BYRON THE AQUARIUS Vinyl & CDs

Review: French label D3 - which when pronounced in French sounds like their word for Detroit - is a decade old and celebrates the milestone with a special three-part EP series. As has always been the case over that 10 year period, the sounds it serves up are deep and housey. This various artists affair kicks off with AsTreJinkins' slow and propulsive 'Terror' before some nice airy and live sounding broken beats from New Digital Fidelity. Moroka picks up the pace with some hi-tek soul that sounds straight from the Motor City and Byron The Aquarius shows off his mastery of the keys again with a dreamy deep cut 'Tua Su Ra'. Nico Lahs shuts down with a heavyweight beatdown in the form of 'It's Spelled BARI.'

Review: Byron The Aquarius (Byron Blaylock), from Birmingham, Alabama, debuts his latest EP for French Synchrophone sublabel Phonogramme, 'Dey Know Vol. 1'. Topping up an already hugely impressive backlog of releases on the label recently - from the likes of Abacus, Steeve O'Sullivan and Vitess - the producer and water carrier adds to their catalogue for a varied scrubdown of the more militant ends of techno's sonic politic. An impressove sense of variation is achieved on the expositionally minimal 'Black Is Black', which contrasts greatly to the ensuing space-quagmires of 'Dr Devil' and then the crude, bleepy and frank analog sonics of 'Real MF From The Avenue'. Dreamy narrations of local life abound, precluding the closing 'Rock That 808!!!', a track that is far more sophisticated and well-developed in sound than its wilfully blase title might suggest.

Review: Atlanta-based Byron The Aquarius has that innately soulful touch to his music which never tires, and after his The New Beginning album on Shall Not Fade he's appearing on Dutch label Heist Recordings with some plush, funking and bumping house gear that's as classic as it is fresh. Just listen to the way he refines the garage house approach on 'Get Up', at once nailing the sound while giving it a sheen that all imitators fail to capture. There's even some uptempo broken beat which edges towards drum & bass on 'Love', but yet again this is Byron doing Byron - accept no imitations!

Review: Atalanta's Byron The Aquarius has established himself as one of electronic music's most interesting artists. The super skill musician is a virtuoso on the keys and dab hand with making beats. He's got a wide range of sounds in his arsenal and is a perfect fit for the raw, MPC loving Apron label run by Funkineven, which is where lands now. This fulsome EP takes you on a jazz tinged house trip to the edges of the galaxy with far-sighted chords and reflective moods one minute and noodling, funk laced beat pieces the next. It's as high in quality as it is timeless.

Review: After spending three years wowing us with dazzling EPs on Sampling As An Art, Ego, Wild Oats and Sound Signature, Byron The Aquarius is finally ready to drop his debut album. As the title suggests, "Astral Traveling" is a suitably starry affair, with the fast-rising producer wrapping twinkling electronics, dreamy pads, hazy vocals and jazz-funk influences keys around sumptuous deep house grooves, dusty hip-hop beats and pitched-down, post-boogie backing tracks. Highlights include the deep space jazz-funk flex of "Deep In That ***** (feat. MDMA)", the driving Detroit deep house soulfulness of "Sorry Kari (Lu$t)", the jazzy downtempo beats and sultry soul vocals of "My Only Life (featuring Brandon Banks)" and the ultra-deep head-nodding hip-hop of "I Can't Help Myself (U)".