Photek: Classic or Dud?

so what do you like about alex reece?

-- moonship journey to baja

like tim said, i think it's the summery vibe on tracks like 'feel the sunshine'. actually i think i preferred 'jazz master' off that ep anyway. the guy was seriously unprolific if you look at his discography. not quite sure how 'pulp fiction' fits into all of this. didn't he have to remix it slightly to get it released on island? goldie wouldn't let him use the original on his album or something.

ok here's the three albums i listen to instead of "so far"

in order to dance 6 - very bassy, very lush. in many parts very "cosmic" in the jacob's optical stairway sense. obviously since it's on r&s a very heavy detroit techno vibe over the whole thing.

revolutionary generation - some of this is surprisingly very tough, while still keeping a jazzy vibe. lots of it reminds me of guy called gerald or (especially) nookie

storm from the east - haha insert "quiet storm" joke. the most bukem-esque of the three. actually very much in line w/ the logical progression sound, but somehow transcends that. i think because it doesn't have the ultra-serious vibe of some GLR records, it's actually very relaxed / relaxing listening

thanks for the info. actually i used to have 'in order to dance 6' but have no idea where it's got to now. i liked the 'loop 2' ep a lot and the alex reece remix used to get some rotation (preferred the luke slater remix tho).

will look out for the other two on my record shopping travails. if we're talking about this style, i think my favourite must go to wax doctors 'the spectrum' offa the plat breaks 1 comp. absolutely immense record. few d&b records managed to capture the detroit spirit as much as that one (for me anyway).

Storm From The East 2 ain't bad either, esp. Alex Banks' "Control". Mind you it's mildly disconcerting to have a tune by Hyper-On Experience called "Reed Breeze"...

Finished listening to Modus Operandi and was reminded of why "KJZ" was always my favourite track on the album - pretty amazing programming, I love that fluttering cymbal sound. But god do the slow tracks suck. It was like the law at this point that every D&B album had to have at least two astonishingly awful downtempo moments, wasn't it?

couldn't agree with your more re. 'KJZ'. that track is a masterpiece in drum programming as well being a beautiful piece of music. but i thought the slower tracks worked quite well (for once) on this album. i love the walking bassline on '124'.

'124' modus operandi

you could do a great Rough Guide to DnB producers going downtempo tho

fave thing Alex Reece did = 'Detroit' with Wax Doctor. the single remix of 'Candles' was actually better than the album version despite being even poppier (ha, hopefully you know what I mean here).

you have to wonder tho why if these guys had such a hard-on for UR why they didn't at least start doing actual Techno. i was still shocked the first time i heard 'Mine To Give' tho.

alex reece had a project with wax doctor called fallen angels which is what i'd imagine dnb gone techno is. it is super generic and poppy and rushy and really great like breakbeat hardcore was. i think the "summery vibe" is over-attached to reece because you can also look at his tunes like they are just one continuous rinse (= pressure) (and yes, i am kind of reaching here). this is the fallen angels album. i'd be curious to know what you guys think. the single that preceded the album is worth checking, too. i guess if you prefer techstep/breaks to 2-step it wouldn't be your thing but it is a nice foil to stuff like virus.

i don't think i've ever heard source direct unless they were on the metalheadz comps.

For tricky:

Source Direct - Enemey Lines
http://www.zshare.net/audio/970943193549e9/

spare, pure, surprisingly funky

^^^otm photek description

cheers tim

I'm getting very positve readings

From back when i was flirting with Idiot Deranged Mumblings, loved this shit.
I have got to stop answering my own posts. It's me mamm who keeps butting in.
Is she keeping me behind the times? 10 years too late?

yes, "UFO" probably deserves some mention here.

tim what do you think of "two masks"? probably my fave source direct track.

just to bring it back to photek - t/s: "two masks" vs "ni ten ichi ryu"

fave Source Direct = "The Wedge". i haven't heard "two Masks".

"the wedge" is by hidden agenda.

dope track, though!

:D

sorry to crash the party kids

am a pensioner punker
thanks for your help

I like "Two Masks" but think "Black Domina" is a slightly better version of the same thing (both are miles better than "Capital D" or most of Exorcise the Demons. My favourites are "Enemy Lines" and even more so "Computer State", which takes the carefully arranged compulsive fucked-up-ness to its greatest height I think. "Two Masks" verges on fiddly.

Kind of odd to think that both Photek and Source Direct, before they established the sound(s) for which they're still known, were making floaty melodic mash-ups for Certificate 18 as Studio Pressure and Sounds of Life respectively. An LTJ Bukem mix I have from 1994 actually transitions from Sounds of Life's "Release The Bells" to Studio Pressure's "Relics". These records have a very similar vibe - actually the entire Bukem mix (on Fantazia Takes You Into The Jungle 2) is like an advert for the early Certificate 18 sound, moreso than the smoother Good Looking blueprint of the same period.

Bukem agressively cutting 'Can we change the future' (Sound of life remix) into the preceding track (Funky Technicians' - Airtight) on his Mixmag live mix is up there as one of my favourite d&b moments. I never seem to tire of that transition.

Here's a Kryptic Mindz and Leon Switch track "Ocean Blue" from their album of last year. The rhythms on this are pretty amazing, if a lot like "Black Domina" or "Two Masks":

http://www.zshare.net/audio/97808377286d72/

Bukem agressively cutting 'Can we change the future' (Sound of life remix) into the preceding track (Funky Technicians' - Airtight) on his Mixmag live mix is up there as one of my favourite d&b moments. I never seem to tire of that transition.

-- sam500

http://www.sendspace.com/file/1vsa6g

Like the housey photek stuff.

Solaris never gets the props it deserves. Fuck those spoddy D&B purest wankers.

yes!

erm, "purest wankers". Now there's an image for ya

it gets the props it deserves for an album with 2 great tracks on it.

I can concede that "Junk" meanders a bit but this is an album that manages to cover all bases and never sounding awkward or disjointed.

I really can't understand what people have against it. The menace of his ealier stuff being stripped away perhaps? Why does it always have to be about dark vibes?

Some people hate pretty tepid house music (generally) and Robert Owens (specifically) is what they have against it.

Wow I don't remember hearing that LTJ Bukem mix, but I have definitely heard that transition before. Now I have to find that mix to figure out if it was something I may have recorded off the radio in like '97.

That album is worth it just for Mine To Give

"Goldie's best moments often = Rob Playford's best moments."

Yeah yeah yeah and it's all Nico Sykes too and blah blah blah. Maybe Rupert might have benefited from an engineer.

-- Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Saturday, 9 July 2005 16:52 (3 years ago) Link

"Goldie's best moments often = Rob Playford's best moments. belong to 4 Hero"

t'raenon sooooooooooo nice... my least favorite photek record for a long time but i am loving it these days.

Has this been posted before? All Photek mix courtesy of Bailey on BBC 1xtra. Fine stuff - some of which I'd never even heard before.

http://www.mediafire.com/?yufyqxitmm0

Truper - Volume 2 (Street Beats)
Studio Pressure - Jump Mark 2 (Certificate 18 Records)
System X - Mind Games (3 rd Eye)
Aquarius - Drift To The Centre (Looking Good)
Studio Pressure - Fusion (photek)
Aquarius - Dolphin Tune (Good Looking)
photek - Rings Around Saturn (photek)
photek - Say It (Prototype)
photek - Consciousness (Metalheadz)
Studio Pressure - Water Margin (photek)
photek - One Nation (Prototype)
photek - Seventh Samurai (photek)
photek - Still Life (Remix) (Razors Edge)
photek - Ni-Ten-Ichi-Ryu (Science)
photek - Knite Vision (Science)
photek - Something Else (Bleeps Tune) (photek Recordings)
photek - Tuesday (Dub)
Inta Warriors - Inta (Special Forces Remix) (Prototype)
photek - Aleph 1 (Science)

huh, I am really enjoying Solaris

it only took 13 years for me to get to this point

I know the best little Vietnamese cybercafe...

i haven't felt like listening to Solaris since it came out

I only played it because I remember the overall reaction to it being similar to the backlash reaction to RAM; unsurprisingly I am enjoying it a lot more than RAM so maybe I'll be in the mood to really dig that album in 2026

Why did you check it out (at the time and now) Dan I thought you disliked Photek?

What? I loved Photek up until Solaris came out; I bought "The Hidden Camera", "Ni-Ten-Ichi-Ryu", Modus Operandi and Form and Function when they were released. I think you are confusing me with someone else?

i dug it out, it's better than i remembered. it's weirdly all over the place tho.

the main reason I was not into Solaris was because I was so into the doomy drum n bass stuff he'd been doing before and was not at all in the mood to hear his take on loungy progressive house music

Okay must be confusing you with someone else from back in the old days.

i've still never heard this because i loooooved photek and haaaaated house music at the time.

I haven't talked about Photek all that much here, I admit, but I am pretty sure he was among the names I would regularly drop on a.m.a as someone I loved (I'm sure I talked about Squarepusher more, though)

Yeah one of the old regulars used to complain that i'd put them onto Photek with a description that sounded more exciting than the music actually was and I was like I mostly preferred Source Direct anyway.

haha OTM re: Source Direct