Album Reviews

Album Review: Harmonic 313 – When Machines Exceed Human Intelligence (Warp)

By | Published on Monday 2 February 2009

Harmonic313

Harmonic 313 is the new project from Mark Pritchard, one of the few genuine electronic music geniuses borne from 90s dance culture (see also: Richard D James, the Hartnolls, Liam Howlett and one or two others). Whereas his Troubleman alias focused on sun-kissed Brazilian funk and soul and Harmonic 33 dealt with soundtrack exotica, Harmonic 313 is a love affair with Detroit (the clue is in the 313 – the area’s postcode), a city that has previously partly shaped Pritchard’s electronica output under his Reload alias. ‘When Machines Exceed Human Intelligence’ is more an album of what Pritchard calls “UK bass music” than an exercise in purely electronic listening music though. Tracks here are deep and dirty; the likes of ‘Dirtbox’ and ‘Word Problems’ are part techno/electro, part dubstep, packed with earth-shaking bass, ominous retro synths and vintage drum machines and occasional mutant B-boy chatter. Guest vocalists appear on two tracks: Phat Kat & Elzhi make ‘Battlestar’ a notably chunky piece of hip hop whilst Steve Spacek adds sheen to the electro soul of ‘Falling Away’. Elsewhere, the ambient washes of ‘Koln’ ebb and flow, making it redolent of Pritchard’s more ambient work. Whilst ‘WMEHI’ is not quite as essential or memorable as some of Pritchard’s other output (though few albums come close to ’76:14′, the seminal ambient album he created with Tom Middleton under the Global Communication moniker), it’s nonetheless a cohesive, enlightening listen that, like the best albums on Warp Records, engages your brain, soul and feet. MS

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