MARCH 29th

Paul Byrne, known to many as APIENTO, emerged from South East London, growing up during a golden era in the capital’s musical history. In a city electrified by pirate radio and nuanced import record shops, DJ culture flourished, and Paul stood right at its centre.

He entered the music industry alongside William Orbit at Guerilla Records before moving on to the essential and legendary Junior Boys Own. The small in-house team was responsible for signing benchmark electronic acts such as Chemical Brothers, Underworld, and X-Press 2, helping propel a new electronic sound onto the global stage. During this formative period in the UK, APIENTO honed his craft as a time-served DJ and producer, landing his first gig at Sabresonic, the iconic club run by Andrew Weatherall, who later licensed APIENTO’s The Orange Place for a Ministry of Sound compilation.

For over a decade, Paul has anchored a radio show on NTS and spun his way around the globe in countless orbits. He appears annually at Love International in Croatia, disseminating sounds that stretch from the UK balearic tradition to the deeper canals of house and techno. His productions unfold under a constellation of monikers: Apiento & Co, Apiento & LX, Open Space (with Andrew Hale of Sade), and Leisure Dub.

Beyond the booth, he runs the essential music platform TestPressing.org, a thoughtfully curated hub dedicated to DJ mixes and wide-ranging musical explorations, young and old. The site remains a steady source of inspiration, collecting and contextualising key threads within the evolving culture of electronic dance music.

As we marked seven years of The Basement, it felt only fitting to invite an artist of APIENTO’s calibre to guide us into the night. On March 29th, his long-awaited Basement debut unfolded in our secured and secret room, where his breadth of knowledge and singular sonic language carried us deep into the anniversary celebration.

Another chapter was written that evening — one that now lives firmly in the story of The Basement.