Nice Up’s first release of 2012 comes from none other than the legendary Monkey Mafia aka Jon Carter. One of the DJs and producers at the heart of the Big Beat explosion of the mid ‘90s, Carter’s musical history reaches much further back. It is of course his antics at the seminal Heavenly Social alongside fellow residents The Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim that Carter is perhaps best known for. Starting his recording career on Wall Of Sound, he soon decamped to Heavenly and started making dancehall influenced beats under the Monkey Mafia name. Remixes soon came flooding in and the project quickly developed into a live band with the album ‘Shoot The Boss’ providing a blueprint for generations to come, with its heavy dub influences, razor sharp breakbeats and a creative depth to the dance. Despite his bulging global DJ diary, becoming a pub landlord and urban fox hunting, Jon still found time to indulge his love of reggae and dancehall and has recently revived his erstwhile moniker (with many thanks to the Dub Pistols’ Barry Ashworth for tempting Jon back into the studio). Featuring longtime collaborator Doug’e Reuben, ‘Royal Ascot’ is a dark and dirty electro-bashment banger, that has already gained a lot of love from Rob Da Bank, Mary Anne Hobbs and Eddy Temple Morris . With a bouncy reggae rework from Bristol’s rising star Mr Benn on the b-side as well as an exclusive acapella and full colour picture sleeve into the bargain, every one is a winner! A. Royal Ascot B1. Royal Ascot (Mr Benn Remix) B2. Royal Ascot (Acapella)