Technova

David Harrow first made his mark in London through collaborations with the On-U-Sound collective, contributing to recordings by Gary Clail, Lee Perry and Bim Sherman while also working independently with Psychic TV and Jah Wobble’s Invaders Of The Heart. Under the alias Pulse 8 (not the record label) he delivered ‘Radio Morocco’ in October 1989, the inaugural single issued by Nation Records. His debut UK Technova outing arrived as ‘Tantra’, a twenty-five-minute trance and ambient piece carrying a pronounced reggae current, which appeared on the Sabres Of Paradise label after Harrow had caught Andrew Weatherall’s attention at the Sabres Christmas party alongside naked (except for luminous paint) tattooed and pierced dancers. That track originated on an album put out in Australia by the Shock label in 1993, although Weatherall later reissued it via his Audio Emissions imprint. The Technova project drew extensively on DAT-captured environmental recordings gathered during Harrow’s travels across Australasia. Additional singles and the Transcience album subsequently emerged on Audio Emissions. In 1995 Harrow joined Weatherall to record as Bloodsugar, resulting in the Levels EP. He has also operated under the names Charismatics and James Hardway, the latter blending experimental jazz with jungle. Beyond production and mixing work, he achieved international success composing Billie Ray Martin’s ‘Your Loving Arms’.