Photek interview taken from Iron Minds
http://www.ironminds.com/ironminds/issues/000920/tunes.shtml
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Fed up with ?adolescent aggression,? Photek releases a
house record. Fans can call him a sellout, but they
might also want to call him a revolutionary.
Breaking the Chains of Drum ?n? Bass
Territorial Pissings by Mike Bruno
Dance-music culture can seem intimidating to an
outsider. Unless you keep up with the updates of
what?s currently en vogue or the constant addition of
new, vague music subgenres, you are considered nothing
more than a pedestrian electronic-music fan, or worse
yet, a poseur.
But despite all the hipper-than-thou posturing,
underground dance culture has always been anchored by
the music. That culture has definitely transformed a
bit from the love-filled weekend escapism it started
out as into something of a trendy cult, but throughout
history finding community in the appreciation of new
dance music has always been the fuel behind any true
dance culture scene.
Photek (aka Rupert Parkes) is one of the
best-known drum ?n? bass artists in the world. As a
musician, he?s well aware of the changing trends in
music style, but he?s never been too hip on the whole
?scene? that surrounds it. Drum ?n? bass is one of the
fastest and most complex subgenres of electronic dance
music. Its subordination of melody for rapid-fire
breakbeats and booming sub-bassline rhythms has
effectively separated some of the hardcore techno
scenesters from the more pop-oriented occasional
record buyers. Although his music brilliantly captures
the sound of drum ?n? bass, over the years people have
accused Photek of betraying the underground, urban
music, because he has never been an avid rave
party/nightclub attendee. In fact, he doesn?t even
live in a huge city, preferring a smaller town a few
miles outside London.
In some ways, it?s always made perfect sense that
Photek?s minimalist composition, penchant for echoey
stabs of jazz horns and fanatically clean, precise
production is the result of his being isolated out in
the middle of nowhere. But while his sparse drum ?n?
bass can aptly be described as haunting, it?s never
resembled the horrorcore madness that drum ?n? bass
subgenres like techstep and darkstep lean toward. In
fact, since he began making drum ?n? bass tracks in
the early-90s, Photek and Good Looking Records founder
LTJ Bukem have worked to find drum ?n? bass
alternatives to simply escalating BPMs.
Realizing that the music would eventually reach a
wall of white noise, Photek, Bukem and the other Good
Looking artists started layering in atmospherics by
implementing smoother jazz and ambient music textures,
and it gave drum ?n? bass some much-needed room to
continue growing. Their style was coined ?intelligent
drum ?n? bass.?
Although Photek?s long-awaited debut LP, 1997?s Modus
Operandi, and 1998 follow-up, the remix and singles
compilation Forms and Function, captured the world?s
attention upon their release, it?s been the harder
drum ?n? bass styles (perhaps best exemplified by
records on the Renegade Hardware label) that seemed to
carry the drum ?n? bass torch into the 21st century.
Photek says he?s fed up with the ?adolescent
aggression? showcased in those darkstep records. So
instead of feeling boxed into a genre he doesn?t feel
he?s in step with, he went in an entirely new
direction. Photek just made a house record.
?I?d have to say it has something to do with my
response to drum ?n? bass,? Photek said in a phone
interview. ?One track is drum ?n? bass, but the record
overall, you?d have to say it?s only about eight
percent drum ?n? bass.?
Now, truth be told, the new album, Solaris, is
not all house music. He?s got some Big Beat breakbeat
workouts, a bit of dub, ambient and even some
trip-hoppy stuff on this record. But it?s the house
tracks that mark the most shocking change. We?re not
talking a U.K. garage-style, house/drum ?n? bass blend
here. We?re talking full-on 4/4 beats with handclaps
and cheesy tom sounds-style 80s Chicago house. Photek
even got legendary house singer Robert Owens to sing
on a couple tracks.
?I?ve wanted for 10 years to get this guy?s voice
over my music,? Photek said. ?I never asked him
before, but now I felt that I was finally in a
position and making music that he could work with.?
The one drum ?n? bass track, ?Infinity,? is
probably the best on the record, but even it
demonstrates the new direction. It starts out with a
continuous loop of a female vocal singing ?oh yeah,?
and then the big, fat bassline comes booming in. It?s
the sixth track, but when it happens it?s a total rush
to realize he?s finally going to pop into some of the
drum ?n? bass you know the dude loves in his heart.
It?s still hard, dark and fast, but he puts some
strings up front in the mix to elevate the mood. It?s
not trancey and pretty, (Photek stressed more than
once that he?s not into trance music?s A-Ha-type
bubblegum), but it tempers the ferociousness with a
sense of ephemeral euphoria, like nitrous oxide
pumping through the speaker at you.
Photek?s not the only drum ?n? bass artist that?s
playing around with different styles. Krust had a
house diva sing on about half of his last drum ?n?
bass record, and Roni Size has some MCs rap on his new
album. Since drum ?n? bass uses breakbeats like
hip-hop music does, it?s always been considered rap?s
demented stepchild anyway, but it?s still a step back
from the traditional drum ?n? bass line.
As good as these artists? drum ?n? bass is, to
make the same record a thousand times wouldn?t do the
genre any good, nor would Photek making a drum ?n?
bass record just because he thought he had to. He says
part of his newfound sense of liberation came from his
relationship with his wife, Dutch film director Miriam
Kruishoop, and his recording the soundtrack to her
latest feature film, Unter Den Palmen.
?Doing the soundtrack kind of prepared me,? he
said. ?I could do any style, depending on the scene,
and it reminded me that you don?t have to do one
thing. You can do whatever you like.?
Unfortunately, without having scenes to dictate
the flow of songs, Solaris lacks a sense of
cohesiveness. Tracks are presented more as ideas than
as songs. A bit of dub here, an eerie female vocal and
spacey trip-hop rhythm, a la Tricky, there, an ambient
wash to close the record, but many of the tracks are
too stagnant, running an idea into the ground before
they take off, and often ending disjointedly.
But the key here is that Photek is breaking the
chains drum ?n? bass had on him. And so far, he seems
to feel that it?s had a positive effect on his music.
?This is one of the best things I?ve done yet,?
he says. ?I?ve gotten quite a bit of feedback on it
already, and I?ve heard nothing bad yet. I recently
was in a crowd of drum ?n? bass people and producers
who had heard the album, and they said they loved it.?
But more important than their saying that they
love it is the slow antiquation of the entire notion
of ?drum ?n? bass people.? Despite what Photek says,
it?s hard to imagine the hardcore drum ?n? bass heads
getting into this kind of record (in fact, they?ll
probably say he?s a total sellout). But Photek seems
like he might even revel in a role as drum ?n? bass
revolutionary. And just when the uber-hip breakbeat
community labels him a sellout devil, booting him out
of the elite drum ?n? bass cult, that?s right about
when you should expect to smack us over the head with
another slammin? Photek drum ?n? bass record.
Mike Bruno is Ironminds? music editor.
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