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Product details
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Track Listings
| 1. Dirtbox |
| 2. Cyclotron |
| 3. No Way Out |
| 4. Music Substitute System |
| 5. Koln |
| 6. Galag-a |
| 7. Word Problems |
| 8. Battlestar - Harmonic 313 & Phat Kat/Elzhi |
| 9. Cyclotron C64 Sid |
| 10. Call To Arms |
| 11. Flaash |
| 12. Don't Panic |
| 13. Falling Away - Harmonic 313 & Steve Spacek |
| 14. When Machines Exceed Human Intelligence |
| 15. Quadrant 3 |
Product Description
Review
Given the moniker, this project could easily be confused with Harmonic 33. Both are the brainchild of Mark Pritchard aka Reload, Global Communications et al, but Harmonic 33's take on library music makes for a very different outcome. Where that project was apparently benign in intent, When Machines... transforms a supposedly cute gizmo like a Speak and Spell machine into an implacable teacher: utterly remorseless in its enunciation of lyrical grist. The hip hop influence is at its most overt on Battlestar which sees guest Phat Kat and Elzhi declaim to harsh effect. Falling Away is the surprise exception to the rule - with its mournful soul vocals it adds a brilliant touch of humanity and pathos to the mix.
Music Substitute System states that, "music is now a thing of the past" in gentle feminine tones that recall One Very Important Thought, the outro to Boards of Canada's masterpiece, Music Has The Right To Children. Both projects reference the 1970s, the era of Logan's Run, Asteroids and 2000AD but Harmonic 313's music instead recalls the harsh tones of sub-aquatic documenters Drexciya. Draconian and eerily implacable, When Machines Exceed Human Intelligence succeeds in constructing a plausible dystopian future world out of its constituent parts. --Colin Buttimer
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
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Customer Reviews
Along the way there are nods to Detroit (besides the obvious 313 reference) - particularly Drexciya and Dabrye - as well as fellow Brits Black Dog and Boards of Canada. The beats are kind of hip-hop, but for me this is really a techno record. The almost anthemic "Word Problems" is up there with the best UR material. "Köln" evokes memories of early 90s Planet E releases. "Flaash" is Phuture's "Acid Tracks" updated.
This is the third top quality release from Warp Records in as many weeks - a welcome return to "dance music with bleeps" from a label that has too often become sidetracked in recent years.
Someday all albums will be made this way...
Played through some Sennheiser SP-25's it's a triumph, with Pritchard's obvious love for all things synthetic shining through...
Echoing the precious reviewer, we can only hope that the label returns to nuture it's long suffering Electronica roots, but this is certainly a 'two-step' in the right direction...
Thoroughly brilliant.
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