Aquarian | en

Unlike fellow world cities London and Berlin, New York has never been defined by a single strain of techno. These days, odd ball labels have proliferated en masse and while the City's dance music output bares little resemblance to the formative sounds of Detroit, it holds a rarified place in the canon. In that vein, producer/DJ Aquarian has developed a sound that is both experimental and immediate, but above all, focuses on functionality. The resident techno provocateur at UNO NYC, Aquarian sound draws from both sides of the Atlantic, combining London, New York and Detroit with vertical singularity. Embracing the abrasive end of the techno spectrum, he involves breakbeats, belching TR-303 basslines and stomping, rough-hewn kick drums in his productions, pointing to hardcore, electro and Detroit techno as clear precedents. Aquarian doesn't reside in the past though, collating melodic elements from instrumental grime and bass weight from dubstep into his stripped down dancefloor bombs.

2012's Obsidian EP (out now on UNO) was his first official release as Aquarian and its gregarious, breakbeat-led energy is still wholly relevant two years later. A Randomer remix topped off Obsidian, adding an established name to the proceedings, but it's the raw, pent up energy of the originals that define the release. The "Fan Death" single, released in 2013 on UNO, acted as the follow up to Obsidian and saw the Aquarian sound reduced to its constituent elements, all dark atmospherics, in-your-face percussion and a seditious vocal sample. The rave signifier is all too common in contemporary electronic music, but it's difficult to imagine a song like "Fan Death", or Obsidian's "Motherisk", existing outside of a dark warehouse. Underground Resistance and Drexciya are key influences for the artist, but while the Detroit pioneers have dressed their work in social justice speek, he has utilized their inky sonic palette for ultimate dancefloor efficacy. With those tools,he has developed an aesthetic that walks the line from brutalist UK techno to drum machine work out electro and further down the line to the junglist ethos of yore.

Despite not engaging in the image-based theatrics of many of his contemporaries, Aquarian has managed to develop of singular sonic identity as Aquarian, an accomplishment easier said than done. Later this year, he will release a follow-up EP to Obsidian, a release that continues to expound upon the machine-led funk that has defined his sound to date. And despite involving myriad influences from across the temporal and spatial continuum, he will continue to pump out efficient, meticulously textured techno. .