Rupert Parkes, better known as Photek, once described jungle in a way that still seems unusually precise.
For him it was not primarily a set of instruments.
It was a method of programming and using sound.
Talking about Modus Operandi, his 1997 debut album, Photek described the music through soundscapes, space and bass rather than through conventional instrumental roles.
That explains why the album can feel so controlled even when the drum programming becomes extraordinarily complicated.
A chopped break is not simply a recording of a drummer anymore.
Individual attacks can be isolated.
A snare can be moved.
Silence can be inserted between fragments that originally touched.
One drummer’s performance becomes a collection of microscopic events from which another rhythm can be constructed.
This is one of the things that makes drum and bass production fascinating to me.
At high tempo the obvious temptation is to add more.
Photek often creates intensity by making the placement of relatively few sounds incredibly precise.
Space matters because speed makes every empty millisecond noticeable.
The computer therefore does not only make the music faster.
It allows rhythm to be examined at a level of detail a live performance could never reproduce exactly.
Programming becomes a form of percussion.
The screen becomes part of the drum kit.
Photek reflects on Modus Operandi, his classic 1997 debut album that changed the face of jungle
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