Photek – Solaris

Overall I find this album to be pretty impressive, and I'm glad to see so many positive comments below. So much has been said already about it that I won't retread, other than to say that I put off listening to it for years because of all the controversy -- it just turned me off. It really is a unique album, though, and to me should be seen as a stand-alone effort, rather than a follow-up to his d'n'b output as Photek. It could have been released under a different alias, for that matter, and I bet it wouldn't have garnered the same backlash. It's a very well produced atmospheric slice of electronica with nods to all ends of the spectrum, and is well worth owning. I'm glad I finally caught up to it!

Photek shocked almost everyone with his second album, SOLARIS, by moving away from this drum & bass work and into house territory. The paranoia that infused his earlier work still remains, however, as one can hear from the deep bass hits of "Terminus" or the herky-jerky acid of "Junk." But "Glamourama" gets us into the house in a big way, with a sensuous Italian-language spoken word, and a deepness that swirls around a dark core. "Mine to Give" features the inimitable Robert Owens in a more poppy track ("Can't Come Down" is also poppy, but offers some breaks in the place of a 4/4). But fear not drum & bassheads, "Infinity" gets back to the blistering breaks for a spell before the title track returns to deep, icy house, certainly suited for Tarkovsky's film. "Halogen" and "Lost Blue Heaven" opt for a slower rhythms, resonating and filling the space with sound. A dark and fascinating journey.

Not really what I would thought I would hear from Photek. This release is more or less towards the Housey side, lacking the drum n bass flavor that he has been known for. It's an okay release, but I have heard better.