Hot off his Grammy nomination for the Daft Punk remix on the Tron soundtrack, legendary drum and bass pioneer, PHOTEK, drops his new album KU:PALM on October 23, 2012, his first album in over a decade. After a brief time out, PHOTEK signaled he was back in the studio at the start of 2011 with the Avalanche EP – his first dancefloor-focused release for a number of years. PHOTEK has since gone on to deliver the Aviator EP, a much-hyped DJ-Kicks release for !K7 and now… Now is the time for the artist’s full album. Now is the time for KU:PALM.
"As the album started to take shape it felt like it was sitting halfway between Modus Operandi and Solaris – which I felt was a good place to be. Now it’s finished, it might well be my favourite album to date.”With ‘Modus Operandi’ and ‘Solaris’ both regarded as seminal releases of their time – the word ‘classic’ is is no over-statement – this is the message from a producer who has been there and done it all, and is feeling more inspired than ever.
Over the past 20-years Photek, has been on a sonic-journey that has seen him explore all corners of electronic music. Often surprising, always original, it was in 1995 that he released his first Photek release – the still-amazing ‘Natural Born Killa’ EP for Goldie’s Metalheadz. It was a release that transcended the sound of drum’n’bass at the time and his deeper, more intricate take on D’n’B/Jungle went on to form a whole new sub-genre for the scene. Fast-forward to 2012 and he’s just as well-known for his ambient works, cinematic scores from Pirates of the Caribean and The Italian Job, and love of house music. It’s this open-minded approach to sound that has revived so much of his passion for the dancefloor.
Photek has drawn inspiration from both the old and new on KU:PALM, delivering an album that is defined by new ideas and superior sonics – not genre classification. He explains, "This album had to be the right listening experience for the headphone listeners as much as on a club soundsystem.”
Varying in tempos and ranging in influence, recent tracks such as ‘Aviator’, ‘Sleepwalking’ and ‘This Love’ (with vocals by Ray La Montagne) all feature, sitting alongside a variety of brand new material.
- Digital & CD available at www.photek.fm now and in all other download stores on October 30.
- Pre-order on iTunes
