Single Reviews

Single Review: Mark Pritchard – ?/Hologram (Ho Hum Records)

By | Published on Monday 20 April 2009

Mark Pritchard

Mark Pritchard always holds a bit of a special place in my heart because of the awesome music he made with Tom Middleton under the moniker Global Communication. He writes under many an assumed name, in fact, but his last release on Warp as ‘Harmonic 313’ was a little disappointing. ‘?’ is the track here that may cause a bit of a stir. It is so downtempo that it makes me think that that perhaps it’s a piss take… but no, on reflection, this is pure Pritchard. ‘?’ is so ultra downbeat / ambient that it sounds like your fridge is on the blink – a throbbing hum for two and a half mins and then some sparse melancholy keys chime in, and we aim for the GC vein, but don’t hit the circulation fully. Asking the question of what is music, and what is noise, it’s not exactly Aphex Twin’s playing sandpaper on the decks in New York at a gig style pushing the boundaries, but it makes you think, and that’s what ‘art’ is meant to do. So is this track experimental art? Possibly – but is it any good? Hmm. I listen with open ears and it’s grown on me somewhat – perhaps I am showing signs of becoming a bit of a crusty – as I highly rate the ’76:14′ LP by GC, and this has a certain nostalgic feel to those halcyon days. One the B-side, ‘The Hologram’ is a moody standard affair in slow mechanoid beats. Nothing to write home about, but a well engineered cut which I would expect from Pritchard, with a nod to cinematics. Worth checking just to see how ‘?’ makes you feel. PV

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