Aim

Biography

Aim (Andy Turner) grew up in the coastal town of Barrow-in-Furness, England. A child of the 70’s, he sought escape through a combination of obscure video nasties, US TV shows like Quincy and Starsky & Hutch, and through bands like The Smiths, Adam And The Ants, Tears For Fears and Tubeway Army. In the late 80’s / early 90’s Andy was drawn to underground clubs and warehouse raves and soon started DJ’ing, making regular trips to Manchester’s Eastern Bloc and Spin Inn Records and putting on basement parties in his home town.

In 1990 he opened Speed Limit Records, a specialist, vinyl only store, and via distribution contacts had access to just about any record released at the time. Fatefully, this was hip-hop’s ‘golden age’ and week after week he would be sent boxes full of life-changing hip-hop LP’s and 12″s by the likes of Nas, A Tribe Called Quest, Pete Rock, Diamond D, Souls of Mischief and Main Source. Inspired by these records, Andy bought a Commodore Amiga and started making beats.

A demo found its way to Manchester’s Grand Central Records who signed him soon after. During his eight years with the label he released the acclaimed albums ‘Cold Water Music’, ‘Hinterland’ and ‘Means of Production’, along with a number of sought after 12″s including the ‘Pacific North West EP’ and the ‘Loop Dreams Remix EP’.

In 2004 Andy left Grand Central and, along with Niko and ex GC label manager Iain Cooke, set up ATIC Records. He released his fourth Aim album ‘Flight 602’ in 2006 and toured extensively with his live band, selling out Shepherd’s Bush Empire and smashing Glastonbury along the way. ‘Flight 602’ cemented Aim’s reputation as one of the UK’s leading underground artists, achieving a kind of cult following whilst bridging the impossible void between creative independence and inescapability.

2014 saw the release of Aim’s first ‘best-of’ compilation. ’Drum Machines & VHS Dreams’. Mixmag called it “a timeless retrospective of [Aim’s] best beats… reminding us of the haunting crisp aesthetics and cinematic breaks and samples that defined an era,” whilst Record Collector lamented “as we reach the mid-point of the album, it [Cold Water Music] rises from the surrounding countryside like a national monument to melancholia.”

A year later ATIC Records released what is arguably Aim’s strongest work to date. ’The Habit of a Lifetime (And How to Kick it)’ saw him team up with long time friends and NYC rap legends QNC and again, the reviews were glowing. The long-awaited vinyl re-release of his seminal debut album ‘Cold Water Music’ followed soon after. It sold out instantly and was awarded ‘Re-issue Of the Week’ by The Sunday Times who hailed the still fresh debut “a touchstone in UK dance music.”  The next few years were spent producing Niko’s stunning second album ‘Electric Union’ and he’s currently hard at work on his next solo long player.

To book Aim (DJ set) please email info@aticrecords.com