Crate Exploratory: Reload (Mark Pritchard)- Rhodes (1997 Downtempo)

There are about ten or twelve now-defunct record labels from the 1990s that I wished I had more releases from in my library. I’d have to say that Evolution/Universal Language, run by legendary artists Tom Middleton and Mark Pritchard, is easily one of them. Evolution was mainly used as a canvas to showcase the versatility of Middleton and Pritchard (under their many different aliases, such as Reload as in this video), however a few additions such as The Horn and Gerd came along for the ride.

Rhodes is a two-part downtempo piece that was released towards the tail end of Evolution’s life span as a label, in 1997. It’s a really nice melodic piece with densely layered strings and pads coming from every direction, juxtaposed against a very simple bassline and drumloop. The first part of Rhodes is actually in 6-8 time (how often do we see an electronic music piece that is in something besides 4-4 time?). In the middle passage we see the bass and drums get stripped away, leaving just the pads for a few minutes. When the underlying elements return in part two, it switches into 4-4 time; the bassline from here on out changes completely and the drums take on more of a light swing feel, very reminiscent of 2-step garage. Unfortunately I couldn’t include the whole piece as it’s around 13 minutes long. I need to track down more releases from this label, the Global Communications crew are pure legends!