by Sean CooperTPowers Mark Royal first came to prominence working with hardcore techno group Bass Selective, whose 1991 hit Blow Out Part II was an influential proto-jungle track. Hes since risen to new acclaim as a solo artist with TPowers experimental blend of lush ambience and often over-the-top rhythmic complexity. His 12-inch Horny Mutant Jazz, as well as the follow-up full-length The Self-Evident Truth of an Intuitive Mind (both for the Sound of the Underground label) are widely considered early masterpieces of ambient-jungle, and did much conceptual trailblazing where jungles absorption of jazz and other more measured, relaxed compositional elements are concerned. Although subsequent work has strayed from jungles rhythmic syncopation into more traditional techno and even entirely beatless ambient, drumnbass remains the core element of much of TPowers music. Royals roots are, not surprisingly, in hip-hop, in which he immersed himself during its U.K. heyday in the early to mid-80s. Burning out on hip-hop early, Royals affection for breaks and hard-hitting rhythms followed him into his explorations of the music of David Sylvian, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Pat Metheny, and those two components — complex breaks and a keen sense of melody — inform much of his solo work to the present day.