Der Film wird durch die Musik berauscht, zur Stille gebracht. Hans Fjellestad, der den Dokumentarfilm gedreht hat und auch Musik dazu beiträgt, wird demnächst mit Film + Musik touren. Das ist eine Empfehlung wert."
- Volkmar Mantei, Ragazzi

"This is solid, rich, full-blooded music taking reference points from our increasingly complex multi-cultural multiverse... from the heart - the genuine article, rather than some jumped bandwagon facsimile."
- Antony Burnham, Metamorphic Journeyman