Music like Byron the Aquarius: Artists to explore

Byron the Aquarius is Byron Blaylock, a producer and keyboard player from Birmingham, Alabama. He began piano lessons at five and later studied jazz with Birmingham musician Frank "Doc" Adams. His first releases grew from hip hop production, including a 2007 project with the Paris producer Onra.

After a period of formal jazz study, Blaylock worked in Atlanta with Kai Alcé. Music from that work reached Theo Parrish, who released two tracks through Sound Signature in 2016. That release began a sustained run of club records. Byron then recorded for Wild Oats, Eglo, Axis, and other independent labels. TALKNOI$E Records issued its first release in 2022. Played keyboard parts and loose drum programming remain central to his work.

Kai Alcé and Onra worked with Byron during two distinct stages of his career. The other profiles cover the Detroit and London labels that gave his house and keyboard work a wider context. Sound Shelter's deep house collection has more records from these scenes.

Here are some artists that fans of Byron the Aquarius should explore.

Kai Alcé

Born in New York, Kai Alcé spent his teenage years in Detroit and later settled in Atlanta. He worked the lights at the Music Institute as a teenager and spent time around KMS, where he met many of the city's house and techno producers. After moving south, he began his professional DJ career and helped establish House in the Park in Atlanta. Alcé founded NDATL Muzik in 2008, naming it after New York, Detroit, and Atlanta. The label releases soulful house from Alcé and artists he met through those three local scenes.

Theo Parrish

Before moving to Detroit in 1994, Theo Parrish grew up in Chicago and studied art in Kansas City. He started Sound Signature in 1997 and has used it for his own work and records by a close group of producers. Parrish is also part of 3 Chairs with Moodymann, Rick Wilhite, and Marcellus Pittman. His productions cut small sections from older recordings and place them beside live instruments, spoken voices, and drum machines. Many tracks unfold over the length of an extended club mix.

Kyle Hall

Detroit producer Kyle Hall first released on Omar S's FXHE in 2007, at 17, then started Wild Oats about a year later. The label became the main outlet for his own work and a home for records by other Detroit artists. Mike Huckaby also supported Hall's early production, while jazz musicians in Hall's family shaped his musical education. Hall has released on Moods & Grooves and Hyperdub. His production moves between house and techno through rough drum programming, jazz harmony, and sudden edits.

Dego

Dego is Denis McFarlane, a London producer who joined Marc Mac, Gus Lawrence, and Iain Bardouille in the original four person lineup of 4hero. Marc Mac and Lawrence formed Reinforced Records in 1989, where Dego released music and worked with the label team. He also recorded as Tek 9 and took part in projects including Tom & Jerry and Cousin Cockroach. In 1998 he started 2000Black for work across broken beat, house, jazz, and soul. His long partnership with Kaidi Tatham has produced records through 2000Black and Eglo.

Kaidi Tatham

Flute lessons first gave Kaidi Tatham formal musical training, and he later became a keyboard player, producer, and member of Bugz in the Attic. Sessions in West London joined house and syncopated drums to jazz, funk, and Brazilian music. Tatham has released solo work as Agent K and under his own name through 2000Black and First Word. He has also worked in DKD and Silhouette Brown, and maintained a long studio partnership with Dego. He often plays parts into the computer like a live player, so timing remains central even when most of the track is programmed.

Onra

The 2007 Byron & Onra project joined Blaylock's keyboards to production by Onra, whose name is Arnaud Bernard. The French producer had first released a sample based project with Al Quetz a year earlier. He later built his solo catalogue through Favorite Recordings, All City, and Fool's Gold, then started NBN Records as an All City subdivision in 2018. Hip hop and rhythm and blues provide the base for his work, and sampled records remain a central part of his production method.

Read the Sound Shelter note on Byron's Axis album for more on his work with live players. Follow Byron the Aquarius on Sound Shelter to see new records and stores with stock.