Mark Pritchard (born 1971) is an English

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

ian, currently signed to

Warp Warp, warped or warping may refer to: Arts and entertainment Books and comics * WaRP Graphics, an alternative comics publisher * ''Warp'' (First Comics), comic book series published by First Comics based on the play ''Warp!'' * Warp (comics), a ...

. He has produced a large discography with a constant change of styles and genres, in both solo work under various aliases, and collaborations.

History

Mark Pritchard was born in

Yeovil Yeovil ( ) is a town and civil parish in the district of South Somerset, England. The population of Yeovil at the last census (2011) was 45,784. More recent estimates show a population of 48,564. It is close to Somerset's southern border with ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, England in 1971. From an early age he listened to a wide range of musical styles, and says when he was 5 his mother would buy him a new 7" record every week. After spending his school years listening to

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

, 2-tone, indie and rock, he eventually became involved in club music, specifically Detroit techno and Chicago house. In the clubs of

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

he came into contact with fellow West Country residents

Tom Middleton Tom Middleton (born 18 August 1971) is a British electronic recording artist, sound designer, composer, music producer, remixer and DJ. His solo albums include '' Lifetracks'' (2007), ''Glasstracks'' (2011) and ''Sleep Better'' (2018). Middleto ...

and Richard D. James. Middleton would become frequent collaborator and James would eventually be Pritchard's label-mate on

. Pritchard and Middleton formed a record label, Evolution (named after one of

Carl Craig Carl Craig (born May 22, 1969) is an American electronic music producer, DJ, and founder of the record label Planet E Communications. He is known as a leading figure and pioneer in the second wave of Detroit techno artists during the late 1980s ...

's tracks), in 1991. The label played host to experimental electronica and dance music, including early releases from Matthew Herbert and

Danny Breaks Danny Breaks (born Daniel Whiddett) is a British drum and bass DJ, record producer and record label owner. He is known for his experimental instrumental hip hop production, and early music career as the breakbeat hardcore artist Sonz of a Loop ...

, but was eventually discontinued. Throughout the 90s Pritchard and Middleton worked together under several guises, ''

Global Communication Global Communication is an electronic music act, consisting of Tom Middleton and Mark Pritchard. Biography Global Communication's first LP, '' 76:14'', is an acclaimed album from the ambient and 1990s electronic music genres. Beyond their w ...

,'' ''Jedi Knights,'' ''Secret Ingredients,'' ''Link & E621,'' ''Reload,'' and ''The Chameleon.'' In the late '90s, he started collaborating with Dave Brinkworth spawning the projects ''Use of Weapons'' and ''Harmonic 33.'' Other collaborative projects include ''Series 7'' with Stephen Horne, '' Shaft'' with Adrian Hughes, ''Vertigo'' with

, ''The 28 East Boyz'' with Kevin Hann, ''Chaos & Julia Set'' with Dominic Fripp, ''Mystic Institute'' with Paul Kent, ''Pulusha'' with

Kirsty Hawkshaw Kirsty Hawkshaw (born 26 October 1969) is an English electronic music vocalist and songwriter. In addition to her work as a solo artist, she is known as the lead vocalist of early 1990s dance group Opus III, and her collaborative work with oth ...

, ''Pritch & Trim'' with

Trim Trim or TRIM may refer to: Cutting * Cutting or trimming small pieces off something to remove them ** Book trimming, a stage of the publishing process ** Pruning, trimming as a form of pruning often used on trees Decoration * Trim (sewing), or ...

and '' Africa Hitech'' with Steve Spacek. Throughout his career, he has also recorded solo work under various aliases, including ''Reload,'' ''Link,'' ''Harmonic 313,'' ''Troubleman,'' ''NY Connection,'' and ''Roberto Edwardo Turner (The Returner).'' In June 2013, it was announced that he would be retiring his various aliases and using solely his birth name for future releases, with which, Pritchard released a trio of EPs on Warp, all a medley of footwork, jungle and bass-heavy dance-floor orientated electronics. A full-length LP, ''Under the Sun'' was released in 2016, and its companion album ''The Four Worlds'' in 2018, both on Warp; deeply atmospheric and richly impressionistic, hearkening back to Pritchard's work as ''

,'' with key vocal features from

Thom Yorke Thomas Edward Yorke (born 7 October 1968) is an English musician and the main vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Radiohead. A multi-instrumentalist, he mainly plays guitar and keyboards and is noted for his falsetto. He has been descri ...

Linda Perhacs Linda Perhacs (born 1943) is an American psychedelic folk singer, who released her first album, ''Parallelograms'', in 1970 to scant notice or sales. The album was rediscovered by record enthusiasts and reissued numerous times beginning in 1998, g ...

Bibio Stephen James Wilkinson (born 4 December 1978), better known as Bibio, is an English musician and producer. He is known for a distinct analog lo-fi sound, and for working in a diverse range of genres, beginning in folktronica and ambient and ...

, and

Beans A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes th ...

Solo projects

Link

The Link material goes back to 1992's ''The First Link EP,'' and is predominantly techno, often using drum breaks in favour of classic 808 and 909 drum sounds. There were two EP's released solo as ''Link,'' these being ''The First Link EP'' on Evolution and ''The Augur'' on Symbiotic. The Link alias also spawned ''Link & E621,'' which referred to Pritchard and

and was used for the 1995 release ''Antacid.''

N.Y. Connection

This NYC house project was inspired by Strictly Rhythm's early 1990s releases, particularly those of

DJ Pierre Nathaniel Pierre Jones, better known by his stage name DJ Pierre, is an American DJ and performer of house music based in Chicago. He helped to develop the house music subgenre of acid house, as member of Phuture, whose 1987 EP '' Acid Tracks'' ...

. The project yielded five singles, two of which were produced in conjunction with Kevin Hann of 28 East Boyz.

Troubleman

The Troubleman material was released through

Far Out Recordings Far Out Recordings is a UK-based record label specialising in the music of Brazil. It was founded in the mid-1990s and is run by DJ, entrepreneur and producer Joe Davis. Music released on the label extends from samba, jazz, MPB, soul and disc ...

from 2001-2005. The releases were generally mid-tempo, electro and funk with Brazilian influences. Pritchard has cited

Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez (born July 5, 1970), also sometimes known as K-Dope, is an American record producer and disc jockey. He is one half of the classic house music Masters at Work musical production team with Little Louie Vega; and also releas ...

as an influence for the project. The project yielded six singles/EPs and two albums.

Reload

The Reload alias was born in 1991 and was responsible for some of Pritchard's more industrial output. Under this alias, several EPs and remixes were produced, and the 1993 album '' A Collection of Short Stories.''

Harmonic 313

Pritchard has released under this alias through Warp since 2008. Under it he released four EP's/singles and one full length, ''

When Machines Exceed Human Intelligence When may refer to: * When?, one of the Five Ws, questions used in journalism * WHEN (AM), an Urban Adult Contemporary radio station in Syracuse, New York * WHEN-TV, the former call letters of TV station WTVH in Syracuse, New York Music * When (b ...

.'' He created the moniker to link with his ''Harmonic 33'' project whilst acknowledging the Detroit influence (313 being the Detroit area code) heard in its sound.

Mark Pritchard

Pritchard first released solo material under his birth name with 2009's ''? / The Hologram'' on Ho-Hum Records. Following releases on

Hyperdub __NOTOC__ Hyperdub is a British, London-based electronic music record label and former webzine, founded by Steve Goodman, a.k.a. Kode9. The label was formed in 2004, and grew out of the UK's early dubstep scene. Artists signed to the label have ...

and

Deep Medi Musik Deep Medi Musik is a British dubstep label founded in 2006 by artist Mala. The label describes the common theme between releases as “music that you can feel”. As a tradition, every time an artist new to the label gets signed, their first re ...

, he is currently signed to Warp, through which he released a trilogy of EP's exploring styles such as footwork and jungle in 2013, followed by two ambient companion albums ''Under The Sun'' in 2016 and ''The Four Worlds'' in 2018.

Collaborative projects

Global Communication

Conceived in the early nineties, Global Communication was another collaborative project of Pritchard and

, and its output was predominantly ambient. Most of the material was released on

Dedicated Records Dedicated was a British independent record label that released music between 1990 and 1998 by Spiritualized, Spacemen 3, Global Communication, Beth Orton (in the U.S.), Chapterhouse, Cranes and others. It was based in London and founded by D ...

and comprises eight singles/EPs and two albums, including ''

Pentamerous Metamorphosis ''Pentamerous Metamorphosis'' is an album by Global Communication originally released in 1993 on Dedicated Records. It is a reworking of the ''Blood Music'' album by Chapterhouse and was originally only available as a bonus CD bundled with the ...

,'' a reworking of the Chapterhouse album Blood Music. They also released the album '' 76:14'' (named after its duration) which ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' featured in their ''1,000 Albums to Hear Before You Die'' list, describing it as an "unfathomably beautiful out-of-time masterpiece." Perhaps their most well known release was 1996's ''The Way / The Deep'' EP, considered by some to be a house classic.

Reload & E621

The ''Reload & E621'' moniker was used for Reload releases that featured

. E621 (the

E number E numbers ("E" stands for "Europe") are codes for substances used as food additives, including those found naturally in many foods such as vitamin C, for use within the European Union (EU) and European Free Trade Association (EFTA). Commonly ...

for

Monosodium glutamate Monosodium glutamate (MSG), also known as sodium glutamate, is the sodium salt of glutamic acid. MSG is found naturally in some foods including tomatoes and cheese in this glutamic acid form. MSG is used in cooking as a flavor enhancer wi ...

) also denoted the addition of Middleton in the ''Link & E621'' project.

28 East Boyz

This was the pairing of Pritchard and his school friend, Kevin Hann. For contractual reasons, Pritchard could not use his real name for the credits, so he and his manager came up with the nom de plume ''William Parrot'' based on his childhood pets. The project yielded two singles.

Jedi Knights

A project with Tom Middleton, Jedi Knights first appeared remixing the Link & E621 track ''Antacid'' in 1995. Pritchard said the project in part came about as a reaction to what they saw as a lack of funk and humour in the club scene, and cites P-Funk and Electro as musical influences.

Use of Weapons

A project with Dave Brinkworth, released through

' Drum and Bass and Jungle label, Droppin' Science. The pair released three singles under this alais from 1998 to 2001.

Vertigo

Following on from releasing through his label, Pritchard ended up collaborating with Danny Breaks under this alias. This one-off collaboration resulted in the 2000 single ''The Drained / Migraine.''

Chaos & Julia Set

This was the collaborative project of Pritchard and Dominic Fripp, a school friend of Pritchard's who wrote the short stories featured on the ''Reload'' album. They released three singles between 1993 and 1997.

Pulusha

This was a predominantly ambient project with ''Opus III'' vocalist

, and resulted in the 1997 release ''Isolation.'' Pricthard went on to produce Hawkshaw's debut album with Dave Brinkworth, and in 2004, Pritchard contributed to Hawkshaw's ''Ambient Vocals.''

Shaft

Shaft was originally Pritchard, Kevin Hann and Adrian Hughes. The project spawned the Pritchard-penned UK top 10 single ''Roobarb and Custard,'' which sampled the cartoon of the same name. The success of the single meant Pritchard could afford to buy some equipment and ultimately allowed him to focus on making music full-time from then on in. A UK #61 chart hit followed in 'Monkey' in 1992. The project produced four singles/EPs.

Harmonic 33

This was a collaborative project with Dave Brinkworth that started in 1998. It yielded five singles/EPs, and two albums; ''Extraordinary People'' and ''Music For Film, Television & Radio Volume One.'' The name came from a book about extraterrestrial beings using planetary harmonic frequencies to navigate space. Stylistically, the releases explored "...exotica, '60s/'70s library music, sci-fi, ...hip-hop".

Africa Hitech

This was a project collaborative project with Steve Spacek, who came up with name after the pair discussed how African and Jamaican migrants had influenced UK club music. The duo released exclusively through Warp and produced four singles/EPs and the album ''93 Million Miles''

Pritch & Trim

Pritchard and grime MC

teamed up for the

Planet Mu Planet Mu is an eclectic English electronic music record label created and run by Mike Paradinas. The label started out as a subsidiary of Virgin Records then Paradinas set up the label independent of Virgin. After releasing intelligent dance ...

single ''Stereotype'' in 2011.

Mark Pritchard and Wiley

Pritchard collaborated with

Wiley Wiley may refer to: Locations * Wiley, Colorado, a U.S. town * Wiley, Pleasants County, West Virginia, U.S. * Wiley-Kaserne, a district of the city of Neu-Ulm, Germany People * Wiley (musician), British grime MC, rapper, and producer * Wiley Mil ...

on the 2012 single "Scar/Moneyman," released by

Ninja Tune Ninja Tune is an English independent record label based in London. It has a satellite office in Los Angeles. It was founded by Matt Black and Jonathan More (better known as Coldcut) and managed by Peter Quicke and others. Inspired by a visit ...

. The 12" included a remix of "Money Man" under the Harmonic 313 alias.

Style

Pritchard produces music in a wide range of genres, including hip hop,

techno Techno is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally music production, produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central Drum beat, rhythm is typ ...

jungle A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''ja� ...

, ambient,

grime Grime may refer to: * Dirt, in the form of black, ingrained dust * Grime (music genre), a genre of music * ''Grime'' (album), a 2001 album by Iniquity * ''Grime'' (video game), a 2021 Metroidvania video game * "Grime", a 2022 song by Dallas Woo ...

and drum and bass. ''FACT'' magazine claims across all this eclecticism, there are some consistent themes, stating "He's not a minimalist, for one: regardless of genre, his productions are rich, gestural, and almost always interested in surface dazzle" and " his output tends also towards the instantly accessible".

Selected discography

*''The First Link EP'' (Link) – Evolution, 1992 *''A Collection of Short Stories'' (Reload) – Infonet, 1993 *'' 76:14'' (

) – Dedicated, 1994 *''New School Science'' (Jedi Knights) – Evolution, 1996 *''The Way/The Deep'' (Global Communication) – Dedicated, 1996 *''Extraordinary People'' (Harmonic 33) – Alphabet Zoo, 2002 *''Time Out of Mind'' (As Troubleman) – Far Out, 2004 *''Music for Film, Television & Radio Volume One'' (Harmonic 33) –

, 2005 *''When Machines Exceed Human Intelligence'' (as ''Harmonic 313'') – Warp, 2008 *''Elephant Dub / Heavy as Stone'' –

, 2010 *''93 Million Miles'' ( Africa Hitech) – Warp, 2011 *''Stereotype'' (with

) –

, 2011 *''Scar'' (with

) –

Big Dada Big Dada is a British independent record label imprint distributed by Ninja Tune. It was started by reputed hip hop journalist Will Ashon in 1997. It is best known for marketing of prominent British hip hop artist Roots Manuva, poet and play ...

, 2012 *''Ghosts'' – Warp, 2013 *''Under the Sun'' – Warp, 2016 *''Under the Sun: Expanded Vol. 1'' – Warp, 2016 *''The Four Worlds'' – Warp, 2018 *''MP Productions - EP 1'' Warp, 2020

Selected remixes

*" On" by Aphex Twin (Reload Remix) – Warp, 1993 *"Home" by

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting). Depeche ...

(Jedi Knights Remix (Drowning in Time)) –

Mute Muteness is a speech disorder in which a person lacks the ability to speak. Mute or the Mute may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Mute'' (2005 film), a short film by Melissa Joan Hart * ''Mute'' (2018 film), a scien ...

, 1997 *"Know My Name" by Nightmares on Wax (Mark Pritchard Remix) – Warp, 2002 *'Stronger Than Me" by

Amy Winehouse Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz. A membe ...

(Harmonic 33 Remix) – Island, 2003 *"Bloom" by

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...

(Mark Pritchard RMX) –

Ticker Tape Ticker tape was the earliest electrical dedicated financial communications medium, transmitting stock price information over telegraph lines, in use from around 1870 through 1970. It consisted of a paper strip that ran through a machine called ...

, 2011 *"Bloom" by Radiohead (Harmonic 313 RMX) – Ticker Tape, 2011 *'Stay the Same" by Bonobo (Mark Pritchard Remix –

, 2012 *"Lately" by

Massive Attack Massive Attack are an English trip hop collective formed in 1988 in Bristol by Robert "3D" Del Naja, Adrian "Tricky" Thaws, Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. The debut Massive Attack album '' Blue Lines'' was releas ...

(Mark Pritchard Remix) – unreleased, 2013

References

External links

Mark Pritchard SoundCloud

Mark Pritchard Warpstore

Troubleman Bandcamp
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pritchard, Mark 1971 births Living people Ambient musicians English DJs English electronic musicians English record producers Musicians from Somerset Remixers Warp (record label) artists