Rupert Parkes (born 6 September 1971), known as Photek, is a Los Angeles-based British

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

DJ/

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

, and TV and

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

composer. Photek was born and raised in

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

, England. Photek has contributed music to several film, TV and video game productions, such as ''

Blade A blade is the Sharpness (cutting), sharp, cutting portion of a tool, weapon, or machine, specifically designed to puncture, chop, slice, or scrape surfaces or materials. Blades are typically made from materials that are harder than those they a ...

'' in 1998. He also scored the show '' Gang Related'' with director Allen Hughes. He received three consecutive

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

nominations in the category of Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical for Daft Punk's "End of Line" from the '' Tron: Legacy'' movie soundtrack in 2012, Moby's "Lie Down in Darkness" in 2013 and One Love/People Get Ready" in 2014. Photek composed the TV score for the show '' How to Get Away with Murder''.

Biography

Education

Initially interested in hip hop, Parkes expanded his style with elements of soul and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

. His first instrument was a

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...

, but when a piano arrived in the family home his focus shifted to composition as opposed to performance. By 1992, he had switched from the saxophone to a sequencer. Within the next year he started to perform under the stage name Photek.

Early career 1993–1999

Parkes began his first forays into releasing music in 1993 under a plethora of different names. Some of the early releases include the jungle-styled tracks "Jump" under the name Studio Pressure on Certificate 18, 'Dolphin Tune' under the name Aquarius on LTJ Bukem's Good Looking Records and 'Pulse Of Life' under the name The Sentinel on Basement Records. The first release under the Photek production name came in 1994 with ''Touching Down... Planet Photek'', released on his own Photek label. Photek's breakthrough release in 1995 was the ''Natural Born Killa'' drum'n'bass EP for Goldie's Metalheadz. In 1996, Photek contributed one track on the '' Wipeout 2097''/''Wipeout'' XL soundtracks. Photek's debut album was '' Modus Operandi'' in 1997, through

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...

. In 1997, Virgin Records released Photek's "Ni Ten Ichi Ryu". A year later, Photek released his second album ''Form & Function''. The album comprised four tracks that had previously only been available on limited release vinyl in the early 1990s, plus six remixes and versions by Photek himself as well as other contemporaries Digital, Peshay & Decoder, Doc Scott, and J Majik.

2000–2012

In 2000, Photek released his ''Solaris'' album, turning his attention from drum and bass to Chicago house and

minimal techno Minimal techno is a subgenre of techno music. It is characterized by a stripped-down aesthetic that exploits the use of repetition and understated development. Minimal techno is thought to have been originally developed in the early 1990s by Detro ...

. On the single "Mine to Give", he cooperated with Robert Owens to create a No. 1 ''Billboard'' single. "One Nation" – the dubplate that had been available as a white label record for over a decade, saw an official release on ''Form & Function Vol. 2''. The newer productions on the album showed Photek using a broader sound palette, taking influence from his composition and soundtrack work by including orchestrated passages. There are references to a more rock and industrial sound. After a four-year hiatus from releasing music under the Photek moniker, Parkes produced a series of EPs in 2011. He was invited to contribute to BBC Radio 1's ' Essential Mix' series in October 2012. In the same year, Parkes released the album ''KU:PALM''.

Grammy nominations

Photek's

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

of Daft Punk's "End of Line" for the Disney movie '' Tron: Legacy'' earned him a Grammy nomination for Best Remix in 2012. He received Grammy nominations in the same category for the following 2 years, with remixes for Moby and

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981) was a Jamaican singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, he fused elements of reggae, ska and rocksteady and was renowned for his distinctive voca ...

Recent activities

Now based in Los Angeles, Photek scored the second season of ABC's ''How to Get Away with Murder'' in fall of 2015, and continued recording of the follow-up to ''KU:PALM'' and various movie and computer game scoring projects. More recently in 2023, he composed the Season 5 Music for Call of Duty Modern Warfare II.

Remixes

Photek has remixed many artists in his career such as

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and eccentric public per ...

and Goldie. Additional production work on the Nine Inch Nails album '' With Teeth'' led to his remix of their track, " The Hand That Feeds", which got him

KROQ KROQ-FM (106.7 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Pasadena, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an alternative rock format known as "The World Famous KROQ" (pronounced "kay-rock"). The sta ...

daytime rotation.

Discography

* '' Modus Operandi'' (1997) * '' Form & Function'' (1998) * '' Solaris'' (2000) * '' Form & Function Vol. 2'' (2007) * '' KU:PALM'' (2012)

Awards and nominations

* ASCAP Film & Television Awards 2015 – Original Score for 2014 Top Television Series for '' How to Get Away with Murder'' * BMI Film & TV Awards 2015 – Network Television Music Awards 2015 for ''How to Get Away with Murder'' * 54th Grammy Awards (2012) – nominated for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical for "End of Line" (Photek Remix) by Daft Punk * 55th Grammy Awards (2013) – nominated for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical for "Lie Down in Darkness" (Photek Remix) by Moby * 56th Grammy Awards (2014) – nominated for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical for "One Love/People Get Ready" (Photek Remix) by Bob Marley & The Wailers

References

External links

* *
Photek at iTunes

Photek at Last.fm

Photek interview with The Frame

{{Authority control Living people 1971 births Astralwerks artists English drum and bass musicians English male film score composers English expatriates in the United States English electronic dance music DJs Musicians from Suffolk Musicians from Ipswich English remixers English record producers Virgin Records artists Sanctuary Records artists