Photek.

sodiumnightlife

sodiumnightlife

Sweet Virginia
So, i've heard Photek being lauded as one of the greats of drum and bass, both in discussions and burial talks about him in interviews. Where would be a good place to start? I'm looking more for albums as I don't have a record player at the moment.
 
N

noel emits

a wonderful wooden reason
The Form & Function CD seems to have some of the good stuff on - The Water Margin, Seven Samurai, Rings Around Saturn.

It's not really about albums with Photek though.
 
M

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
I was fascinated by Risk Vs Reward for quite a while, not sure how it stands now though, it's his early stripped paranoid and orientally drum n bassy stuff, Solaris is good when he was doing house with Robert Owens, be interested to know what other people think.
 
swears

swears

preppy-kei
"Ni-Ten-Ichi-Ryu" was a fave tune of mine as a teenager. Didn't really keep up with his stuff though, I think he actually did some house tunes a few years back.
 
N

noel emits

a wonderful wooden reason
I think 'Fusion' (on the other side of 'The Water Margin') is my favourite Photek moment. Really don't know about the later stuff - was totally turned off by that first album I'm afraid. But good calls on Hidden Camera and Ni-Ten..., also T-Raenon is nice IIRC.
 
Slothrop

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
His stuff as Studio Pressure on Cert 18 was ace as well. I absolutely love old Photek stuff - it's got that really sharp, restrained but threatening vibe, really edgey.

Bailey did an all Photek mix for his 1-Xtra show some time last year, I'm not sure if that's still floating around anywhere...
 
R

ripley

Well-known member
yes on Hidden Camera and Ni Ten Ichi Ryu

he went seriously downhill later.

although luckily Amit picked up the mantle, sorta
 
L

Logos

Ghosts of my life
The short answer is get the Form & Function compilation album, to start you off.

The long answer:

Imo you need to listen to all the six 12s on Photek records (collectively known as Form & Function)

From discogs...

PTK01 Studio Pressure Form & Function Vol. 1 (12")
PTK02 Studio Pressure Form & Function Vol. 2 (12")
PTK03 Studio Pressure The Physical / Touching Down ... Planet Photek (12")
PTK04 Studio Pressure The Water Margin / Fusion (12")
PTK05 Photek The Seven Samurai (12")
PTK06 Photek U.F.O. / Rings Around Saturn (12")

In particular the last release is peerless.


The difficulty with the Form and Function compilation CD I mention above is he only put about half of the original tracks on (Water Margin, Rings Around Saturn, UFO, Seven Samurai) - the remainder of the CD is mainly mediocre remixes and was a real wasted opportunity to grasp the gift of major label money and distribution while he had the chance. Except, perhaps, the track Knitevision, which is about as minimal as jungle ever got and is almost up there with his best...

You should also check Ni Ten Ichi Ryu 12" and his Razors Edge release (The Rain rmx/Still Life).

Apart from a couple of tracks, his LP Modus Operandi is a disapointment (and was at the time).

P.S I think Source Direct shit on Photek and I await the day someone can do their genius justice and put out a proper retrospective...
 
L

Logos

Ghosts of my life
lol

What about UFO etc - they aren't on Risk are they?

Considering the remit was CDs rather than 12"s I still think you should get both.

:D
 
S

SIZZLE

gasoline for haters
Photek is amazing, made a huge impression on me at the time.

Very precise, restrained and evocative music. Two Sword Technique (Ni-ten ichi ryu), Hidden Camera and Form and Function are great starting points. His tune on the Wipeout XL game soundtrack Third Sequence is one of my favorites as well. He also made a great hiphop 12" called we got heat (great beat anyway) and there was supposed to be an album but it never seemed to surface, really a shame.

He's major though, if drum and bass ever comes into fashion again he'll be lauded as one of it's auteurs. Not exactly a dancefloor guy, and all the more interesting for it.
 
A

adruu

This Is It
The Still Life remix is really the king here for me. Especially if your trying to spot the joins b/w Burial and Photek. The bass and vocal accents are really what make it different, as opposed to the main elements -- the bline being a little clumsy and a semi-pointless intro =)
 
V

viktorvaughn

Well-known member
Modus Operandi is good too.

I love that era of sparse, precise and stripped-down dnb. Some is definitely in Burial-esque, mournful territory.

Metalheadz - Platinum Breakz compilations I and II are also good on a similar tip.
 
B

Blackdown

nexKeysound
Photek is a genius, his stuff continues to inform my production, to this day.

i'd second any recommendations for:

UFOs
Ni Ten Ichi Ru
KJZ ( aka Kirk's Jazz)
The Bleeps Tune
The Seven Samurai
T.Raenon
The Rain

while loads of people celebrate these 12"s, i got the sense from Bailey's mix that there's tons of productions under different names long before Photek Records came about (his most interesting period). This period is grey-er for me.
 
B

Blackdown

nexKeysound
i guess it's the earlier, rougher/ravier stuff i'm curious about.

One thing that hinders this is the sheer number of aliases he used. Discogs lists:

Aquarius, Code Of Practice, Phaze 1, Rupert Parkes, The Sentinel, Special Forces, Studio Pressure, Synthetics, System Ex, System X and The Truper.
 
Dusty

Dusty

Tone deaf
His later work (Solaris) got slammed for moving away from his traditional DnB image - but its actually a solid album when listened to without preconceptions.

The album of remixes, Form & Function is actually my favourite Photek release. The man had real talent - in fact I might dig that out and give it a relisten now.

Last I heard he was going to produce a hip hop album?? But then the rumour-mill also said he was going to release 'Form & Function 2' - so who knows whats going to happen.
 
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