Mark Pritchard likes to push boundaries and venture into the bizarre. Over the years his music has crossed over and been influenced by classical, rock, soul, jazz, R&B and most recently hip hop to create some of the most extraordinary soundscapes you’re likely to hear. And listening to his album from last year When Machines Exceed Human Intelligence, released under the Harmonic 313 alias, you feel as though you are in sci-fi flick from the 1960s. Pritchard says early in his career he was reading lots of trashy novels about the beyond, and it certainly has had an enduring effect on his work.

“I was staying in a spare room at a mate’s house, and he had all these sci-fi books on a shelf so I just started reading them at night”, said Pritchard. Apparently Harmonic 33 is a reference to the frequency of the planets spinning on their axis in outer space, and it’s also the frequency used by aliens to navigate through the galaxy. Pritchard was inspired to use this as a name after reading about it in one of the novels, slipping in a sneaky ‘1’ to celebrate working his love of Detroit techno which shines through on the album.

“Because I have had so many names over the years, I have been trying to find ways of cutting that down, so when I started writing these tracks that had a different sound to them with the Detroit techno influence and the UK baseline influence, I decided to put in the Detroit area code which is 313 into Harmonic, because then I didn’t have to change my name that much”, said Pritchard.

Pritchard says he has always liked Detroit techno, and his current work is a result of years of research into the scene. “The sound has a lot of defects, and makes it very rough sounding which gives it real character. I was always looking for sound sources that had that retro sound of the eighties”, says Pritchard.

Hip hop and electronica collide on the stand-out track on When Machines Exceed Human Intelligence when Pritchard teamed up with Detroit hip hop artists Phat Kat and Elzhi for Battlestar. The track works so well because it incorporates the use of early digital synthesisers and other early nineties elements like scratching and break beats with a modern mid-tempo sound. Similarly, Falling Away showcases the versatility of Pritchard’s music, with him making room for a collaboration with an artist from a far removed genre to sit comfortably in his music. This time his good friend and neighbour Steve Spacek contributes with some soulful grooves and sweetness to create a great computer ballad.

“UK funk has really started to come through lately. I met Steve in about 2003 when he came down to my studio in Devon and we did a track for my Trubman album. Later we did another track called Turn It On and that has really led to what is happening next year with the album Africa Hightech, which is a joint project coming out on Warp.”

Pritchard is well known for being fiercely non- commercial. Music for him is not about making money, but rather making music for his own satisfaction and enjoyment, and therefore he looks for similar characteristics when he collaborates with other artists. “We want to be always forward thinking and not follow any trends; we want to make music that comes out and don’t care whether it doesn’t fit into any point. We just want to make music for ourselves”, said Pritchard.

To maintain that vision and originality is quite an achievement for Pritchard considering early on his career he hit hard times in the pursuit of individuality. “It’s quite weird because it never was about the money”, said Pritchard. “I was just initially making music as a hobby; because it was something I loved doing. Then I had this bizarre start where I released this one record, where I was working on the early Evolution stuff. I had an accidental rave hit that went top 10 in the UK. It was a one hit wonder and tried to do a follow up and it did not happen.” Subsequently his label Evolution failed as a result but Pritchard is philosophical about his brush with commercial success. “I got really ripped off. I saw another side of the music industry so I was never wondered what it would have been like after that,” said Pritchard.

As for the future, Pritchard says he would like to work in the movie business by creating soundtracks, though he says he’s he is mindful that it is a different world than the one his is in now because everything is built around schedules where he may only be given a short time to complete a track for a scene. “They may send you a scene and expect you to have it done in two days and that challenge maybe a good thing. It is something that I would like to try at least.”

Catch Mark Prichard AKA Harmonic 313 at the Days Like This! festival in January, as well as the following shows over summer:

13th Nov – Void, Phoenix Bar, Sydney
21st Nov – Foreign Dub, Katoomba
25th Nov – Hermans, Sydney
27th Nov – Void, Phoenix Bar, Sydney
4th Dec – Index feat. Clark, Sydney
11th Dec – Appleblim, Melbourne
13th Dec – The Beresford, Sydney
30th Dec – Peats Ridge Festival, Sydney
10th Jan – Days Like This!, Sydney
26th Feb –Gaslamp Killer, Melbourne