Jungle and drum’n’bass fans in South Africa are getting ready to party with one of the most revered DJs on the planet
Greg Bowes
He’s been called ”jungle’s greatest populist and its most underrrated practitioner” by the United Kingdom’s esteemed ”serious” music magazine The Wire, while his remixes for acts as diverse as rappers the Jungle Brothers and rockers Nine Inch Nails rarely fail to get the crowds screaming ”rewind” (a popular cry in jungle clubs when a track finds favour). Aphrodite, aka Gavin King, may not be the real goddess of love, but he consistently delivers joyous and positive dancefloor energy when he mixes up the cream of jungle’s dubplates, and he returns to South Africa this weekend for two hotly tipped hoedowns.
So, why is he back for the third time in as many years?
”I wanted to come back,” he tells me from his London studio. ”It’s not really for the money – if it was I’d be going to Europe or America. The people here have always been really nice – packing me off to see animals and stuff. I’ve got a night in Harare this time.”
Although he’s produced a ton of tunes in a range of styles it’s the more immediate, rollercoasting rhythms of jump-up jungle that have brought him the most attention. His familiar formula – crisp beats, extended drum rolls, deadly basslines and a smattering of hip-hop smarts – is instantly recognisable in a generally faceless genre. But aside from being one of the most revered producers and DJs on the planet (having caused frenzy on floors from Singapore to San Francisco), Aphrodite also finds time to help run two extremely successful record labels – Aphrodite Recordings and Urban Takeover – and works on the multimedia side of his business by personally keeping his website (www.urbantakeover. co.uk) up to date. The hectic schedule has meant that he’s had to turn down some big remix opportunities. ”They’ve stopped chasing me now,” he says. ”I turned down one of the big rappers – Eazy E, I think – and the Beastie Boys. But if you don’t have the time …”
In the interim between his last well- received visit and his return, the quiet Englishman has been getting ideas together for new material. ”I’m working on an album that’ll be out later this year, and I’m working with some vocalists. The style won’t change – I’m not gonna end up doing songs or anything – but I’m looking to move it away from all the obvious samples.”
Jungle or drum’n’bass is nearly a decade old but the style that’s grounded in zippy breakbeats and monstrous basslines is yet to be the major force its exponents had hoped. The last release from it’s most flamboyant personality, Goldie, for instance, was a huge flop and the star seems to have found refuge in Hollywood, appearing in the last James Bond film. Is the form dying? ”Well, if you look at the English press they say that every six months,” says Aphrodite. ”It all depends on what styles are popular and if tracks make it into the charts. Recently there just haven’t been any major crossover tracks. But it’s the same story as with house music – people were saying in 1990 that house was dead and look at where we are today.”
The king of the drum’n’bass beats says that he hasn’t really found much of a difference between the crowds in Cape Town and Johannesburg, ”but they certainly don’t represent a cross-section of the population” (being 90% white and English-speaking). He says, ”I seem to have chilled more in Jo’burg. Every time I’ve been in Cape Town the weather’s been shite.” When I tell him about all the rain we’ve been having of late, he says, ”Oh yeah, it was interfering with the cricket. People here have stopped watching. You whipped our arses again.” Well, this weekend this Brit will certainly be whipping ours.
Aphrodite will thrill crowds at Reality, 248 Jeppe Street, Johannesburg CBD, on February 25 and at District 206, 43 De Villiers Street, District Six, Cape Town, on February 26