Last night we went to see Photek and Apparat at Kingdom. I was hoping to catch a glimpse of classic Photek, but that wasn’t meant to be. He has switched to producing house and techno & seems to be uninterested in drum&bass at all anymore. He kicked off his set by playing some bass-heavy electro house but then pitched the night down with some very slow, clunky 4/4 stuff for about 25 minutes. I saw the floor thin out and he must’ve noticed because he went right back to the big beat stuff. Overall the night was disappointing, but he’s still an excellent producer and a solid DJ so we still managed to have some fun.

Here are a couple of clips of some of his new stuff.

This is a free download of his “No Agenda” track from XLR8R.

Before Photek went on we dipped down to Plush to see Dara and Evol Intent for a few minutes. We weren’t able to stay long, but the club was rammed and those guys were killing it. Glad to see someone out there still enjoys drum&bass.

Tonight is the Official Hospital Records Showcase at Malverde. Some friends and I are going to try and get in the door, but the max capacity for the place is about 100 so we have a very slim hope. Not having conference badges or wristbands is going to hinder that, but we’ll give it a shot anyway.

Friday afternoon Boiler Room TV is hosting a party on the east side (in someone’s backyard!) featuring Hudson Mohawke, Lunice, Jackmaster B2B Oneman, Nick Hook, and Machinedrum. You can click the link above to watch the shenanigans live starting at 8pm CST.

Friday night Kenny Ken will be playing the Driskill Hotel. This is odd because the Driskill is a very swank, very old hotel downtown and I have no idea how drum&bass is going to go over in the “Victorian Room”…we’ll head down to check it out anyway so I can get my fix.

There will be other streaming events cropping up all the time so just search twitter for the hashtag #sxsw or google around and you’ll come across a bunch of stuff.

The list is purely subjective and my tastes may not fit with your personal preferences. Feel free to add your own top five in the comments.

Top Five Ten Atmospheric Tunes (in no particular order):

Fokus – On-Line
I first heard this on LTJ Bukem’s Mixmag Live! Vol. 3 CD from 1996. It was the opening tune and blew my damn mind with that bass line.

JMJ & Richie – Free La Funk (PFM Remix)
Another banger on the LTJ Mixmag CD. That haunting female vocal paired with the bass hitting before the amen kicks in is the stuff that my dreams are made of…

Adam F – Aromatherapy
I’d be willing to bet that most people have heard this track in more than a few mixes from the mid to late 90s, and had no idea it was an Adam F tune. It was featured on another LTJ Bukem mix he did for the Promised Land compilations, but also appeared on Adam’s album “Colours” from Positiva.

Blu Mar Ten – B.R.O
The track was originally released in 1999 on Bukem’s (are you seeing a trend here?!) Good Looking imprint. The rumor is that the title of this track means “Bukem Rip Off” and was BMT’s way of making fun of what atmospheric drum&bass had become by using tons of cliched elements in the production. The irony, of course, was that it was a huge hit. One of these days I’ll ask Chris from BMT about its origins.

LTJ Bukem – Demon’s Theme
This tune holds a special place in my heart. When I first started listening to atmospheric drum&bass I had my mom listen to the Logical Progression compilation. She was fascinated by Demon’s Theme and asked me to put a copy on a cassette (ha!) for her to listen to in the car. She passed away in 2000 and I played this track on repeat during my trip to Ohio for her funeral. Anytime I hear it, I can picture her face as she’s listening to it for the first time.

Blame – Cuban Lynx
Another track from a compilation I still own. The original came out on the GLR subsidiary 720 Degrees. However I first heard it on the mixed disk of Logical Progression Volume 2 by Blame and featuring Conrad and DRS, so that’s the version I’m including in the post.

Omni Trio – Trippin’ on Broken Beats (Original Mix)
Omni Trio – Trippin’ on Broken Beats (Carlito Mix)
Why did I include varying mixes of the same track in my Top 10? Because both are fucking amazing. A lot of folks would say that any remix is inferior to the original, but I’d hold this tune up to prove them wrong.

St. Etienne – The Sea (PFM Remix)
PFM and his fucking remixes are spectacular. St. Etienne are/were classified as an English alternative dance act (thanks Discogs!) that are known, primarily, for their house and downtempo efforts. PFM took their tune, The Sea (which was never released), and crafted an amazing remix that encapsulates everything about the atmospheric drum&bass genre. My only wish is that Youtube captured the depth of the bass in the track.

Seba – Planetary Funk Alert
I’ve mentioned my love of this track before…absolutely brilliant.

Jonny L – 2 of Us
Initially the track was released on the “2 Of Us” EP from XL Recordings in 1996. I bought the vinyl from a dungeon of a record store in Dallas, called Bill’s Records and Tapes sometime in 1997. If you had never been then allow me to describe it…imagine a garage sale and a porn shop had sex and out popped this gigantic mess of classic vinyl and CDs. It was run by an iron-fisted old man that had a tendency to charge whatever the fuck he felt like at any given time.

If I were doing a Top 20 these would help me fill out the list:
Aquarius (aka Photek) – Dolphin Tune
Peshay – Vocal Tune
Doc Scott – Tokyo Dawn
EZ Rollers – Retro (Guardians of D’Alliance Mix)
Hoax – Pipe Dreams
Wax Doctor – Atmospheric Funk

PHOTEK INFLUENCES MIX : [FactMag.com 2011] by Photek

Repetoire’s The Law is promoting his new music blog called Drum Trip, that focuses on “all things hardcore and jungle from 1992 to 1996,” with this biographical mix of Photek tracks.

I’m not going to bother with trying to define Photek or talk about his influence on drum&bass. We’ll just let his tunes speak for him. And if you still don’t get it after hearing this mix then find Form & Function and Ni – Ten – Ichi – Ryu.

The Law – The Biography Of Photek 1993 to 1997 by Repertoire (UK)

Tracklist:
1.) Photek – Third Sequence – Astralwerks
2.) Studio Pressure – Jump Mk II – Cert 18
3.) Goldie – Still Life (Photek Remix) – Razors Edge
4.) Studio Pressure – First Sequence – Photek
5.) The Truper – Vol 1 A – Street Beats
6.) System X – Mind Games (Dub Mix) – Entity
7.) Photek – Consciousness – Metalheadz
8.) Photek – Hidden Camera (Static Mix) – Science
9.) Photek – Ni Ten Ichi Ryu – Science
10.) Studio Pressure – The Water Margin – Photek
11.) Photek – One Nation – Sanctury
12.) Phaze 1 – Natural – Timeless
13.) Aquarius – Drift To The Centre – Looking Good
14.) Code Of Practice – Infiltrate – Cert 18
15.) The Truper – Vol 2 B – Street Beats
16.) The Sentinel – Pulse Of Life – Basement
17.) Therapy? – Loose (Photek Remix) – A&M
18.) EZ Rollers – Rolled Into One (Photek Remix) – Shadow
19.) Everything But The Girl – Single (Photek Remix) – Virgin
20.) Photek – Rings Around Saturn – Photek