Harmonic 313: Marc Pritchard releases "EP 1"
Australian electronica act Marc Pritchard has released a EP for Warp Records under his new guise as Harmonic 313. „EP 1“ will be available as a limited edition 12'' Vinyl goodie and in digital formats and herald the advent of a full-length later in the year. On six tracks of between 25 seconds and five and a half minute length, Marc Pritchard demonstrates how far he has come in switching from deep Ambient and a connection with Far Out Recordings to a style with allusions to contemporary HipHop and electro – if the press release talks about Jay Dee and Kraftwerk at the same time, that is no cheap salestalk or namedropping in this particular instance. Tracks are simply titled „Problem 1-6“, but by solving a colour puzzle, listeners can decode the real names in a playful way. Both emotional and cool, excited and relaxed, old-school influenced and bound for the future, „Harmonic 313 - EP 1“ is a work which only increases anticipation for the album.
Up until now, Marc Pritchard has been hard to pin down, both through his neverending musical chameleonism, but also thanks to his many different project names, including Troubleman, Link and Reload. Another alias used to be Harmonic 33, which has now been modified into „Harmonic 313“ - 313 being the telephone area code to Detroit, the city whose classic sound has been a major muse to „EP 1“. With the new material, however, Marc Pritchard seems to have arrived at a voice, which is as colourful as it is personal and could herald a phase of new stability in his oeuvre.
The potential of Harmonic 313 is certainly huge. Mainly instrumental but flirting with Kraftwerk'ean vocoder monologues, Marc Pritchard achieves a stoic forward thrust by almost manicially focussing on the groove of his tracks. „Problem 1“ and „Problem 2“ are digital funk monsters filled around pristinely shimmering chime loops, sceletised beats and growling bass tones. Mostly open, arrangements live from opening up associational spaces and then filling them with discreet harmonic textures. Thanks to the short format, Pritchard maintains the momentum for the complete length, yet still finds the time to expand into other genres: On „Problem 4“, there is even a faint trace of Soul to be felt.
Homepage: Marc Pritchard/Harmonic 313
Homepage: Warp Records
Homepage: Bleep
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Comments
The music is inspired...and the 12 inch cover is utter genius in pulling together the elements seemlessly.
I may have to find that 12inch, then... This really seems like an album which will benefit from being pressed to Vinyl.
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