Aphrodite - A Break In Reality (POsted on Behalf of Dustek)

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Somebody believes that they have seen the future.

They may be right, they may be wrong.

The future may be bright, it may be dim.

But when Gavin King, aka Aphrodite, aka Alladin, one of the very first jungle djs/producers decides to release his album in the US before he does so in the UK, it does mean something.

Aphrodite was once the unchallenged king of jump-up. Anybody who has seen Human Traffic will be hard put to forget the record store sequence with 'Stalker' and there are plenty of forum haters out there dropping the clownbomb who only got into dnb after seeing the jungle guy getting jungle. Ravers who jumped to 'Bad Ass' when dnb was so fresh and so clean will never forget the wobbling vibes. His tracks may be formulaic wobble but they are formulaic wobble parfait.

Aphrodite's new album makes it clear that he believes that the future of his dnb is in the USA. His new album is dnb as made in the USA.

'A Break In Reality' is pure predictable mainstream wobble dnb in production terms while somehow being different in style. You won't find anything new beats/effects/arrangements but its vibe is definitely transatlantic.

Onto a selection of tracks:

Jungle Intro - Ouch, Aphrodite doesn't have to rip off Pendulum's 'Masochist'. The similarity is painful. Gavin!

Criss Cross - A fine beat and synth guitar, one of the best tracks on this album.

Holding On - The bass line makes up for the vocal deficiencies.

The Valley - My feeling's are mixed on this track. It could be the best track on this cd or it may be the most under-achieving one. It is obvious that this track is attempting to repeat the vibes of 'Ganja Man' and to some degree it does so. The synth line is pretty massive combined with the guitar synth but the bass line is somewhat lacking.

Pound for Pound - As 'Ganja Man' is followed by 'Off Limits', so 'The Valley' is followed by 'Pound by Pound'. I found Fenetik's vocals compelling, making me think of a boxer with a broken nose after a big fight. Quality but not something I'm in love with.

Return to Jedda - Wobble wobble. Gavin, you can do better even with a wobble.

You know I Like That - I'm seeing Usher cartwheeling over a beach to this. This is dnb as it would have appeared in L.A. You can't deny that is dnb but at the same time it is totally alien to the UK vibe. Is this the future of dnb?

That's The Way - Rnb in the dnb style. Perhaps that how the majority of the album could be described, simple, clean and easy listening dnb with rnb sensibilities.

As you can read from my track reviews, this is definitely not a fantastic dnb album and will not enter a list of classics. It might not even survive a summer's rotation in my car, unlike Aftershock which I regularly cane every May.

This album might however expand the US dnb scene and that can only be a good thing.

The term hipstep has appeared to describe US dnb, I hate the term as ignoring dnb's hiphop origins, but if the new US sound is hipstep, then Aphrodite's created rnbstep.
 
Check the mix threads.

Also, this album is nowhere as good as Aftershock but if you liked Aftershock, get it anyway even though its no Malice In Wonderland or Tough Guys Can't Dance (best releases last year IMO).
 
The United States is the future of drum and bass?? I went and heard Generation Dub and Taxman in New York City a couple weeks ago, and there was like 10 people there...
 
Just want to let you all know - Jungle and other types of DnB have been alive and well in the US for well over 10 years now.

The Chicago jungle scene was one of the early areas of influence, with the breakthroughs of DJs 3-d, Snuggles, Danny tha Wildchild, and many more.

I miss the late 90's jungle scene from there, to be honest. Most of the DJs and performers I came up loving have since retired...

EDIT: I just forgot to mention another big name that came out of there - Phantom 45. His shows were always kickin...
 
yeah man, newbie over here ;) always loved aphrodite from back in the day up until now, true I see a lot of people nowadays takin the piss outta "clownstep" - what an insult to the roots of DnB man, pisses me off! lol we should respect where the music came from and embrace it! :D

haven't heard the new album yet, will be sure to get a copy (when it eventually gets released in the UK!)

as for US dnb, im not familiar with the scene over there beein a uk bod but the further the music spreads the better! :who_wants

ez
 
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