Global Communication

The most well-known and widely acclaimed project of influential, prolific dance producers Mark Pritchard and Tom Middleton, Global Communication is the duo’s outlet for ambient techno and house explorations. Their largely beat-free 1994 LP 76:14 was a notable high point of the ambient house movement, while their subsequent non-album singles were significantly more club-friendly, dabbling with deep house and broken beat. Constantly active with other projects, the pair occasionally revived the Global Communication handle for mixes such as 2006′s Fabric 26. The partnership began in 1991, when Pritchard and Middleton formed Evolution Records (named after a Carl Craig track) to release their own dancefloor-oriented house and techno. Middleton had previously recorded with Aphex Twin while Pritchard had been half of the duo Shaft, responsible for the British Top Ten rave hit “Roobarb & Custard.” The first three releases on Evolution were EPs recorded as Reload by Pritchard/Middleton in 1992-1993 — The Reload, The Autoreload, and The Biosphere. The records were excellent Detroit-inspired tracks, brooding and eerie but nonetheless highly danceable. Global Communication, which matched the unsettling ambience of Reload but with a focus on warmer rhythms, debuted on Evolution 004, otherwise known as The Keongaku EP. Pentamerous Metamorphosis, Global Communication’s extended remix of Chapterhouse’s 1993 Blood Music, was initially included as a bonus disc with CD copies of the Chapterhouse album, then given a standalone release. With the ambient house boom in full force by 1994, Pritchard and Middleton’s downtempo project became more important than Reload. They signed to Dedicated and released 76:14 in mid-1994. The album later gained an American release, and made many critics’ best-of lists that year. One of the record’s highlights was remixed by the Grid, J. Spaceman (Spiritualized), and Michael Brook as the two-part Maiden Voyage single. Global Communication released Remotion in late 1995, though this album consisted of remixes also, including material from the Pentamerous Metamorphosis LP along with reworkings of material by Jon Anderson, Nav Katze, and Warp 69. Following additional ventures, such as the electro alias Jedi Knights and the ambient drum’n’bass classic “Links” as the Chameleon, Pritchard and Middleton returned to the Global Communication project with The Way/The Deep, a lush, expansive house record that appeared at the very end of 1996. The Groove, co-credited to the VCF Band (Virtual Cosmic Funk Band), was a jazzy excursion into broken beat featuring remixes by Dego (4hero) and Palm Skin Productions. By the end of the decade, both were working on solo projects; Middleton’s Cosmos moniker produced big Ibizan club hits with 1999′s “Summer in Space” and 2002′s “Take Me with You,” while Pritchard produced downtempo and experimental sounds as Troubleman and as one-half of Harmonic 33. In 2005, Global Communication released a remastered edition of 76:14, and the CD edition included a bonus disc consisting of non-album singles and remixes. Fabric 26, a mix of hip-hop, funk, and broken beat rather than house, appeared in 2006. They returned in 2011 with Back in the Box, a double-CD mix of Detroit techno and early IDM. In 2020, the duo resurrected Evolution and released Transmissions, a box set containing Pentamerous Metamorphosis, 76:14, and additional material, including Lone’s remake of “5:23” (aka “Maiden Voyage”). ~ John Bush & Paul Simpson