I promised I'd send this on when it was done, this will appear in the
October issue of Underground News, which will be the electronic dance
music issue...enjoy? I welcome comments.
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Global Communication transmits a blend of organic and
industrial ambience from Somerset, England, where they, Tom
Middleton and Mark Pritchard, keep busy with a multitude of other
projects as well. Running their own independent label, Evolution
Records, and recording other works under the guises of Reload,
Rebus, and E621 keep their creativity flowing in the numerous
musical directions they wish to explore. Like the name of the label
suggests, Mark and Tom continually reinvent the concept of sound,
through deconstruction and rebuilding of elements both natural and
synthetic. I spoke with Tom via telephone from a rest point during
their week of playing with Seefeel at the New Music Seminar in New
York, conducting the interview simultaneously to be broadcast on
college radio station KUCI in Irvine, California, and for our fabulous
pages of Underground News.
Tom Middleton: We did this yesterday, so we're used to this, but I
hope it's ok for you.
Tamara Palmer: Yeah, this is the first time for me too, but...
TM: We're both virgins! (laughs) Yeah, so, whereabouts are you
based?
TP: We're in L.A.
TM: Right, is that where there's like a time difference thing?
TP: Yeah, I believe we're three hours before you in New York.
TM: Wow, that's quite weird, isn't it? In theory, if you're three hours
before us, then we're speaking to you back in time.
TP: Exactly.
TM: (laughs) Weird! Back to the future, let's go!
TP: Why don't you start by telling me about your new album, called
76:14 [their debut, out on Dedicated Records]? Did you have an idea,
like a theme behind it or a particular concept that you wanted to get
across?
TM: Yeah, it's called 76:14 because we basically did away with a
name for the album and names for the tracks because names tend to
predefine what something's going to be about and the whole concept
of the album is something to let the listeners use their imagination.
They can make up their own names for the tracks. They listen to the
music and sort of generate their own images in their head, conjure
up things. We're translating our emotions and feelings into the music
and telling little stories with the tracks.
TP: You did name the one track on the album, Obselon Mi-Nos?
TM: Yeah, that's correct. That's actually quite an old track now, it
was done a year and a half ago. We put that out on our record label,
Evolution Records and that was sort of the thing that most people
heard about Global Communication from, that one track.
TP: I think in this country, most people have heard of you because of
the Chapterhouse remixes [Pentamerous Metamorphosis] so if you
want to talk about those a little bit: how you connected with the
band.
TM: I met up with Andy and Simon from Chapterhouse last summer
and it was right about the time their new album was coming out.
They approached us and they liked the Obselon Mi-Nos track. They
asked us if we'd like to treat their album, just like a retranslation. So
the idea was, we sat down and listened to the tracks with them,
listened to all of the subliminal sounds in the background, talked to
them about what the point or the meaning of each track or song was,
and basically did a retranslation, not a remix. We have to stress that
it's a retranslation, because remix in the traditional sense of the word
is something completely different. What we did was take the
meaning and the emotion from the original tracks and retranslate it
in the Global Communication way, which is heightening the whole
emotional experience.
TP: You're also known as Reload, and you put out a full length
entitled A Collection of Short Stories. Can you tell me, is there a
marked difference between Global Communication and Reload since
it is the two of you in both projects?
TM: The main difference is, it's basically like a yin and yang thing. If
you think about human beings, there's two different major aspects to
human beings and that is like a dark side and a light side. Good and
bad, white and black, that kind of thing. Global Communication is
like the lighter side of human nature, the sort of more uplifting and
positive emotions. Reload is more dark and sinister, things people
don't like to think about.
TP: Well, I think we're out of time, I have one more question, it's for
my friend. He wants to know if you have any pets.
TM: Any pets?? This is a strange question...BUT Mark actually has a
whole tank of marine fish, two dogs, three parrots, a whole host of
tiny little birds, and I don't have any unfortunately. I'd love a cat!
Hug Your Waistline to the Bassline............................................
Tamara Palmer * trance@netcom.com * izzyzi5@mvs.oac.ucla.edu *
.........................................................Women Respond to Bass