Photek

All Music Guide:

Though Goldie became the first superstar of jungle, the recordings of Rupert Parkes -- as Code of Practice, Aquarius, Studio Pressure, the Truper, and Sentinel, but most famously as Photek -- made him an easy pick for the style's most artistic and intelligent producer. Working his way through street-level hardstep (on early productions for Certificate 18 and Street Beats) and airy, sub-aquatic "dolphin" tunes for L.T.J Bukem's Good Looking label, Parkes finally arrived at a sound that pushed the bounds of drum'n'bass from the dancefloor into the realm of breakbeat head space; unlike most jungle producers, Parkes has never DJ'ed and rarely goes to clubs. His incredibly intricate rhythm programming -- often requiring weeks of computer preparation -- and the unmissable aura of paranoid menace on recordings such as "The Hidden Camera" and "UFO" exerted quite an influence on the return of dark-style drum'n'bass during the late '90s.

As a teenager, Parkes listened to electro, techno, and hip-hop as well as the more free-form side of jazz and fusion. Thanks to a sampler bought with a £2000 loan from the Trust of the Prince of Wales, he began producing tracks and first appeared on Paul Solomon's Certificate 18 Records with singles as Studio Pressure. He also recorded for Basement (as Sentinel) and Street Beats (the Truper) before initiating a series of 12" singles for his own Photek Records, which gave him credentials and led to releases on Goldie's Metalheadz label and L.T.J. Bukem's Good Looking, as well as a remix of the Therapy? single "Loose."

After Parkes had released more than 80 tracks of drum'n'bass on half-a-dozen labels, he was approached by Virgin and signed to a five-album deal with the label's Science imprint (provided he was allowed to continue recording for other independent labels as well). Parkes' first release on Science was The Hidden Camera EP, which appeared in May 1996. The second Science single "Ni-Ten-Ichi-Ryu" displayed an increasing interest in applying the lessons of martial arts to his programming (the title is Japanese for "two swords, one technique"). Virgin compiled the latter two releases on 1997's Risc vs. Reward, then released the debut Photek album Modus Operandi in September 1997. Much-hyped though little-praised, the album was followed by 1998's Form & Function, a compilation including several original Photek Records tracks plus remixes and new tracks. During the next two years, Parkes focused on his new Photek Productions label, and finally released a second LP, Solaris, in 2000.

Wikipedia:

Rupert Parkes (born 1972, St Albans, England), known as Photek, is a Los Angeles-based British record producer and DJ. He joined the drum and bass scene relatively early (his first release was in 1992, a collaboration with Rob Solomon a.k.a. Lexis), and is still one of its most respected players. In the mid-to-late Nineties he was a very active remixer, and he has also done some soundtrack work, most notably for The Animatrix.

Styles

His early tracks are somewhat ambient, but already feature the rhythm pattern of his seminal 1997 work Modus Operandi, which embodies most of his mid-nineties style: atmospheric, but at the same time very cold and paranoid, consisting mostly of jazz-influenced, highly complex drum patterns and sequenced double bass lines, sometimes with minimalistic synth melodies on top. Photek is also influenced by traditional Japanese music and culture, with song titles as "Ni-Ten-Ichi-Ryu (2 Swords Technique)" (named after the Hyoho Niten Ichi-ryu technique) and "The Seven Samurai" (named after the movie of the same name).

His 1998 follow up to Modus Operandi was the Form & Function compilation album, featuring older tracks, in both original and remixed form. His album Solaris (released in 2000) saw Parkes taking his music in a new direction, with gloomy house tracks alongside free-form ambient noise and the usual snare drum attacks. It included the house single "Mine to Give" (featuring Robert Owens), which reached the top spot of Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play in 2001.

After Solaris, he paid his way out of his contract with Virgin Records sublabel Science, and continued to release 12-inch singles on his own Photek Productions label. These tracks are more club-oriented and reminiscent of the recent work of Roni Size. Parkes also worked with Nine Inch Nails on the album With Teeth by providing additional programming on "All The Love In The World" and remixing the single "The Hand That Feeds." He's rumored to also have been working with Pharrell.

His most recent compilation album Form & Function Vol. 2 was released on 24 September 2007. He also contributed music to the movie Dreamland. He continues to be based in L.A. working on new, as yet unreleased music - he tweeted in 2009 that he was making dubstep [1]. In November 2010, Radio 1 DJ Benji B played a brand new track by Photek titled '101', sparking rumours of new Photek music to be released in early 2011. In January 2011 it was announced via Photek's official website that he would be releasing a new EP, Avalanche, in February and that one of its tracks "Slowburn" is available for free download from the site.[2]

2011: New releases

On 28 February 2011, Photek released the Avalanche EP through his own label, Photek Productions, featuring four original tracks plus a remix by Boddika. In an interview with online music blog 'Fact Magazine' in March 2011, Photek disclosed his plans to release a new "...series of EPs where the best content can be cherry-picked for an album at the end of that series." Plus, "I’ve got a release coming out on Pinch's label, Tectonic called 'Closer'".

Photek released his second EP of 2011 in May, titled the Aviator EP on his own label. He then released the aforementioned single "Closer" on Tectonic, which featured a remix by label boss Pinch. Photek has done a number of remixes himself in 2011, for the likes of Moby, Distance, Karin Park and Jess Mills. In December 2011 he was nominated for the 54th Grammy Awards in the 'Best Remix' category for his rework of Daft Punk's 'End Of Line' for the Tron Legacy soundtrack.

Other monikers