I've had various options going through my head for my addition, but one struck me as being relatively obvious given my passion for the guy's recordings for the last 17 years or so. And especially because people seem to now suddenly be digging him whilst he delivers dub-based house or pure db-step.
I'm choosing Photek's first LP (proper) - Modus Operandi which was released in 1997. He later released "Form & Function" which was a collection of his singles and work which pre-dated MO (tracks that I'd rewind over and over from bootleg/copy tapes from the Blue Note sessions in Hoxton '96 - Loxy, 'Rider, Lemon D, Doc Scott, Dillinja etc). Anyway - the hype around Goldie's "Timeless" was utterly insane when it arrived two years prior, and there is no doubt in my mind that I owe a huge amount to that LP because it genuinely changed my life musically - it intro'd me to what was then termed "intelligent drum n bass". HOWEVER, nothing could really prepare me for Parkes' debut LP in 1997 - I remember reading the build up to it in Wax magazine and getting my kecks in a twist with excitement.... going to Our Price on the Monday morning to buy it, then running into school late for a busines studies 6th form module assessment. I had to know that I had that LP in my bag waiting for me so that when that gruelling 2 hour module finished I could whack it straight into my Dads borrowed (stolen) Technics portable CD player and f*ck off double Geography in the afternoon and go and listen. If you gave me a few weeks I could come up with 10 LP's that truly changed the way I listen to music and , but if you were to ask me, on the spot, for one LP I guarantee it would be this that came to my mind, because the impact was so great that I'll never forget it.
And so to the music itself. I will try and be brief, something I know i'm not good at when it comes to music.
I have listened to this LP twice all the way through recently; Once so that I could formulate words in my mind, reconnect and relive some memories.... Second so that I could try and write something which might make me realise how you might hear it and for me to be retrospectively critical/realistic because this type of music is probably not for either of you entirely (KS - lush d'n'b bukem style = good - big choppy, Metalheadz, aggresive stuff = not really your bag.... RD - never really into d'n'b at all but coming round to the lush stuff last three/four years) I hope in spite of its very niche end user appeal (for want of a much better phrase) you will be able to enjoy all sorts of musical influences within this concept album (make no mistake: that's what it is - hence the little musical themes/continuations which carry througout).... the main thing that struck me as a kid was this incredibly orignal Detroit techno approach to making drum and bass... not only reflected in the amazing sounds and noises (that broken glass in reverse sound; a major theme which is repeated so often it almost just washes over you and becomes part of your psyche for an hour or so) but also the intensity of the production... the beats are RIDCIULOUS - they are crisp beyond anything I'm yet to hear (which is what i was trying to relay when i wrote my 'short' piece about "Rings around Saturn" which Spot has failed to secure rights to) the production MUST have been completely painstaking but the reward to the listener is huge:- I found it, still find it, all encompassing and absorbing. I do accept however (only recently after conversations with you two, either in person or on email) that I might be a bit odd/different in my taste/listening patterns/response to music - so I will totally accept if your ears don't get into this album.... for me it is an oasis, a nirvana otherwise unknown (apart from his other early 12"/singles such as Rings / UFO/Knightvision etc).... I can honestly say that after all these years if I leave this LP alone for 6 months, go back and listen to it, I feel like I'm listening to something new.... how many albums can you say that about? It must be mentioned actually, that not all of this is large sounding tearup drum and bass - heavy duty tracks feature and do a superb job, but the defining moments are predominantly the non jump up d-n-b tracks .... the thoughtful openener "Hidden Camera", eerie echoey breaks "Minotaur" ; "124" is so Detroit it might as well have been written by May, Mills, Pullen, Craig & Saunderson (but it wouldnt have sounded as good); and in fact the track before it "Aleph 1" is essentially a massive breakbeat techno track.....hugely sad is the loss of the title track from Spot - a tune which I included on DHS1 many moons ago (lush jazz piano over double-bass silkyness and hip hop beats - absolutely class - a modern master class in programming in fact). Axiom I think is the one you will struggle with, but even then when he introduces the noir string section I struggle not to be amazed....
MO might all just be a bit too beardy weirdy for you but I don't know of any album which remotely makes me think - oh yeah; this reminds me of Photek's first LP - no one's even come close to it....
If this LP poses one question for me, it is simply this:
"Who else do you know who can make beats like Photek?"
I hope you can enjoy at least some of this album.
H
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