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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

Mark Pritchard has released tracks under a multitude of guises while rifling through almost as many electronic music forms. The England-raised, Australia-based producer could be called a dilettante, but the caliber of his collaborators -- including Global Communication partner Tom Middleton -- combined with the reverence accorded to the labels that have released his work, demonstrate that he's a respected and accomplished polyglot. Pritchard's commercial peak came early in his career with Shaft's "Roobarb & Custard," a 1991 novelty single that placed him in the U.K. Top Ten, as well as on Top of the Pops. He then went about building an exceptionally diverse and remarkably consistent catalog of underground dance music that continued to evolve for more than three decades. His extensive work with Middleton throughout the 1990s included ambient house as Global Communication (best known for the 1994 opus 76:14), electro as Jedi Knights, and atmospheric drum'n'bass as the Chameleon. During the 2000s, he moved into radiophonic sounds as half of Harmonic 33, and midtempo broken beat styles as Troubleman. Later, his Harmonic 313 alias merged Detroit-style hip-hop with dancehall and acid house, and his Africa Hitech project with Steve Spacek was inspired by footwork, grime, and U.K. garage. Eventually Pritchard decided to jettison all of his aliases and only release music under his own name, including the guest-heavy ambient full-length Under the Sun (2016) and the dancefloor-aimed MP Productions - EP 1 (2020).

In 1991, as one-half of Shaft, Pritchard debuted on an FFRR subsidiary with "Roobarb & Custard." One of several frolicsome hardcore techno tracks to sample the theme of a bygone children's television program while referencing the popular psychoactive drug ecstasy, it peaked the following January at number seven on the U.K. pop chart. The following year, Pritchard debuted his techno-oriented Reload alias on Evolution, a label he co-founded with Middleton (aka E621), who also became a production partner. Pritchard and Middleton's alliance led to ambient and house work as Global Communication, including the landmark 76:14 (1994), as well as varied approaches as the Chameleon (LTJ Bukem-issued drum'n'bass), Link & E621 (physical IDM), Jedi Knights (funky neo-electro), and Secret Ingredients (sample-happy house). Evolution was the label for most of these incarnations and supported early endeavors by Matthew Herbert and Danny Breaks. Another Evolution highlight was Pritchard's sublime deep house track "The Push" (1996), credited to N.Y. Connection.

Pritchard wasn't as active with Middleton during the 2000s and early 2010s, though the duo executed DJ mixes for the Fabric and Back in the Box series. Beside a slew of collaborators, including Antipop Consortium rapper Beans, Opus III vocalist Kirsty Hawkshaw, grime renegade Wiley, and Sa-Ra member Om'Mas Keith, Pritchard continually made stylistic diversifications. As Harmonic 33, he and Dave Brinkworth synthesized laid-back hip-hop and library music, while solo vehicle Harmonic 313 was inspired more overtly by Detroit's rap scene as much as his earlier approach was guided by love for the city's techno pioneers. Phat Kat and Elzhi, a pair of close Dilla associates, were featured on the Harmonic 313 Battlestar EP. Another alias during these years was Troubleman, a two-album outlet for nouveau easy listening, hip-hop soul, downtempo house, and broken beat.

Pritchard had used style-specific aliases but eventually opted to use his birth name for the majority of his solo activities. Among these releases were the descriptively titled "Elephant Dub" single for Deep Medi (2010), and a trio of EPs for Warp (2013) that featured vocal contributions from veterans Spikey Tee and Ragga Twins. All the while, Pritchard continued his adventurous, collaborative ways with previous associate Steve Spacek as Africa Hitech. He eventually released a "proper" solo album, Under the Sun (2016), the recording of which was inspired by time spent working with top-tier engineer Phill Brown. Thom Yorke, Linda Perhacs, Bibio, and Beans made guest appearances. Roughly a year after it was released, Pritchard assembled a supplemental set of instrumentals, alternate versions, and previously unreleased tracks, Under the Sun (Expanded, Vol. 1). Pritchard's work with foreboding atmospheres and voices resumed with The Four Worlds (2018), an album previewed with the Gregory Whitehead collaboration "Come Let Us." He explored various club styles on 2020's MP Productions - EP 1, including grime, electro, and dancehall. ~ Andy Kellman

British DJ/remixer/producer Tom Middleton became involved in electronic music in 1989 after meeting Richard D. James, better known as Aphex Twin, in Cornwall, England. After adopting the moniker of Schizophrenia, the pianist, cello player, and former graphic-design student debuted in the electronica field with the seminal EP Analogue Bubblebath, released by Mighty Force in September 1991. However, his breakthrough came after he joined Mark Pritchard on a series of production projects -- including work as Reload, Global Communication, Link & e621, and Jedi Knights -- beginning in 1992 and released on their labels Evolution and Universal Language.

The duo's Global Communication alias earned the most praise, due to the 1994 ambient house masterpiece 76:14 for the Dedicated label. After moving on to electro with the Jedi Knights LP New School Science, Middleton and Pritchard began working alone as well as together. In 1999, Tom Middleton started a project called Cosmos and released the sizeable 1999 club hit "Summer in Space" on Island Blue. His only full-length releases were mix albums, though, including 1999's A Jedi's Night Out and 2002's The Sound of the Cosmos. ~ Drago Bonacich