First off I would be lying if I didn't say I was a
little disappointed (at first) that there wasn't more
drum n bass on it. Photek has always been one of my
absolute favorite drum n bass producers, and his style
is always so unique. If he would have done a
downtempo jazz fusion lp, that would have been great
also.
I'm not a Robert Owens fan, or a big fan of Chicago
(vocal) house. I've always favored Detroit techno.
Vocal house doesn't come easy to me. The first few
times I heard Stardust - "Music Sounds Better With
You", I was a little sickened. However, if the tune is
really good, I usually get over the vocals after a few
listens.
The only reason I am using the Stardust comparison, is
because when that song first came out it was
unescapable. It was played everywhere. And I had a
recent experience like that with "Mine To Give".
When I first bought Solaris, I listened to everything,
EXCEPT the Robert Owens tunes. And I thought there
were some awesome tunes on the album, tracks like
Halogen, Terminus, Solaris, Infinity, Under The Palms,
etc....all really awesome!! I slowly eased my way
into tunes like "Mine To Give". I really like the
music on it, the bassline is cool, after a few listens
the vocals didn't bother me anymore. It's a very
catchy tune, I dig it. I'm a little skeptical about
the forthcoming remixes, but we'll see.
When I was talking with Photek at an interview
session, he was very excited talking about "Mine To
Give". He said, that he and Robert Owens had
pencilled it in their diaries to get back in the
studio to do another song. He also sounded very
excited about drum n bass, even though he thought the
last year and half had been rubbish. He said, that he
has been given some great tunes by some friends, and
that he has never had better drum n bass in his crate
ever. So who knows what direction he will take next?
He did say, that the Photek Productions label would
stick to drum n bass. And that he didn't want to
twist people heads off, not knowing what to expect
from the label.
I asked Rupert if the soundtrack he made for his
wife's film "Under The Palms", would be released. All
he said was that the last 2 songs from Solaris are
taken from the movie. I'm really curious to hear what
the rest of it sounds like. I hope the SDTK comes out
or at least the movie comes to a theater near me.
Massive Props to Photek!! Give Solaris a few listens.
--- Andrew Duke <cognition@ns.sympatico.ca> wrote:
<<I'm a huge fan of Robert Owens, and was very
impressed to hear new material featuring him. That
the person behind Owens was Photek came as a shock to
me the first time I heard Mine To Give and Can't Come
Down from Photek's Solaris album, BUT, Photek has
shown that he can do drum n bass incredibly well and I
personally applaud him for tackling other things AND
doing a great job of it (those who like house and tech
house are VERY happy with the house tracks on Solaris;
personally, I'm buying both singles on sight--and for
the original versions from Photek, not the remixes).
re: this new Photek "not being IDM", or it being bad
that it is a mix of styles instead of just drum n
bass: Mocean Worker's new album, to contrast, shows
that Mocean Worker should have stuck to what he *used
to* do--the new MW album features Bono on a cut (!)
and tries to be all things to all people and it is
dreadful (and I liked previous Mocean Worker material,
so I'm not knocking him for the sake of it); it is a
truly skilled musician who can record in a variety of
styles and still do a great job in all of them. Photek
is one of these great artists, despite the fact that
many are not enjoying his new album. I can think of
plenty more artists who have moved from one style to
trying their hands at a variety of styles--and failed
miserably at doing so. I say thumbs up and congrats
to Photek for taking this risk: A) He could have done
a full drum n bass album but that wouldn't have made
him happy, and artists must please themselves
first--that, plain and simple, is art. B) He recorded
with Robert Owens because Robert Owens is one of the
first (and best) house music talents out there--this
was done as a tribute in that Owens' songs (and others
in that vein) were a big inspiration to Parkes to
start recording. It's good to see Parkes showing his
influences a bit. Enough rant from me :) Andrew Duke>>
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