AFK

There are at least three artists with this name. 1.) Since 2010, dubstep, drumstep and electronic music producer Jimmy Blythe, better known as AFK, has been pounding stages worldwide. Starting at the bottom in 2010, and working his way up, was not an easy journey. Blythe released a few songs, with not much attention. However, in late 2011, AFK struck a deal with Datsik, an electronic music lord and owner of Firepower Records. Beetles added him to his crew, and Full Clip EP was released the following year with fellow artist Hizzleguy. The album became a hit in the underground bass music scene, and AFK managed to touch Beatport Top 100 for a few weeks. Hizzleguy hasn't touched Firepower in years, but Blythe continued releasing on Datsik's record label. Next came what could arguably be AFK's best release. Killionaire EP was released in mid-2013, starring several guests: rapper and producer Messinian, Melamin, and drumstep king Rekoil. The album recieved even greater attention than Full Clip. Blythe's radical sound was making waves. AFK's newest release on Firepower, Cloud Kingdom, shows off Jimmy's skills and new genres he's been experimenting with. Another release is yet to be announced, but it's guaranteed to be promising. 2.) For the last nine years, Davin Greenwell (better known as DJ ariz0na, or producer AFK) has been pushing the progressive sound in the form of breaks, house and trance. Davin has been heavily involved in the Victoria electronic music scene, through years of community and commercial radio, club and events promotion, ravevictoria.com, and now most prominently with Pacific Front Recordings (PFR), a new music label he trail-blazes in cahoots with Justin Humber, aka Sasha-spun Formulate. Recording as AFK, Davin has released several gigantic progressive tracks on his home label, PFR, and has produced a haunting breakbeat remix of c79's 'Violent Silence' and a synapse-smashing remix of Micah's progressive house odyssey, 'Capable Space'. His collaboration with Anand Greenwell (Tiebreaker) has been very well received. Davin has been remixed by names such as Steve May, Dustin H, His Boy Elroy, Matt Rowan and Jaytech, Seed, Phokus, Jacob Todd, Daniel Lindeberge, Blake Jarrell, Jeff Devas, Influenza, Micah, Formulate, and c79. In addition to the Pacific Front releases, he has music forthcoming on the tremendously popular Proton Music and a release out on Inaspace (UK) under the guise of Royal Assassin with Thor Kell, also known as Fractal - TidePool's deepest puddle. Davin's music has extended globally and can be heard in forward-thinking clubs all over the world with support from DJs like Sasha and John Digweed, Armin Van Buuren, Dale Anderson, Luke Chable and Shiloh. No stranger to Proton Radio, Davin currently appears on a show called Pacific Front Sessions, which he hosts with Justin Humber, airing monthly. With nods to progressive's huge past, Davin and Justin capture the excitement and the essence of its sound today, giving a rare and powerful glimpse of greater things to come. Toss in a Saturday night residency at Victoria's outstandingly fun Lush at Hush, mix in appearances at Progressive Entertainment's most solid night "Focus" in Vancouver with Kevin Shiu, Kristian Littmann and John Morgan, and you have a talent echoing throughout the scene in the Pacific Northwest. 3.) AFK is the producer name used by Darby Janssen. Active since 2005, AFK had released several LPs and EPs on the now defunct Popoki Online Records. Janssen's sound never stayed the same with any release. Nearly every new album had an entirely different sound and each one pulled influences from different artists and genres, although each album was primarily electronic. Primary influences, by album: Victorian Blowjobs (2005): Aphex Twin, Venetian Snares; Harx Neweral (2005): mu-ziq, Autechre; 314159 (2006): Four Tet, Kraftwerk, Hrvatski. afk has not had a release since 2006's 314139, and is listed as "In Hibernation" on his MySpace page. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.