AK1200
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
AK1200 is the stage name of a Florida-based musician Dave Minner working in the jungle and drum and bass genres.
He started DJing in 1989 playing mainly Electro, and in 1990 he opened a record store in Orlando, Florida called The Hottie Shop. His early working relationships were with record labels such as Suburban Base and Moving Shadow. He teamed up with DJ Jeffee to publish the U.S. jungle fanzine Junglized.
His first production effort was a 1993 remix of a track by Flex and Fats called Somebody and, as this was released on both Suburban Base and Moving Shadow, became the first U.S. Jungle producers to release a track in the U.K. (the country of origin of Jungle/Drum and Bass). AK1200 was also the first U.S. DJ to play on U.K. pirate radio, alongside Mampi Swift and DJ Zinc on Format FM.
Throughout the 1990s he tried his hand at just about every variation on the high speed breakbeat musical idiom that developed and has collaborated with many influential jungle and drum and bass artists including Aphrodite (Artist), DJ Dara, Danny Breaks, Dieselboy, and MC Navigator, as well as with hip hop artists such as A Tribe Called Quest.
In 2000 he joined forces with fellow U.S. DJs Dieselboy and DJ Dara to create Planet of the Drums and toured the U.S. to great acclaim. His debut album, SHOOTTOKILL was co-produced with Rob Playford, of Moving Shadow fame. A prominent American artist in the jungle scene, AK1200 has been credited for helping to bring jungle and drum and bass to the forefront in the United States, due to his reputation for impressive live performances and prolific remixes, as well as for playing for free to help promote the spread of the style.
He also records under the moniker Hydrophonix.
