Studio Pressure

Photek is Rupert Parkes, an Ipswich-based drum and bass producer. He joined the drum-n-bass scene relatively early (his first release was in 1992, a collaboration with Rob Solomon), and is still one of its most respected players. In

Photek is Rupert Parkes, an Ipswich-based drum and bass producer. He joined the drum-n-bass scene relatively early (his first release was in 1992, a collaboration with Rob Solomon), and is still one of its most respected players. In the mid-to-late Nineties he was a very active remixer and has also done some soundtrack work, most notably for The Animatrix.

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. He is also influenced by traditional Japanese music, with song titles as Ni-Ten-Ichi-Ryu (2 Swords Technique) and The Seven Samurai. His latest album, Solaris (released in 2000), saw quite a bit of change to his music, with gloomy house tracks alongside free-form ambient noise and the usual snare drum attacks. After Solaris, he dropped out of his contract with Virgin Records sublabel Science, and continues to release 12-inch singles on his own Photek Productions label, although a new album is rumored for 2005. These new 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 on additional programming on "All The Love In The World" and remixing the single "The Hand that Feeds"