Photek - Solaris

I really like this album, it stands apart from Parkes' earlier works and it's really interesting to hear what he does with more stripped back musical forms, and not much in the way of his usual chopped up fare. It really hits me in that place I discovered within myself when I travelled to the Society Islands. The vocals really hit me there too. Must admit I'm not House music fan... maybe that's why I like the "House" tracks on this album so much.

emerging at the other side of the black hole mustn't be an easy experience, and the proof is that with "Solaris" we arrive at a much more cold, mechanical universe. Where "Modus Operandi" evocated the coldness of a travel through the voids of cosmos and black holes, this album, even with its more soul/house oriented numbers, goes even deeper presenting a cold world, far away from the void and immensity of space. which maybe explains why it seems so distant even when it's aiming to the dance floor. the reference to Stanislav Lem and his portrait of the cultural clash between the old and the new (wether they're separated from atime and/or space) seems very accurate to me. i still haven't decided if i like "Solaris" better than "Modus Operanmdi", but be aware that richard parks, contrary to his fans desires, keeps his production work in motion and looking forward. and that can't be bad, right?

this is a unique masterpiece, absolutely stunning tribute - if considered as one - to the work of stanislav lem. probably the best music illustration to his novels i've ever heard.

of course this is a very subjective assumption (to consider this album as a tribute), as the real intentions of rupert parkes are beyond my knowledge, however - deep, dark scientific feeling of "solaris" makes it one of the most interesting propositions in its breed. check "terminus" for instance - run it as an audio background for lecture of "terminus" novel, a disturbing experience, believe it or not.

yesterday s. lem has passed away. if i was asked to prepare a tribute album, i wouldn't hesitate to choose photek's productions from "solaris".

not only because of the album title itself.

If there is a track to remember on this versatile album, no doubt it is "Infinity".
Listening to it with headphones is a snare...
Its power catches you and it's impossible to escape from the haunting and dramatic atmosphere till the end while you suddenly find yourself jumping like a loony...
Nearly six years later, my head still shakes on this...

Faultless d'n'b production hitting your body with punch bass and hard drums, twisting your soul with short loop of obsessive female voice, up and down arpeggio of hypnotic celestial tone, majestic yet freezing sustained chord in the low register and smashing fx noises.
A monster of a track, overtaking PHOTEK's greatest masterpieces.

Lethal.

The problem I have with this album isnt the fact that its got more than drum & bass on it. I like downtempo and house music too. The thing is that the various styles of music here (apart from the d&b tracks) are all fairly crap. 'Mine To Give' is a boring house track and 'Can't Come Down' isnt great either. A lot of the tracks are short and pointless. Overall its quite a disappointing album

In fact, I can understand why Photek fans dislike this album - they were expecting more drum & bass, more 'classic' Photek, so to speak, but they didn't get what they wanted.
"Solaris" is the proof, that Photek is much more than just a drum & bass producer. It proves that he's truly talented. His house works blow my socks off every time I hear them. Not to mention the amazing "Terminus" and "Junk" - genius tracks.
Personally, I think "Solaris" is Photek's best album to date. It's more than just a bunch of songs on 1 CD - it's really an ALBUM. It flows nicely and all the songs are 'connected' together. Truly fantastic, from the beginning until the end.

A quite unique album, different from what I first heard of Photek (during his The Seven Samurai/Ni Ten Ichi Ryu stage).
When I used to think of Photek, the first thing that came to my mind was "mysterious, aggressive japanese-flavored drum 'n' bass" thus I found Solaris a bit disappointing.
True, you gotta have an open mind to fully appreciate this album, however there are a few outstanding tracks like Halogen which, in my opinion, are well worth a listen.

I thought this album was stunning. Really. To avoid this ridiculous drum 'n' bass feud, I thought it was a masterpiece from beginning to end. "Terminus" is totally unique, those huge dubbed-out beats are some real heavy shit, and the breaks over the top with the bleepy line really scramble your brain. And then you have the planes flying overhead and all manner of stange noises going on. And that's just the first track. You really need an open mind to appreciate fully. He's definitely done things here that have never been done before, and has added new perspectives on more common sounds. And "Infinity", the one piece of drum 'n' bass on the album, is a right dirty roller. I love me drum 'n' bass, but i'd much rather hear this type of electronic limit-pushing than Rupert's trademark deep darkness. And he's still knocking out the d&b as Special Forces, so give the man a break.

Don't know why Photek leaves his DnB stuff. there are 2 tracks that sound like Richard H.Kirk at a strong industrial level, and a lot of house tracks with a soul feeling (singer Owens is overdoing his thing), and finally ends up in slowly beating triphop. old Photek-fans might be disapointed, but when you look without the predecessors on it, there's a good album that follows a virtual line from noise to calmness, from raw energy to powerless unconsciousness, and this seems interesting to me.

Like everyone keeps saying - this album is nothing compared to 'Modus Operandi' or 'Form & Function'. The house tracks on this are totally new territory for Photek and he really isnt good at it, before i really got into drum n bass i used to listen to a bit of house, but even then i would have though his house tracks were shit!! After saying that, some of these tracks shouldnt sound to different to diehard Photek fans - if u listen to some of his remixes then alot of the downtempo tracks will be familiar.