Photek – Ni - Ten - Ichi - Ryu

I love The Fifth Column, it's a striking piece of drum programming and is about as minimal as you get within DnB.
It kind of reminds me of jazz drummer Charles Moffett's style, somewhat skittery and the tambourines have been replaced by those intermittent gongs (or as a previous reviewer marvelously noted: some idiot playing a saucepanpan every few bars - lol).

Or 'Nine Itchy Ryvitas' as the NME once memorably called it!

Thank god this was written. Thank god not all jungle sounds like this.

Complex, sophisticated, cutting-edge & hugely listenable. It's a record that keeps Has deconstructed not just the beats and the rhythms, but one's perception of Drum & Bass. Photek's best work in my opinion.
A must-own record for any discerning D&B enthusiast.

'Ni-Ten-Ichi-Ryu' is certainly the KILLA track to hear on this 12"... In fact, for me, it represented the pinnacle of Photek's (a.k.a. Rupert Parks') programming abilities, showing why his cutting edge sound continually broke through barriers of what Drum & Bass could be time and again. No one came close to making beats like these... Why, we may never know. Perhaps no one was as daring as Parks was... Maybe it was for fear of never quite getting it as far-out sounding as Parks had, and thereby being shredded to pieces by his ferocious creations, most of which (I remember reading somewhere) were fuelled by a habit of extended waking hours (36 hours awake and then 12 hours of sleep). Who else could get near these razor-sharp arrangements? Not many. Certainly the style of his creations cut to the heart of Drum & Bass like nothing else had before.

I first remember hearing this track down at TEMPO... When it came on, we totally stood in awe. When Grooverider had dropped it, it had sliced through the club like a Ronin might slice through his enemy... Our minds cleaved apart as though a Japanese folded steel blade had passed through us. Rewind once... Rewind twice... Rewind a third time... We went wild for it! All those usual fresh rhythmic patterns that were flooding in from new blood like John B and other young producers, were cut down to size when set against the complexity of this Akira Kurosawa tinged vision that instilled a type of tension in one that you'd expect only to get at an Iaido match.

TEMPO, which was - at the time - being held in the Velvet Rooms on Tottenham Court Road, sort of continued on from where SPEED left off. However, despite being put together by Grooverider and Fabio, it never really took off like SPEED did. Still, there were moments down there that saw some great evolutions in the form i.e. tracks like Matrix's "Mute" and "Junk", along with Optical's "Grey Odyssey", all of which rumbled the dance floor with satisfaction... However, the push to really expand and go beyond what was being done in Drum & Bass had already happened. To go beyond this would be to leave Drum & Bass behind altogether. Saying that, when Grooverider spun this track down there, you felt as though you were actually back at SPEED, at the cutting edge of Drum & Bass once again... Hearing things that you never imagined were possible. For me, this track almost left Drum & Bass behind. It was this daring of Photek's that, when put in context of all the other tunes, shows how far beyond anything Drum & Bass it actually went.

Released on a Virgin sub-label, Science, (which I believe Photek setup after Virgin signed him) most of the tracks released on this imprint never really amounted to much. But perhaps that's what happens when you create something as great as this.

Certainly this track has to be heard to be believed... But it has to be kept in context too... I've played it to people who never really got into Drum & Bass and many just didn't get it. If you can follow most of the music that was coming out between 1995 and 1997, you'll see exactly why this set the standard.

Definitely a 5/5!

Probably one of Photek's best work ever made on Virgin's sublabel Science (set up to release dnb productions from Photek and Source Direct). The track Ni Ten Ishi Ryu; originated by Japanese Ishi Yama Ryu who crafted this special swords technique for more then fifteen years to develope the unique 'Cut back Cut' Two Swords Technique) this can be heard in Rupert Parkes highly original release with it's most intricate complex beat programming and seductive hypnotic subbass lines. A true timeless masterpiece of (artcore) work, this classic was recently remixed by Norwegian dnb producer Teebee.

Around 1997, the time this record came out, lots of guff was being talked about “intelligent” drum ‘n’ bass, of which this record is a prime example. I don’t honestly know whether this record is better than “Super Sharp Shooter” but it’s totally different to nearly every d’n’b record that has been made before or since.

The A side combines amazing crispy breaks, a sinister bassline that sounds like it was played on a giant radiator, and really breathtaking drum programming, together with some eerie samples of wind and swordfights from a Japanese film. The end result would clear a dance floor in about 2 seconds but stands out as a really brilliant and atmospheric piece of music that just draws you in. Plus you can play it to your drummer friends and watch them weep like children. The B-side is more minimal and features some idiot hitting a saucepan every few bars.

ni ten ichi ryu is a very clever drum n bass tune which focuses almost totally on the rhythm. the bass line is half way between being melodic in it's own right, and being an additional percussion sound.
together with short vocal samples and sword clashing sound effects, it becomes like a musical diagram of a japanese martial arts form.

fifth column - another intelligent beat-scape of a tune with a shakuhachi flute sample in the middle reminiscent of japanese "noh" theatre.

this is what drum'n'bass should be about!

excellent, changing, complex rhytms with simple but effective bass line.

very strong work, and proves how vital d'n'b can be.