Global Communication

Gracing their 1994 album 76:14 with a photograph of an ear that rendered the organ as something approximating a lunar landscape, Global Communication found the perfect image to encapsulate their sound. Taking inspiration from the cosmic synthesizer journeys of Vangelis and Klaus Schulze, they ventured ever inward, following the trajectory of ambient electronica's most contemplative strains. The duo of Tom Middleton and Mark Pritchard reserved other aliases—Jedi Knights, Link, Reload—for dance music proper, variously influenced by electro-funk and acid. But Global Communication all but did away with the beats, sticking to ethereal synthesizers and washes of field recordings. They weren't afraid to let the world in -- "Obselon Minos" follows the pulse of a ticking clock -- but as their time-coded track titles suggest, they were most interested in exploring a field of pure sonics where known reference points melt away.