76 14 – Global Communication – Released 1st June, 1994, Dedicated Records
76 14 (or 76:14) is the debut studio album by UK duo Mark Pritchard and Tom Middleton released under their Global Communications alias. It was released on Dedicated Records in the summer of 1994.
Although the duo put out another Global Communications long play release the year prior, technically that was a remix album. 76:14 is therefore the first proper Global Communications album.
Of course, keeping up with all their releases is a full-time job. Global Communication is just one of the myriad aliases the prolific duo recorded under during the 90s, others include Reload, Secret Ingredients and Jedi Knights.
Each different alias tended to focus on a specific style of music, e.g. Secret Ingredients had a deep house vibe, Chameleon’s sound was focussed on drum & bass and, as the Jedi Knights, Pritchard and Middleton were were at the vanguard of the mid-90s electro revival with the release of New School Science, but that’s a story for another day.
It’s also worth noting that both these guys have equally prolific solo careers, with Mark Pritchard recording under his own name plus a variety of other aliases including Link and Harmonic 313.
Same deal with Tom Middleton, releasing everything from techno bangers as The Mod Wheel to, more recently, albums to help you sleep better.
But before becoming obsessed with putting us all to sleep (literally), he created some of the most inventive and musically expansive mix albums ever recorded.
And then there’s the Aphex Twin connection. Because we can’t mention Tom Middleton’s career without also discussing his very first release as Schizophrenia, which was engineered by none other than Richard D James.
Middleton, in turn, also collaborated with RDJ on the very first Aphex Twin release. And both these debut EPs were released on Mighty Force records back in the early 90s.
My friend and I have discussed this several times, how there really must be something in the water down around that part of the world.
You’ve got Global Communication, Aphex Twin, Luke Vibert… is it all the tin maybe? Leaking into the water, getting into the blood, acting as a special type of neuro-conductant allowing them to pick up messages from the cosmos?
Whatever the reason, in the summer of 1994 my antennae were raised, diligently scanning the skies for all the weird and wonderful waveforms I could pick up.
And the timing was perfect.
Yesterday we looked at the Beastie Boys and Ill Communication. The very next day, another milestone album and a whole new form of communication, Global Communication.
A complete different set of frequencies but an intriguing signal none the less.
76:14 is yet another all-time classic album of chilled 90s electronica, up there with Aphex Twins’ Selected Ambient Works 1 and the sequel SAW 2, Future Sound Of London’s Lifeforms (released just a couple of weeks prior), plus other classics from the likes of Orbital, Autchere and The Black Dog.
And, as with all of those other classic records, 76:14 isn’t true ambient in the technical sense, but rather an album of varied downtempo pieces.
Many of the pieces are beatless, though others do have percussion, albeit in the slower, hiphop-style tempo range. All of these are then seamlessly blended together for 76 minutes and fourteen seconds of melodic bliss.
Starting with the space age futurism of the opening track 4:02, we’re eased into a soothing sonic space before arriving at the duo’s undisputed masterpiece, 14:31, a track I also know as Ob-Selon Mi-Nos (Global Communications Mix) by Mystic Institute, having first heard it on the 1993 compilation Narcosis.
This was the first ambient track that ever caused me to screech the brakes (and the breaks) to a halt and learn to appreciate pure, beatless instrumental electronica. And it remains one of the greatest pieces of ambient music ever recorded.
It’s all based around that simple tick-tock sample, is it a grandfather clock, is it a metronome? Unsure. It’s some kind of mechanical time measurement device, ticking away the seconds while, ironically, your mind drifts and you become lost in time.
Incidentally, listing the songs here is a bit of a pain in the hole, since instead of track titles the album we have durations. Which you’ve probably guessed that from the name of the album anyway.
And since each track dissolves in the next it’s not always easy to pick out one track from the next unless you’re sitting by the stereo, inlay card and stopwatch in hand.
Similarly, asking me to select specific tracks is like asking me to go to the pound and pick out just one puppy.
If you must force my hand though I’ll pick this one next, such a perfect arpeggio, very evocative of tangerine dream but fresher, modern, 30 years old this now but still sounds every bit as innovative and compelling.
I can think of no other track which can pump me up despite having no percussion whatsoever, love this one.
And for my last pick, I’m going for yet another perfect meditative piece, the immense and uplifting finale 12:18.
The combination of synths and choral samples may not be the most novel concept, but it’s done so well that hardly matters. Just close your eyes and get lost in it.
Alternatively, if you don’t want me to spoil the whole thing you can listen to the entire album in its entirety in the video below.
Because this really is an album you need to make time for – 76 minutes and 14 seconds to be exact – so you can get fully immersed in the melodies and ultimately lose yourself in what is surely some of the finest electronica ever recorded.
I guarantee you’ll feel rejuvenated after.
Time Honoured
It’s fair to say that, although certainly inventive, 76:14 doesn’t score high on originality, at least not when compared to some of the other names mentioned earlier, like Autchere, Future Sound Of London or Aphex Twin. But then this album isn’t trying to be.
Instead, Pritchard and Middleton have always been more comfortable treading familiar ground, embracing a wide variety of pre-existing electronic genres and excelling at each one.
And of all the fantastic genre albums they’ve released over the years, 76:14 stands out as a career highlight. In fact, I think it may well be their finest hour.
76:14 may night be the most original music in concept, but its flawless in its execution. What matters here is the astonishingly high standards of production and composition which ensures that, 30 years, this album is still in a class all of its own.