Photek

Infobox musical artist
Background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
Name = Photek


Years_active = 1992-present
Origin = St Albans, England, United Kingdom
Genre = Drum and bass Downtempo Deep House
Label = Science Astralwerks/Virgin/EMI Records Photek Productions
Sanctuary Records

Photek is Rupert Parkes (born 1972, St Albans, England), a Los Angeles-based 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".

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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.

His 1998 follow up to "Modus Operandi" was the Form & Function album. 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 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. It included the house single "Mine To Give" (featuring Robert Owens), which reached the top spot of Billboard magazine's "Hot Dance Music/Club Play" in 2001.

After "Solaris", he paid his way out of his contract with Virgin Records sublabel Science, and continues 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 latest album "Form & Function Vol. 2" was released on 24 September 2007. He also contributed music to the movie "Dreamland".

Other monikers

* "Special Forces"
* "Studio Pressure"
* "Aquarius"
* "Sentinel"
* "The Truper"
* "System X"
* "Synthetics"
* "Code Of Practice"

Album discography

* "The Hidden Camera EP" (1996)
* "Risc vs. Reward" (1997)
* "Modus Operandi" (1997)
* "Form & Function", a collection of early work and remixes (1998)
* "Solaris" (2000)
* "Form & Function Vol. 2" (2007)

ee also

*List of number-one dance hits (United States)
*List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart

External links

* [http://www.photekproductions.com Official website]
* [http://www.myspace.com/photekproductions Blog] at MySpace
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* [http://www.last.fm/music/Photek Photek] at Last.fm
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