New School Science

This has maybe not been given the reverence of other woks by the various aliases of Tom Middleton and Mark Pritchard, notably as Reload and Global Communication. Perhaps it’s that the cartoonish artwork, silly track titles like “Air Drums From Outer Bongolia” and “Dances Of The Naughty Knights,” and obvious dancefloor / b-boy functionality make it seem less profound than the deep techno and ambient of their other aliases. But this is up there with their very best. Whether it’s deep house that could sit alongside Theo Parrish, extended drum workouts that are as much for raving as they are for breaking, or slow-and-low electro, the cheeky funk references and sci-fi signifiers are delivered with genuinely new school pizazz and panache. And the finale of the Herbie Hancock-flipping “Solina (The Ascension)” and the ambient “Afterlife” really hammer home the seriousness of the musicality. It may be about moving bodies above all, but it’s as profound as anything in their catalogues.