[beyondjazz.net] Articles - Interview

For 12 years Mark Pritchard has been on the forefront of electronic music. Techno, electro, drum&bass, house, ambient, hip-hop… no genre has been left unexplored, both solo and with partners in crime such as Tom Middleton and Danny Breaks. Now he has taken up a new alias to produce ‘Time Out Of Mind’, a modern masterpiece of soul-, jazz- and Latin-inspired downtempo songs, and future club classics.

Mark Pritchard started as DJ and producer in Cornwall, where he met Tom Middleton in 1989. Tom was learning the arts of sampling with his buddy Richard D. James (aka Aphex Twin). Mark and Tom shared the interest for Carl Craig, MAW, Chicago house and techno and together set up the Evolution label in 1991. Reload was originally Mark’s techno moniker but the classic album ‘Reload – a collection of Short Stories’ also had production credits for Tom. In 1992 Global Communication was born, a project that resulted in club classics ‘The Way/The Deep’ and one of the most acclaimed highlights of their work, the ambient-album ’76:14’ in 1994. Two years later, they released the Jedi Knights album ‘New School Science’, now a laboratory for electro-funk, beats and breaks. Now, Mark and Tom are both focussing on their solo projects. Tom is a well respected DJ and producer in the field of house and 2-step (as Cosmos) and ambient (as Amba). Mark has released with Danny Breaks on the Droppin’ Science label and is making hip-hop as Harmonic 33.

Troubleman is his latest project. It took him 2 years to complete this album, but that’s not very surprising if you work on so many things at the same time. “I always wanted to do a down-tempo album,” says Mark, “so I was glad when Joe Davis (Far Out label-boss, s) asked me to do an album for Far Out. The original idea was to put out some club-singles first but the album had to be varied and about songs. So it’s a combination of both, which sort of makes it into a DJ-mix album. The reason that it took me 2 years is because I keep starting new things. At one point I got tired of doing down-tempo stuff so I did some more other things. (laughs) There’s a big list on the walls of my studio with things I’m working on and things-to-do. But sometimes I force myself to make deadlines and eventually get something released.” Mark is not afraid of getting aliases mixed up in the studio. “I just go in and do what comes natural. Like the title track from the album. I was working on that but it didn’t really fit in with the rest of the Troubleman tracks. But Joe heard it and he went crazy. He insisted that I would put it on the album. I don’t know, it just happens and it feels right. And every project gives me inspiration for the next one.”

Working with musicians and especially with vocalists was a real challenge for Mark. “Yes, it sure was. Joe convinced me that vocals would bring the music to a larger audience, so I went looking for the right people. Steve Spacek is someone I’ve always wanted to work with. We were on the same label for a while and we have mutual friends. And of course he’s very, very talented. He recorded it in just a few takes. He wrote them in no time too. He would come with an idea for the song and we discussed it. Then he would make some changes and by the time I had come up with a beat, the lyrics were completed. He’s amazing. With Eska it was quite similar. I saw her at one of the Black Lilly nights in Cargo, London, and a lot of people were saying: ‘You have to work with her!’ I didn’t want to do some lame r&b, vocal harmony thing, but I was looking for someone with a more raw, old-skool sound. She was perfect.” And if you’re going to record a vocal bossa, there’s only one person to look for. “Nina Miranda was recommended by Joe but of course I knew her voice. She’s incredible. I really wanted her to sing in Portuguese to give the songs an authentic feel.”
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‘Time Out Of Mind’ is a mix of clever breaks and beats with soul, jazz and Latin. But Mark’s main influence is hip-hop. “It always has been. I have been getting a lot of production benefit from listening to hip-hop and most of the producers that I respect have that same background of breakbeats. People like Kenny Dope, who uses that punchy, hard edge from hip-hop in all his other productions too. I still buy a lot of independent hip-hop like Spinna, Jay Dee, Pete Rock and especially Madlib.” For the promotion of the album, Mark will do a couple of DJ-sets in almost every corner of the world but you will be hearing much more than hip-hop alone. “There’s a lot of soul and funk in there as well, but also 4/4 house and some broken beats. Recently though, I’m really into folky 70s funk but the records are very rare and expensive. I really like to do something fresh and new as a DJ too. Last year I did a Global Communication-style set in Japan where I played a lot of jazz, ambient, some Arvo Pärt (Estonian avant-garde classical composer, s.) even, and people were just sitting down and listening. Some got so emotional from the music that they started crying. It was the most beautiful DJ-experience I ever had.” Be prepared!

With the Troubleman album now finished, don’t expect Mark to take a break from music soon. “Well I hope to take a short time off soon, but I have been working very hard over the last year. There will probably be another Troubleman 12” after the summer. 10 tracks didn’t make it for the album and I already recorded 2 new, so I would rather release that than remixes. I have an idea about a 7” release for a new single. On the other hand, I gave the album to Carl Craig and I hope he finds time in between recording his album to do a remix. His recent remixes have been great, like “Angola” and that Cinémix. He was going to remix ‘Solina’ from the Jedi Knights album a few years ago but it never came about, so I maybe now we can exchange remixes or something. There’s also more Harmonic 33 stuff coming up and a new Reload album on Warp. Steve (Becket, Warp manager, s.) has asked me many times to do another Reload album for them, so that’s finally coming out. When he visited me in the studio I was working on some clubby, instrumental breaks and he just went out of his mind. He said: ‘Put some vocals on there and I will release it. This will blow up.’ So you can expect an r&b-album coming out on Warp too. I also did a couple of tracks with Beans recently. He came up with something he had written 5 years ago, something very personal about the death of a family member. He did it in a spoken-word kind of way, in just a few takes. The last word hit exactly on the last note of the track I had made. He’s a genius.”

There’s just no stopping Mark Pritchard apparently. After 12 years in the music business however, doesn’t he regret that he didn’t listen to his mum’s advice and got a proper job? “(laughs) I actually worked as a chef for a couple of years and with the money I bought lots of equipment. I have been very fortunate to have my parents’ full support when I wanted to quit and concentrate on music. It’s been great, I’m happy with what I’m doing and I feel I have built something over the years. It’s hard times for the industry now though but that’s why I want to put out a lot of stuff, to let people know I’m busy and working very hard. The positive difference with a couple of years ago is that there’s a more crossover appreciation now. Jazzy Jeff mailed me last week to say he would make ‘Time…’ his album of the year. To get an email from Jazzy Jeff is quite something, but when he says something like that, that’s amazing!”

“Time Out Of Mind” is out now on Far Our Records.

Troubleman - Time... Out Of Mind
Label: Far Out
Cat. No.: FAR085
Release Date: 2004-05-24
Format: 2LP / CD
Genre: downtempo / soul / latin
Rating: