― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Sunday, 10 July 2005 03:04 (eighteen years ago) link
― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Sunday, 10 July 2005 04:29 (eighteen years ago) link
A lot of his stuff is fantastic though, yeah. I'd say his golden period was '95-'96 - ie. the golden age of the "Metalheadz" sound but just before Modus Operandi.
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Sunday, 10 July 2005 06:16 (eighteen years ago) link
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Sunday, 10 July 2005 06:22 (eighteen years ago) link
― strng hlkngtn, Sunday, 10 July 2005 10:22 (eighteen years ago) link
― strng hlkngtn, Sunday, 10 July 2005 10:23 (eighteen years ago) link
― jed_ (jed), Sunday, 10 July 2005 11:13 (eighteen years ago) link
nothng but piles of asian drums on top of one another. nothing to do but twitch like a jellyfish on a butcher block
wow, probably the truest thing i ever said on ilm
some dude called "the law" assembled this all photek 93-97 mix. makes a pretty damn good case for photek's brilliance.
01.. Photek - Third Sequence - Astralwerks [1996] 02.. Studio Pressure - Jump Mk II - Certificate 18 [1993] 03.. Goldie - Still Life (Photek Remix) - Razors Edge [1995] 04.. Studio Pressure - First Sequence - Photek [1994] 05.. The Truper - Vol 1 A - Street Beats [1994] 06.. System X - Mind Games (Dub Mix) - Entity [1994] 07.. Photek - Consciousness - Metalheadz - [1994] 08.. Photek - The Hidden Camera (Static Mix) - Science [1996] 09.. Photek - Ni Ten Ichi Ryu - Science [1997] 10.. Studio Pressure - The Water Margin - Photek - [1995] 11.. Photek - One Nation - Sanctury [1997/2007] 12.. Phaze 1 - Natural - Timeless [1995] 13.. Aquarius - Drift To The Centre - Looking Good [1995] 14.. Code Of Practice - Infiltrate - Certificate 18[1995] 15.. The Truper - Vol 2 B - Street Beats [1994] 16.. The Sentinel - Pulse Of Life - Basement[1994] 17.. Therapy? - Loose (Photek Remix) - A&M [1995] 18.. EZ Rollers - Rolled Into One (Photek Remix) - Moving Shadow [1996] 19.. Everything But The Girl - Single (Photek Remix) - Virgin [1996] 20.. Photek - Rings Around Saturn - Photek [1996]
go geddit here: http://drumandbassmixes.com/thelaw.htm
― moonship journey to baja, Thursday, 27 March 2008 17:26 (sixteen years ago) link
is burial the new photek?
― tricky, Thursday, 27 March 2008 18:11 (sixteen years ago) link
yes ... sort of
― moonship journey to baja, Thursday, 27 March 2008 18:12 (sixteen years ago) link
photek >>> burial
― Jordan, Thursday, 27 March 2008 18:12 (sixteen years ago) link
he's a little bit bigger relative to the scene than photek was, and he's more "outside" the scene too
― moonship journey to baja, Thursday, 27 March 2008 18:13 (sixteen years ago) link
i want to say he's the new squarepusher but squarepusher was actively adversarial w/ drum and bass, whereas burial likes dubstep & 2-step, he's not trying to tear it down w/ something new.
and again, i think he crossed over more than squarepusher did. squarepusher probably sold less albums than goldie.
― moonship journey to baja, Thursday, 27 March 2008 18:15 (sixteen years ago) link
Rhythm & Sound ^ (Hyperdub + Skull Disco) * (2008 / 1996) = (Metalheadz + Photek Productions) ^ Basic Channel
― Kaliova, Thursday, 27 March 2008 18:17 (sixteen years ago) link
thanks to this thread revive i went on a search for my copy of "something else...the bleeps tune" and i can't find it. i wanted to hear it again before coming onto this thread to proclaim its greatness.
― tricky, Thursday, 27 March 2008 18:17 (sixteen years ago) link
that equation is breaking my brane
― tricky, Thursday, 27 March 2008 18:18 (sixteen years ago) link
2008/1996 = breaks?
― tricky, Thursday, 27 March 2008 18:19 (sixteen years ago) link
mind, one of my favorite things about 2008 is the return of breaks in non-traditionally steppy musics
― tricky, Thursday, 27 March 2008 18:20 (sixteen years ago) link
Maybe... I was just writing gibberish really. Try listening to T-Raenon if you've got a headache. Hearing that for the first time, while reading an interview with him, where he mentioned that Black Dog's Bytes was his favourite record, made me a fan forever.
― Kaliova, Thursday, 27 March 2008 18:22 (sixteen years ago) link
yeah the vibe of bytes is pretty much untouchable.
i think a digital music player needs to be invented where you can just drop in equations like that and then it plays them for you.
― tricky, Thursday, 27 March 2008 18:26 (sixteen years ago) link
i'm going to echo mr dan perry from upthread and point out that BDP and detroit techno refs made a lot of people dislike him!
― moonship journey to baja, Thursday, 27 March 2008 18:26 (sixteen years ago) link
gibberish or not it is quite appropriate on a photek thread. mr science of breaks himself.
― tricky, Thursday, 27 March 2008 18:28 (sixteen years ago) link
why would that make people dislike him?
― tricky, Thursday, 27 March 2008 18:29 (sixteen years ago) link
i dunno. ask a british.
― moonship journey to baja, Thursday, 27 March 2008 18:30 (sixteen years ago) link
I don't think the Artificial Intelligence and Drum'n'Bass lot mixed that much at the time, though I don't remember there being any animosity there. Anyway I got into both via the lowly NME so I'm not well-qualified to cover this...
― Kaliova, Thursday, 27 March 2008 18:34 (sixteen years ago) link
i dunno why the dislike either, other than part of the pre-existing sniffiness re "intelligent" tag
― blueski, Thursday, 27 March 2008 18:36 (sixteen years ago) link
^^ this used to be a big deal! 300-post threads and stuff.
― moonship journey to baja, Thursday, 27 March 2008 18:37 (sixteen years ago) link
Pretty sure most of the backlash was Reynolds' inspired and I think he was mostly sniffy that Photek seemed so desirous to distance himself from jungle and instead align himself with detroit techno. Plus (at the time) he considered Photek's brand of d'n'b kind of dull compared to ragga/jump-up/what not. No doubt like everything else he's changed his mind half-a-dozen times since.
― Alex in SF, Thursday, 27 March 2008 18:46 (sixteen years ago) link
las time we did this i rolled out the reynolds line and got schooled: 'pparently early photek is pretty jump-up-ish.
im wondering how reynolds will treat post-1998 developments in 'energy flash 2: the blog years', because this argument over 'intelligence' has sort of gone away.
― banriquit, Thursday, 27 March 2008 18:49 (sixteen years ago) link
yeah photek started with mashy amen like everyone else but lol at outsiders who saw the switch from this to other areas as a duller direction given how boring and ubiquitous that sound seemed by late '95. still baffled by why so much seems to hang on what reynolds thinks tho.
― blueski, Thursday, 27 March 2008 18:57 (sixteen years ago) link
http://www.lifesacharacter.com/cartooncharacters/rodneymoose.gif
― banriquit, Thursday, 27 March 2008 18:57 (sixteen years ago) link
i knew that was it, but "intelligent" totally misses the point re black dog and photek because we can talk about mystical alchemy or breaks-surgery but to me that confuses how we talk about the music with actual visceral impact. it all seems to hedge on this idea of class. like if you didn't use amens and looked towards detroit, you were upwardly mobile or something which is just ironic.
― tricky, Thursday, 27 March 2008 19:07 (sixteen years ago) link
too bad there wasn't an equivalent late 90s detroitification of garage by home counties suburbanites eh
― blueski, Thursday, 27 March 2008 19:17 (sixteen years ago) link
LOL
― moonship journey to baja, Thursday, 27 March 2008 19:34 (sixteen years ago) link
too bad there wasn't a late 90s ?-ification of detroit techno
― moonship journey to baja, Thursday, 27 March 2008 19:36 (sixteen years ago) link
anyway i show you a mix and this is the thanks i get
― moonship journey to baja, Thursday, 27 March 2008 19:37 (sixteen years ago) link
the mix is cool. i'm surprised by how non-photeky some of the earlier tracks sound (amens & divas, etc.).
― Jordan, Thursday, 27 March 2008 19:38 (sixteen years ago) link
there's also this one, as mentioned on "favorite dj mix" thread
Source Direct versus Photek Download
Call & Response : Source Direct The Physical : Photek Computer State : Source Direct Touching Down : Photek Snake Style : Source Direct Black Domina : Source Direct The Fifth Column : Photek Concealed Identity : Source Direct Technical Warfare : Source Direct The Water Margin : Photek Love & Hate : Source Direct Fusion : Photek Capital D : Source Direct Mind Weaver : Source Direct Enemy Lines : Source Direct Complex : Photek Black Rose : Source Direct The Seventh Samurai : Photek Wanton Conduct : Source Direct Ni Ten Ichi Ryu : Photek
http://drumandbassmixes.com/hades.htm
― moonship journey to baja, Thursday, 27 March 2008 19:40 (sixteen years ago) link
^^ there's some good, good mixes on that page
― moonship journey to baja, Thursday, 27 March 2008 19:41 (sixteen years ago) link
it's an interesting contrast hearing the two next to each other, considering how much ballyhoo people made about source direct being photek clones. photek comes across as the very much clinical breaks technician. spare, pure, surprisingly funky. source direct sound incredibly rigid and dark. the 2-step is so stiff it starts to push into into cristian vogel territory. (tech itch did some tracks like this)
― moonship journey to baja, Thursday, 27 March 2008 19:47 (sixteen years ago) link
having mentioned tech itch, it reminds me of a question i've always wanted to ask. just out of curiosity, what was the last drum and bass album you bought? i mean, the last one before you hung it up and said "fuck it, this stuff is over".
― moonship journey to baja, Thursday, 27 March 2008 19:49 (sixteen years ago) link
mine was ram trilogy's "molten beats"
― moonship journey to baja, Thursday, 27 March 2008 19:53 (sixteen years ago) link
full-length: probably breakage, a couple of years ago. didn't really like it. otherwise, just a macc 12" i think?
― Jordan, Thursday, 27 March 2008 19:58 (sixteen years ago) link
Photek's Solaris, assuming that counts
― Kaliova, Thursday, 27 March 2008 20:08 (sixteen years ago) link
i never bought that many artist albums anyway so it's actually 'Saturnz Return' for me ha ha never did actually buy a copy of 'Mysteries Of Funk' (but did pick up 2nd hand copy of 'The Prototype Years' last year). you may be disgusted to know the dnb album from this decade i came closest to buying was John B's 'Future Reference' (also 'Malice In Wonderland').
― blueski, Thursday, 27 March 2008 20:08 (sixteen years ago) link
i bought "mysteries of funk" and i was always really, really impressed w/ the sound design on the tracks but i never really liked listening to it. i was always like "whoa, grooverider optical did an amazing engineering this". i remember "rainbows of color", "starbase 23", "rivers of congo", "560 degrees" and "imagination" all being really good. also maybe "where's jack the ripper?" ... anyway RIP big man, at least it's not a turkish prison.
there's some great stuff on "prototype years"! "city lights", "deep inside", "silver blade", "subway" etc. but you NEED the 2-disc version with the VIP mix of "still' on the 2nd disc. incredible! i think grooverider in the liner notes he calls it "more devastating than the borg" LOL nerd!
― moonship journey to baja, Thursday, 27 March 2008 20:15 (sixteen years ago) link
i wish i still had my copy with the stereo cover that switched between images of grooverider's face and an x-ray of his skull
― moonship journey to baja, Thursday, 27 March 2008 20:16 (sixteen years ago) link
hey, did anyone hear that last venetian snares album? i didn't hear a word about it but the tracks on his myspace sound pretty great.
― Jordan, Thursday, 27 March 2008 20:21 (sixteen years ago) link
arrrggh don't even mention that guy
― moonship journey to baja, Thursday, 27 March 2008 20:25 (sixteen years ago) link
I bought that Hive/Gridlock album that Jess repped for. It's good enough, but not as amazing as he'd said.
Grooverider's in jail in Dubai right now, ain't he? LESSON 1: DON'T BRING DRUGS INTO THE UAE!
― Alex in SF, Thursday, 27 March 2008 20:27 (sixteen years ago) link
watch straight ahead off my flashlight ... there it is again
Classic. If for that alone. It spookily moves me ,everytime
― Jessie Fer Ark (Mobbed Up Ping Pong Psychos), Tuesday, 21 October 2014 23:29 (nine years ago) link
THIS TUNE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAZmerb5gS4
Should get around to a Photek POX.
― Tim F, Thursday, 23 April 2015 14:33 (nine years ago) link
Tentatively scribbled this ten down a while back.
Aquarius - Drift To The CentreStudio Pressure - The Water MarginPhotek - ComplexThe Sentinel - TouléPleuThe Truper - Volume 3 BPhotek - Rings Around SaturnPhotek - The Hidden CameraPhotek - UFOAquarius & Tayla - Soul SearchingPhotek - Consciousness
― Thank You (Fattekin Mice Elf Control Again) (Noel Emits), Wednesday, 9 October 2019 10:44 (four years ago) link
God how I love Photek
― Goose Witherspeen (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 9 October 2019 13:31 (four years ago) link
If I hadn't seen the record with my own eyes I'd have thought this was a joke.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3AVoBbzMsw
― feed me with your clicks (Noel Emits), Friday, 17 December 2021 18:30 (two years ago) link
Going back to Form & Function, this is still *the* Photek album for me. I got it on cd from Best Buy in high school, I don't know if I had somehow heard of him or was looking for drum & bass albums and chanced upon it. Still sounds incredible.
― change display name (Jordan), Monday, 27 March 2023 15:20 (one year ago) link
Really enjoyed Philip Sherburne's Modus Operandi revisit, and going back to that record:https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/photek-modus-operandi/
Also I'm finally old enough to appreciate Solaris, especially if I just think of it as some house record. The blown-out quality of the kicks and basses is nice, and the dubbiness.
― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Wednesday, 10 April 2024 20:15 (one month ago) link
I just rediscovered his 2012 DJ Kicks mix , so nice
― StanM, Wednesday, 10 April 2024 21:28 (one month ago) link
ooh, sounds like a good listen for the commute home
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Wednesday, 10 April 2024 22:04 (one month ago) link
Pitchfork piece was great. There’s a lot of electronic music from the mid/late 90s that I loved desperately at the time. These days a lot of it feels… of its time. I don’t want to say they’ve aged poorly but I just can’t separate them from their era (Squarepusher, u-Ziq, Bukem, Roni Size and others). All these years later this particular Photek album still captivates me. I always put it on when I really need to get into a state of intense focus (i.e. writing to deadline).
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Thursday, 11 April 2024 01:30 (one month ago) link