10 songs to know Aphrodite, jump up innovator and supreme rabble rouser
Plus Anna Butterss, gyrofield, Coffintexts and more
In the mid 90s, I was friends with a group of amiable ravers who liked to go to happy hardcore and acid techno nights. They were lovely people but we didn’t share a great deal in musical tastes, which made finding records to listen to a bit tricky. Until, that is, we discovered Bad Ass, a 1996 single from Micky Finn and Aphrodite on their own Urban Takeover label, that managed to hit the sweet spot between their demands for quivering rave lunacy and my own penchant for more melodic, funky and even considered sounds.
Micky Finn, a hardcore / rave / jungle producer and DJ from South London, has his own legend that is well worth exploring. (Check out his blazing 1991 single She’s Breaking Up as Bitin’ Back for evidence of his funked-up rave madness.)
But today I want to concentrate on Aphrodite, aka Gavin King, a supreme rabble rouser, bass technician, hip hop crossover king and jump-up innovator, who perfected the balance between the filthiest bass lines, the brightest hooks, the raviest sounds and just a spoonful of silliness.
King was born in Wales and moved to London as a child. After studying computer science, he hooked up with Claudio Giussani in Urban Shakedown, producing a breakbeat hardcore classic at first time of asking in 1991’s Some Justice, made in collaboration with Micky Finn (who is going to be showing up A LOT here.)
In many ways, Some Justice set out the Aphrodite stable from the start: the name suggests something hard and strident but the song itself combines the tough - a stinging 303 line and sickening bass - with a super-sweet vocal, borrowed from Ce Ce Rogers’ Someday, that froths at the beaming mouth with delight. Some Justice would eventually make 23 in the UK charts in June 1992 and remains a staple of old-skool nights to this day. (The heavily hip-hop indebted B side, Ruff Justice, is also a killer.)
Incidentally, the Urban Shakedown duo would also appear on the cover of Amiga Format magazine in 1992, having used two Amiga computers to make Some Justice. Which is a lovely nerdish touch, isn’t it?
2) Urban Shakedown - Summer Break (1992)
Among the many reissues of Some Justice - including a German release on Pete Waterman’s PWL International label - appeared Summer Break. It’s an intriguing track, largely because it seems so downright nervous and glitchy, a foreshadowing of the kind of ultra cut up, obtuse drum programming that the likes of Squarepusher would eventually bring to jungle beats. On Blog to the Old Skool, Pete compares the song’s “choppy beats” to The Moonwalk EP, an anonymous white label from 1992 that was eventually revealed to be the work of Urban Shakedown.
And, yes, I know many actual jungle / drum & bass producers would do the same technical drum editing. But there is something in the awkwardness of Summer Break, the way that beats are constantly being interrupted with a willingness to experiment beyond the dance floor, that reminds me of what Squarepusher, Aphex and all would do half a decade later.
3) Aladdin - Mash Up Yer Know (1995)
Urban Shakedown continued for a few years after Some Justice, notable releasing Bass Shake in 1993 and Burning Passion in 1993. Meanwhile, Aphrodite made his solo debut in 1992 with Raw Motion / Dub Motion on his own Aphrodite Recordings. In 1994 he then debuted his Aladdin alias on the label of the same name, a nom de plume that I think was intended to separate his jungle productions from the hardcore associations of Aphrodite.
I may well be wrong about this separation but Aphrodite did release an Aladdin Classic Jungle EP in 2022, collecting four Aladdin productions from 1995, of which Mash Up Yer Know was the lead. As well it should be: it is an utter classic of reggae influences, soul vocal, airy chords and what would come to be one of Aphrodite’s trademarks - a bass line that is both dirty and utterly irresistible, a real milkman whistler of a melody. The track’s sophistication may also come as a shock to those who only really know Aphrodite’s jump up jewels.
4) Micky Finn and Aphrodite - Bad Ass (1996)
This is where I came in. And, amazingly for someone with my memory, I feel like I can still remember the first time I heard Bad Ass on my friend’s decks.
One of the most remarkable things about Bad Ass, listening back now, is how cheap it sounds. The drums are little more than a basic two-step clank, with the snare drum ratcheted to impossible levels of ear-damaging sharpness; the oh-so-80s orchestral synth hits sound incredibly plastic; and the dialogue, sampled from 1992 American crime-drama film South Central, feels kind of inappropriate for two British producers.
But none of this matters because as soon as the duo’s incredible quiver bass line comes in, wobbling around like legs on a high-dive board, all is forgiven. It is the kind of bass line that drips with the promise of debauchery and inappropriate behaviour, which seems to run up and down your body with glee as if pulling you to the dance floor, simultaneously heavy in its impact and featherweight in its sound.
And Micky Finn and Aphrodite knew it - they knew when to leave the bass line alone to work its magic and when to subtly tweak it for maximum effect, such as the enormous switch up on three minutes, when the bass starts to plunge downward in an inexorable spiral, like a bird after its prey.
The bass line makes Bad Ass. But it’s not the only thing in the song. Micky Finn and Aphrodite are excellent arrangers, brilliantly manipulating a helicopter sample, their synth stabs and the cut-up vocal sample into a drop that is both breath-takingly exciting and very cleverly drawn out.
5) Micky Finn and Aphrodite - Drop Top Caddy (1996)
Aphrodite is by no means averse to repeating himself; and Drop Top Caddy, on the B side of Bad Ass, is drawn from the same well of hip hop influences, Americana and hummably perfect bass lines. But the duo pull it off with an ear for a hook that makes me think of the best electronic pop music, like the Fatboy Slims of jump up. (The Fatboy Slim link will, as you will see later, be very relevant.)
Drop Top Caddy, with its fake (I think) American accents and ludicrous tale of a car whose bass is just too strong to be allowed to live, should be far too cheesy for public consumption. And yet Micky Finn and Aphrodite temper this with funk guitar, a half-time beat that reminds me of early Chemical Brothers, thoughtful sax and - naturally - a bass line so tight you could keep your money in it. It is a ludicrous song - but somehow all the better for it. (Oh and Americans, it has lots of references to rolling, which I know you all enjoy.)
6) Natural Born Chillers - Rock The Funky Beat (Urban Takeover Remix) (1997)
I’ve always thought Natural Born Chillers were Micky Finn and Aphrodite themselves. But no. Natural Born Chillers were signed to Finn and Aphrodite’s Urban Takeover label and Urban Takeover are listed as executive producers on the record, but the group actually consisted of Arif Salih and Lee Parker, two producers who didn’t do a great deal beyond this 1996 single.
Whatever the case, Rock The Funky Beat stands as an excellent example of how big the Urban Takeover jump up sound was becoming in the mid 90s and also how the music industry worked back then. Rock The Funky Beat, with its honkingly huge Public Enemy sample and slinky bass line, was a big song with the rave-ier and less moody drum & bass crowd; it was also huge among Big Beat audiences, with the song being an anthem at the Big Beat Boutique club in Brighton where Fatboy Slim was resident.
The song was first released on Urban Takeover in 1996, then picked up by major label EastWest’s Dance division the following year. They gave it a fashionable speed garage remix from 187 Lockdown, which is listenable enough if a little awkward, and commissioned Aphrodite and Micky Finn to do a remix. If the original wasn’t exactly subtle, Finn and Aphrodite’s Urban Takeover Remix is positively neanderthal in its approach - but, you know, in a good way - introduced a vast Led Zeppelin-ish half-speed beat and a searing, metallic bass line. Is it cheesy? Hell yes. Is it devastating and lots of fun. Also.
The song duly cantered to 30 in the UK charts in November 1997 and Fatboy Slim would take heavy inspiration from it for his own 1998 single The Rockafeller Skank, for which he also commissioned an Urban Takeover remix from Urban Takeover associate Mulder. (Which, to my mind, goes way over the border into unredeemable cheese but each to their own.)
7) Jungle Brothers - Jungle Brother (Urban Takeover Mix) (1997)
Aphrodite and Micky Finn’s love of hip hop and their commercial nose hit their peak with their remix of Jungle Brothers’ Jungle Brother, which rampaged to 18 in the UK charts in 1997. This wasn’t the duo’s only hip hop remix of the time: they also took on Luniz’ I Got 5 On It and Blackstreet’s No Diggity. (And let’s never forget their take on Alabama 3’s Woke Up This Morning for anyone who has ever wanted to hear The Sopranos’ theme rendered in dayglo jump up.)
In each case the Urban Takeover remix formula is pretty simple: start with the original song tempo, gradually threaten to break out a florid double-time beat then eventually do so, preferably after a vast breakdown and accompanied by their silliest, hookiest bass line. But, damn it, the formula works, underlining the fundamental similarities between hip hop and jungle, despite their differences in tempo and attitude towards glow sticks. (As I have previously written: I love a jungle / hip hop crossover.)
Their remix of Jungle Brother is the best of all the Urban Takeover remakes, however, in that it feels inevitable when it all kicks off, as if the Jungle Brothers (a rap act who have vital history with dance music) really should have known that there was this jump up jungle classic lurking beneath their very decent original song. (It’s in the name, dudes!) The bass line, when it comes in, is almost irresponsibly perky, like a young puppy bouncing up around the Jungle Brothers’ feet.
(If you like this kind of hip hop jump up, Aphrodite’s Urban Jungle mix from 1999 is highly recommended. Not to be confused with his 2003 Urban Junglist mix, which is also great.)
8) Aphrodite - Dub Moods (1997)
Dub Moods, released in 1997 on the Moods EP courtesy of Aphrodite’s own Aphrodite Recordings, is all about the bass line, which effectively combines two bass lines - one classical and looming, one springy and ridiculous - in one incredibly engaging whole, lifting the song way above its origins in a rather over-used Usual Suspects sample and space-y library music.
9) Aphrodite - King of the Beats (1999)
It’s ironic that one of Aphrodite’s best known songs is called King of the Beats, when the producer was never really known for his drums. They weren’t bad by any means but they verged more on the effective and ruthless, rather than on Photek-style sorcery.
What King of the Beats does do, however, is one of my favourite things in all drum & bass: it starts with a half speed hip hop beat, all spluttering scratching and heavy-rock hits, like an 80s Rick Rubin production, before slowly unfurling its rhythmic limbs into a bolting 177 BPM jungle tear out, the transition as unstoppably alluring as it is obvious. This transition made, Aphrodite adds one of his best bass lines, a kind of singalong melodic rumble, and lets the song get on with delighting dance floors.
10) Aphrodite - Stalker (1999)
After the chart success of Urban Takeover’s Jungle Brother remix, it was perhaps inevitable that the majors would come sniffing around, with Aphrodite signing to V2 in the late 90s. He eventually recorded two albums for the label, 1999’s Aphrodite and 2002’s Aftershock, neither of which graced the chart.
And yet all of the qualities that had, at more than one time, made Aphrodite chart-worthy are out in force on his 19999 album, which includes three of his best-known songs: King of the Beats, Woman That Rolls and my favourite of them all, Stalker. The latter’s name suggests darkness; but there is a pop luminosity to the song, with its funk guitar samples and flute, while the bass line is probably second only to Bad Ass in the Aphrodite catalogue. It is so well constructed that you can almost hear it coming apart at the seams to reveal its constituent parts, like the dusty tail of a comet that blazes too close to the earth.
Stalker also plays a role in Human Traffic, still one of the best films about clubbing, soundtracking the scene where Koop showcases a new jungle tune “that could turn Hare Krishna into a bad boy” to two punters in his record shop. The perfect song for the perfect scene.
PS I know this only takes us up to 1999. If you have any tips for best Aphrodite from 2000 onwards, please do get in touch.
PPS I have a Spotify playlist of the best of Aphrodite. But, frankly, loads of the songs are missing from Spotify. Apple Music has lots more. So I did a playlist there.
Some listening
Anna Butterss is a composer and bass player of choice for everyone from SML to Phoebe Bridgers, a CV that ensures, rather brilliantly, few people will have a clue what their solo music sounds like. To be honest, even after listening to Butterss’ (lots of love for the extra “s” by the way) new album Might Vertebrate several times I still don’t think I could pin it down to any genre of music or easy description, leaping, as it does, from jazz to funk to IDM to lounge, with complex bass entanglements and polyrhythms to the fore. Dance Steve, with guitarist Jeff Parker, is all that and a vague sense of 80s soundtracks, that still weighs in under five minutes. It would be confounding, if it wasn’t so fun.
gyrofield’s recent EP for XL was a wonderful piece of work and they have another fantastic record on the release slate, of which I can’t say anything yet. In the interim, we have Dirac Rhythm, released as part of a new compilation from Critical Music, in which a bizarre electro / drum & bass beat meets a looming bass line, the eccentricity of the production undercutting the ferocity of the bass, leaving it to wander around the mix like the ghost of Christmas past.
There’s something really satisfying in a dance-floor track well done, which is precisely what Todo Mi Cuerpo from Miami’s Coffintexts is. The songs sits somewhere between alarming and comforting, like a night just starting to spin out of control, but immaculately packed together in agreeably tight layers of percussion, effects voice and sub bass. It’s like a very tight hug, then, with good intentions, albeit one that doesn’t entirely bring comfort.
Bat For Lashes - Home (Special Request remix)
I’ve gone on record bemoaning the lack of great remixes lately but Special Request / Paul Woolford is doing his utmost to keep his end of the deal. His take on Bat For Lashes’ Home is a great wobbling bass line monster, with a clipped, four four beat, which swings like a dog in a hammock, and rousing Italo house chords. Best of all, he makes Bat sound like a real dance-floor diva, much as Armand van Helden did with Tori Amos all the years ago.
Things I’ve done
Line Noise - With Uffie and Princess Superstar
This head-to-head between Uffie and Princess Superstar is one of the most funny interviews I have done in a long while. There us a real chemistry between them that made me assume they had known each other for a long while, even though they had only just met. And I can only imagine the riot that their back-to-back DJ set would have been. (And I had to imagine it because I had to be up early the next day.) We talked about everything from Saltburn to ska, MySpace to Charli XCX, in an interview that was part of Nitsa's 30th anniversary celebrations.
The playlists
If you have got this far down in the email than a) I salute you and b) I hope you might have some interest in the same music as me, In which case, I bring you my playlists. There are two: The newest and the bestest, with all the best new music of the last three years; and the Newest and the Bestest 2024, which is a variation on the above that you can probably work out. You get all the songs here. And you even get some more. Also, if you’ve read this far down, please be aware that writing this bit about the playlists is by far the thing I like least about doing this newsletter, so you might at least be good enough to give them a follow.
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