- Following on from his Harmonic 313 album project on Warp Records, Mark Pritchard has released a couple of impeccable singles that veer away from the machine funk quagmire that was When Machines Exceed Human Intelligence. His ? 10-inch was a sublime beatless piece of atmospherics and clavinet melododrama and his latest platter Wind It Up is similarly out of character for the Yeovil-born techno obsessive.
It took a while—the tune received support for months from Hyperdub label boss Kode 9 and gained heavy rotation on Benji B's Sunday night BBC 1xtra radio show—but "Wind It Up"'s now has a physical release, and the infectious squall of the vocal hook is seemingly everywhere. Featuring the cut-up vocals of Sa-Ra Creative Partners' Om'Mas Keith, the beat slumps into life, rolling out drums and bubbling bass before the layers of vocal samples get airtime, persistently telling you to "wind it up."
The way the vocals are mixed—high, glitched and teased out—is the best thing about this production; the simplicity of the drum pattern serves more as a regulatory body to keep the vocal antics and Commodore 64 style melody stabs at bay. "Wind It Up" is one of those tunes that will absolutely set a dance floor alight as soon as those recognisable intro bars ring out. (I saw it happen several times at Sonar, causing hands and t-shirts to be whipped around nodding heads in a manic frenzy.) With the addition of a synth-heavy Freak mix and an instrumental version, it's sure to continue to do so for months to come.
Tracklist A Wind It Up
B1 Wind It Up (Freak Remix)
B2 Wind It Up (Instrumental)