Scott Morrow is ALARM’s music editor. Patrick Hajduch is a very important lawyer. Each week they debate the merits of a different album.
Africa Hitech: 93 Million Miles (Warp, 5/10/11)
Africa Hitech: “Glangslap”
[audio:http://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Africa_Hitech_Glangslap.mp3|titles=Africa Hitech: “Glangslap”]Hajduch: Africa Hitech is an electronic duo comprised of jack-of-all-trades Mark Pritchard (Harmonic 33, Global Communication, Harmonic 313) and Steve Spacek. Following an EP last year, this debut LP on Warp is a lurching exploration of juke beats, swirling synthscapes, acid squelch, hip-hop menace, and the breakneck tempo of South African dance music. Though initially it seems like an overwhelming listen, there’s a lot to pick apart, and plenty of hooks to latch onto even when the rhythms are hard to grasp.
Morrow: The rhythms strike me as intricate in a subtle way. There are different layers doing different things, but like most of Pritchard’s other work, there’s plenty of minimalism, usually involving a basic dance beat. These danceable polyrhythms are the real shared trait between 93 Million Miles and African music. Outside of a few drum samples on tracks such as “Spirit,” the album otherwise is heavy on the Detroit techno sound of Pritchard’s Harmonic 313.
Hajduch: Yeah, the tempos and samples distract from the fact that the sonic palette is not that far removed from the Harmonic 313 record (itself indebted to the work of other synth/hip-hop instrumentalists like Eliot Lipp and Dabrye). If you took the galloping hand drums of “Cyclic Sun” and replaced them with 808 boom-bap, you’d have a fair approximation of Harmonic 313.
However, if you stripped its bass line and kept the mellotron melody, you’d be a lot closer to the library-music style of Harmonic 33. Pritchard’s work differs greatly from project to project, but he has a likable sensibility that worms its way through his music in all its permutations.
Morrow: Steve Spacek’s influence, on the other hand, is much harder to discern. Any number of the beats, melodies, or samples could be his creations, but few elements draw an immediate comparison to the soulful and funky sounds of his solo work or his material with Spacek (the trio). I assume that he contributed many of the bass lines (bass is his natural instrument), but outside of low-key vocal leads and harmonies on tracks such as “Spirit” and “Light the Way” — and probably some tweaked vocal samples — you have to dig a bit to find him in the mix.
All told, 93 Million Miles is a solid album, but only time will tell how it’s received in either contributor’s body of work. (Side note: the album art is done by Andy Gilmore, whose brilliant patterns are featured in Chromatic.)