HARMONIC 313
EP1
WAP231
Warp Records 2008
06 Tracks. 22mins43secs
Format: 12″/Digital

Mark Pritchard certainly needs no introduction. From his time as one half of Global Communication, responsible for one of the finest ambient albums ever released, to various other projects, solo, with Tom Middleton or others (Jedi Knights, Reload, Link or Troubleman to name but a few), he has made an undeniable mark on electronic music. His latest project sees him remodel Harmonic 33 by adding a one between the threes and move away from the down tempo, library music-infused sound he has developed with Dave Brinkworth on the pair’s two albums to turn his attention to classic Detroit techno and eighties electro pop. Continue Reading »

CLARK
Turning Dragon
WARPCD162
Warp Records 2008
11 Tracks. 46mins35secs

Since he first appeared on the scene, in 2001, with his debut album, Clark has systematically upped the stakes with each new release, first by refocusing his sound essentially around electronics and gritty textures with Ceramics Is The Bomb and Empty The Bones Of You, then by refining his template and pushing into darker and dirtier territories with Body Riddle and its companion EPs, Throttle Furniture and Ted. With Turning Dragon, Clark steps up the pace, pushes up the experimentation levels and gets down and dirty on the dance floor.

Recorded in his apartment in Berlin, where Clark has recently moved, Turning Dragon is a much more immediate and incendiary collection, which builds on the momentum of the recent Throttle Promoter EP, yet those expecting a whole album of blasting Dirty Pixie or Kin Griff may be in for a shock. Continue Reading »

Mark Pritchard, one of the two founding members of the legendary Global Communication and Jedi Knights, returns to Warp at the end of February with a new EP released as Harmonic 313. Moving away from the library music tones of Harmonic 33 by adding a 1 to the name, Pritchard turns his attention to Detroit and hip-hop infused dance music and adds some very contemporary flavours to the mix.

EP1, which is due out on 12” and digital download, also includes a playful aspect with all track titles shown only as colour codes to be solved. The 12” will feature five tracks, with an extra track available to download once the code has been cracked.

The EP is out on Warp Records on 28 January, with an album announced for the summer.

Mark Pritchard (MySpace) | Warp Records

Details of the forthcoming Autechre album, their ninth, have been revealed in a recent Warpmart newsletter. The album, entitled Quaristice, is due to be released on 3 March and is the follow up to Rob Brown and Sean Booth’s 2005 Untilted album. The album will feature no less than twenty tracks. The cover, designed, for the first time since the Cichli Suite EP, by The Designers Republic, was also unveiled.

Full track listing as follow:

1. Altibzz
2. The Plc
3. IO
4. Plyphon
5. Perlence
6. SonDEremawe
7. Simmm
8. Paralel Suns
9. Steels
10. Tankakern
11. Rale
12. Fol3
13. fwzE
14. 90101-51-1
15. bnc Castl
16. Theswere
17. WNSN
18. chenc9
19. Notwo
20. Outh9X

The band will embark on a full European tour to coincide with the release of the album. Dates as follow:

FEBRUARY
29 Manchester, UK, Music Box

MARCH
01 Glasgow, UK - Arts School
02 Newcastle, UK - Digital
03 Birmingham, UK - Med Bar
04 London, UK - Venue TBC
05 Koln, Germany - Stattgarten
06 Amsterdam, Holland - Melkweg
07 Antwerp, Belgium - Petrol
08 Hamburg, Germany - Hafenklang
09 Berlin, Germany - Berghain
10 Katowice, Poland - Jazz Club
11 Budapest, Hungry - Merlin
12 Zagreb, Croatia - Kset
13 Graz, Austria - Post Garage
14 Italy - Town and venue TBC
15 Rome, Italy - Venue TBC
16 Italy - Town and venue TBC
17 Lyon, France - Epicerie Moderne
18 Strasbourg, France - La Laiterie
19 Paris, France - Rex Club
20 Geneva, Switzerland - L’Usine, Electron Festival

Autechre (MySpace) | Warp Records

CLARK
Throttle Promoter
WAP238
Warp Records 2007
04 Tracks. 14mins39secs
Format: Digital / 12″

The press for Throttle Promoter, Clark’s newest release, has described the EP as a “surprise”, intended to pique interest for another surprise – his upcoming full-length, Turning Dragon, due January 2008. So much for months of pre-release hype, then, but it would seem that Clark has had enough of that. 2003’s Empty The Bones Of You was promoted as a more mature, darker, and more industrial Clark (still using his full name Chris Clark at the time), a promise upon which it delivered. 2006’s Body Riddle saw another reinvention of the persona, with the now-truncated Clark focusing on intricately layered, obsessively DSP’d beats, and more delicate and emotional atmospheres. Continue Reading »

Clark has just released a new EP, Throttle Promoter, ahead of the release of his fourth album, Turning Dragon, on 28 January on Warp. Throttle Promoter is currently only available from Bleep.com, but it will be made available from other digital stores from Monday 10 December. The EP is also released on 12” through regular stores. Throttle Promoter is said to take Clark’s sound from the excellent Body Riddle from last year to a ‘tougher rave sound’.

Clark is also to play a string of dates in the UK around the time of the release of the album, starting in London on 7 February, then Glasgow on 8 February and Manchester on 16 February.

Clark | Warp Records | Bleep.com

GRIZZLY BEAR
Friend EP
WARPCD163
Warp Records 2007
10 Tracks. 43mins18mins
Format: CDS, 12″ and Digital

Originally the solo project of Daniel Rosen, whose lo-fi debut album, Horn Of Plenty, was recorded in his bedroom and released on Rumraket in 2005, Grizzly Bear are now a fully fledged formation counting four permanent members. Following its release, Horn Of Plenty got the remix treatment from a wide range of artists, including Efterklang, Dntel, Solex, Ariel Pink and Alpha to name but a few. Friend EP comes over a year after Grizzly Bear’s stellar second album, Yellow House (Warp Records), and collects alternative versions, demos, new songs and covers by Band Of Horses, Alias Sound and CSS.

The first impression filtering out of this record is the somewhat rawer and heavier nature of the music. While Horn Of Plenty appeared fragile and almost amateurish, and Yellow House was carried by beautifully light and airy melodies and arrangements, Friend at times reveals a moodier Bear, more prone to dig its sharp claws in. Continue Reading »

New Autechre album announced on Warp in early 2008. At the moment, there is no information on release date, track listing and so on. The only information available is the title of Autechre’s ninth album: Quaristice

Warp Records

Plaid have just released a digital-only single entitled Faster, which was recorded to showcase Apple’s new Logic Studio music software suite. The six-minute piece is the first new recording from Plaid since the release of their 2006 audio-visual feast Greedy Baby and the soundtrack to anime film Tekkon Kinkreet, currently still only available on import only. The DVD of the Japanese animated movie was released at the end of September, and the film will be premiered in the UK on Thursday 29 November at the Taliesin Arts Centre in Swansea, Wales, as part of Swansea Animation Days (SAND).

The band have also announced two UK dates, the first one on Saturday 20 October 2007, at Ginglik, London (DJ set), and the second on 2 November at Spectrum, Nottingham (live).

Plaid | Warp Records | Taliesin Arts Centre

FLYING LOTUS
Reset
WAP228 / WAP228CD
Warp Records 2007
06 Tracks. 17mins32secs
Format: 12″ / CDS

Flying Lotus is the project of Los Angeles resident Steven Ellison, a young musician with an impressive pedigree, counting Alice Coltrane as his great aunt no less, yet he owes his burgeoning music career to Snoop Doggy Dog, whose Doggystyle album made a strong impression on a thirteen years old Ellison.

Ellison’s debut album, 1983, was released last year on Plug Research and received critical acclaim for its impressive scope. A tight exercise which freely borrowed from hip-hop, jazz, tropicalia and electronica, the album called on comparison with the likes of Daedelus and Dntel, but Ellison’s sonic dexterity made it a remarkable personal effort. Now signed to Warp, Flying Lotus has just delivered a dense six track EP, ahead of his second album, scheduled for next year. Continue Reading »