Monkey Mafia Biography
Monkey Mafia's brand of big-beat "Brit-hop-amyl-house" is similar in respects to that of the Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim, and artists associated with the Skint and Wall of Sound labels. The production arm of Essex-born DJ Jon Carter's many club-related activities, the project began in 1995, following a string of tracks for Wall of Sound under the name Artery and coinciding with his residency at Heavenly's influential anything-goes weekly, the Sunday Social. Carter's musical past actually reaches quite a bit farther back than London's post-acid house big-beat scene; he was the member of a number of pub-rock and psychedelic cover bands while studying philosophy in Southampton. As such, his influences run a far wider berth than usual suspects such as Kraftwerk, Public Enemy, and Double D & Steinski, including obscure old-school hip-hop and electro,'60s rock and soul, and his longest-running obsessions, dancehall and reggae.
Carter moved to London around 1993, learning engineering and production working in the studios of (oddly) hardcore and jungle labels such as Trouble on Vinyl and No U-Turn. He passed a demo of ragga-tinged midtempo breakbeat tracks he assembled in his spare time to Wall of Sound's Mark Jones, who released a few of them before losing Carter to deConstruction in 1995. Carter's debut for the label, "Blow the Whole Joint Up," appeared that same year. An instant hit among the capital's flourishing acid-hop scene, the track earned Carter remix work for the Prodigy and Saint Etienne, as well as a steady stream of DJ gigs (the latter of which tended to limit his release schedule). A pair of EPs managed to trickle out however, including 1996's "Work Mi Body" and 1997's "Lion in the Hall." The long-awaited full-length Shoot the Boss appeared in late 1998. ~ Sean Cooper, All Music Guide
Popular Biographies:
Negura bunget Biography: Following in the footsteps of Sweden's Bathory, who were among the first European groups to utilize their own national legends as inspiration for their songwriting themes (Norse and Viking tradition,...
Bronski beat Biography: London's Bronski Beat will be remembered for a number of things. Anyone who has seen the video for "Smalltown Boy" -- which remains gripping and sobering decades later -- can likely recall at least...
Haste the day Biography: Indianapolis-based Christian metalcore band Haste the Day formed in 2001. Guitarist/vocalist Brennan Chaulk, his drummer brother Devin, and bassist/vocalist Mike Murphy originally gigged as a...
Galleon Biography: The Galleon story begins with a group called Aragon. In the year 1985, Aragon was composed of Micke Värn (guitar), Göran Fors (bass and vocals), and Dan Fors (drums). It was under this name...
Nurse with wound Biography: A loose experimental project formed in 1978 by Steven Stapleton, Nurse with Wound has explored abstract music -- influenced by Krautrock, freewheeling jazz improvisation, and Throbbing Gristle but...
Morrissey Biography: One of the most influential figures in alternative rock, Morrissey's legendarily sensitive, melancholy persona made him a highly polarizing icon, reviled in some quarters with nearly the same...
Evergrey Biography: Based in Sweden, Evergrey are specialists in dark progressive metal. They released their first album, The Dark Discovery, in 1998. The next release was Solitude Dominance Tragedy. In 2001, they...
Gucci mane Biography: Hailing from the hip-hop hotbed of Atlanta, Gucci Mane--"mane" is "man" in Down South slang--made his national debut in '05 with the hit single "So Icy". The unapologetic ode to bling featured...