Aim

Biography

Andy Turner (Aim) grew up in the small 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 classics like Quincy and Starsky & Hutch, and through bands like Adam And The Ants and Tubeway Army. Later came The Smiths and The Wedding Present and before long Andy was playing drums and writing songs for his band The Chelsea Flower Show.

During the late 80’s / early 90’s, Andy was drawn to underground clubs and warehouse raves where he was in awe of tracks like Psychotropic’s ‘Hypnosis’ and Unique 3’s ‘The Theme’. He soon ditched his drum-sticks for decks and started out as a DJ, 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, his own vinyl only specialist record store, selling up-front UK white labels and US & European imports to DJ’s from across the north-west. Through Speed Limit distribution contacts Andy 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 masterpieces, Andy bought a Commodore Amiga and started making beats.

A demo found it’s way to Manchester’s Grand Central Records who signed him immediately. During his 8 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 the 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 straddling the impossible void between creative independence and inescapability.

2014 saw the release of the first ever Aim ‘best-of’ compilation. ’Drum Machines & VHS Dreams’ dropped to universal acclaim, 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 said “as we reach the mid-point of the album, it [Cold Water Music] rises from the surrounding countryside like a national monument to melancholia.”

In 2015 ATIC Records released what is arguably Aim’s best work to date. The long awaited full-length collaboration album ’The Habit of a Lifetime (And How to Kick it)’ saw Aim team up with long time friends and Long Island legends QNC over eleven classic hip-hop tracks. Again, the reviews were amazing. Mixmag called it “a testament to the best that hip hop can still offer” whist both Dan Hegarty of RTE 2fm, and the popular beats and breaks site ‘monkeyboxing.com’ awarded the record their coveted ‘Album of the Year’ accolade.

2016 sees Aim keeping up the pressure with a vinyl re-release of his debut album ‘Cold Water Music’ which has been fully remastered from the original DAT tapes, production work on Niko’s upcoming EP and the first drop from his exciting collaboration with legendary Chorley MC Mikey DON (Krispy 3).

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