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In Greek mythology,
Aphrodite was the goddess of love and beauty. It is an incarnation
that reigned supreme, a powerful symbol of passion and celebration.
But in the world of drum & bass, Aphrodite is king of the beats.
As that incarnation, Aphrodite, aka Gavin King, is a dance music
deity with loyal, loving constituents worldwide. After rocking floors
in the UK, Aphrodite now unleashes his sonic narcotic on US soil
with his debut full-length album, a self-titled collection of kinetic
tunes that is the christening release in a new partnership between
his Aphrodite Recordings and V2/Gee Street Records.
Drum & bass developed out of a confluence of different musical
threads: booming Jamaican sound systems, funky hip-hop breakbeats,
resonating reggae dub rhythms, mesmerizing house and techno grooves,
et al. Aphrodite is a purveyor of "jump-up" drum &
bass, an adrenaline-laced style of dance music heavy on the beats,
light on the darkness, and big on fun. Aphrodite is a pioneer and
undisputed leader of the sub-genre, along with other UK mates like
Mickey Finn and Ganja Kru, and he acts as ambassador for the style
at DJ gigs worldwide.
Indeed, other drum & bass DJs may focus on grand, shadowy opuses, haunting cinematic scores, or avant-garde arrangements, but Aphrodite's mission is to make people dance. He eschews the I'm-more-serious-than-you ethic that weighs down most of the scene. "If I'm DJing to a crowd that are going wild, I'm having fun, too," he says. "The last thing I'm going to play is some shite dark tune with a pathetic 'Let's do something interesting with these drum & bass patterns' beat." Well said.
Aphrodite - or Gavin - began his tour of duty during England's second Summer of Love in 1988, a glorious time for music in the country and during the peak of the revolutionary Acid House movement. Him and a friend, Adam Dyerson, ran a club they named Aphrodite because the "Goddess Of Love" concept fit the mood of the summer. Both King and his DJ partner were winning over audiences with their sets and began to get booked all over England as "the Aphrodite DJs." Eventually, the moniker just stuck with Gavin and he became Aphrodite. Like most producers, Aphrodite's acumen behind the boards developed from these DJs days; it's no surprise, then, that the music he makes has an inherent knowledge of what does well on a dance floor.
Aphrodite runs two record labels. Aphrodite Recordings was created in 1994 and is home to some of his most famous singles - under his own name, as Amazon II collaboration with producer Tony B), and as Aladdin (a collaboration with Mark QED). The second label, Urban Takeover, formed in 1996, is a joint venture with Mickey Finn. Together in 1992, as the group Urban Shakedown, Aphrodite and Finn crafted one of the essential tunes in UK dance music history, "Some Justice." It is cited by many as one of the progenitors to the creation of drum & bass and, because of that, both are considered along with Goldie, LTJ Bukem, and Grooverider, as founding fathers of the genre.
In the US, Aphrodite made an indelible impression with a pair of seminal dubplate remixes: Blackstreet's "No Diggety" and A Tribe Called Quest's "1nce Again." Both are classic dancefloor staples that DJs know will automatically get a crowd going. He has since made equally energetic hip-hop reworkings for groups like the Jungle Brothers and the Luniz. "I love the music they make," Aphrodite says of hip-hop artists, "and I have ever since the electro days." He cites early electro-hip-hop artists like Planet Patrol, Captain Rock and Nuecleus as early influences.
Aphrodite's self-titled US debut is a collection of new tunes and his well-known essentials, and builds on the 12" salvos he's already unleashed on these shores. Jump-up anthems like "King Of The Beats," "Woman That Rolls," and "Style From The Darkside" will be familiar to anyone who's journeyed to this country's crucial clubs. Aphrodite's hip-hop influence can be heard in his beats; sounds and snippets of everything from Redman to the Pharcyde to the 45 King weave in and out of his aural concoctions. But for all the energy that his music carries, that's not to say Aphrodite can't make beautiful tunes. "B.M. Funkster" and "Summer Breeze," a reworking of the Seals & Croft '70s pop classic, are both enchantingly melodic (the former a morning-after party classic).
A footnote: Aphrodite's web site for both Aphrodite Recordings and Urban Takeover is just as amazing as his production skills behind the decks and boards. It is a state-of-the-art, multimedia creation that flexes Aphrodite's computer skills. It can be accessed at (www.urbantakeover.co.uk). Which makes you wonder, when you consider the whole package - the music, the technical skills behind the boards and computer, the sheer jump-up energy of his beats- it's enough to make you think that Aphrodite, such a godly moniker, is more than appropriate.
