Matthew Dear has been producing and DJing for more than 10 years now but even to those familiar with his music, either produced under his given name or one of his aliases (Audion (Spectral Sound), False (M_nus), Jabberjaw (Perlon), the initial release of Asa Breed was a revelation.

Having impressed the critics with his 2003 debut Leave Luck To Heaven, which received a uniquely glowing critical reception for an electronic album, even from pop oriented periodicals like Rolling Stone, Spin and Entertainment Weekly, it was clear, with tracks like Dog Days and the follow-up Backstroke EP, that Dear was pushing his moody, sexy minimal techno albums to new heights of accessibility with the inclusion of vocals and his ever maturing song-writing style.

With the release of Asa Breed, Dear went from hinting at his pop-sensibilities to openly celebrating them on what The Guardian called "an extraordinary, impeccable album of avant pop" and what Philip Sherburne called 2007's "most unexpected pop masterpiece".

From the pulsating, steadily growing tension of the album's opener "Fleece On Brain" to the infectious, ecstatic single and crowd-favorite "Don and Sherri" with its dance-floor leveling chorus, the album "bristles with energy and ingenuity"[The Wire] but it's the inclusion of Dear's more personal song-writing style utilizing rock instrumentation that made Asa Breed such a "beautiful set of contradictions"[Anthem] it's not often an album containing bluesy guitar and brooding folk reaches #20 on Billboard's electronic charts.

Now, with the release of Asa Breed Black Edition, critics and audiences will be able to re-discover one of 2007's most unique releases re-packaged to include remixes and re-envisionings from Four Tet and Hot Chip, with whom Dear will be touring the UK in February.