diff --git a/HISTORY.rst b/HISTORY.rst
index 23904ad..7117ee4 100644
--- a/HISTORY.rst
+++ b/HISTORY.rst
@@ -3,6 +3,12 @@ History
 =======
 
 
+v0.12.0 (2021-03-08)
+-----------------------
+
+* Use aioredis transactions performance fixed branch (sean/aioredis-redis-py-compliance) instead of version 1.3.1.
+
+
 v0.11.7 (2021-03-01)
 -----------------------
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 02f927b..83b5147 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -14,10 +14,6 @@ async def main():
     config = {'redis_primary_endpoint': 'your-redis-endpoint'}
     redis = Redis(config=config, use_json=True, expire=60, use_hashkey=False)
 
-    # since aioredis.create_redis_pool is a coroutine we need to instantiate the object within an async function
-    if redis.pool_task is not None:
-        redis.pool = await redis.pool_task
-
     # we can override the global expire and since we are using json the cache_value will be converted to json
     await redis.set_one_item(cache_key='aioradio', cache_value={'a': 'alpha', 'number': 123}, expire=2)
 
diff --git a/aioradio/redis.py b/aioradio/redis.py
index 4eea6c3..15ff234 100644
--- a/aioradio/redis.py
+++ b/aioradio/redis.py
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
 
 import aioredis
 import orjson
-from fakeredis.aioredis import create_redis_pool as fake_redis_pool
 
 HASH_ALGO_MAP = {
     'SHA1': hashlib.sha1,
@@ -34,7 +33,6 @@ class Redis:
 
     config: Dict[str, Any] = dataclass_field(default_factory=dict)
     pool: aioredis.Redis = dataclass_field(init=False, repr=False)
-    pool_task: asyncio.coroutine = None
 
     # Set the redis pool min and max connections size
     pool_minsize: int = 5
@@ -51,24 +49,9 @@ class Redis:
     # retrieve value letting this class convert from json set use_json = True.
     use_json: bool = True
 
-    # used exclusively for pytest
-    fakeredis: bool = False
-
     def __post_init__(self):
-        if self.fakeredis:
-            self.pool = asyncio.get_event_loop().run_until_complete(fake_redis_pool())
-        else:
-            primary_endpoint = f'redis://{self.config["redis_primary_endpoint"]}'
-            loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
-            if loop and loop.is_running():
-                self.pool_task = loop.create_task(
-                    aioredis.create_redis_pool(primary_endpoint, minsize=self.pool_minsize, maxsize=self.pool_maxsize))
-            else:
-                self.pool = loop.run_until_complete(
-                    aioredis.create_redis_pool(primary_endpoint, minsize=self.pool_minsize, maxsize=self.pool_maxsize))
-
-    def __del__(self):
-        self.pool.close()
+        primary_endpoint = self.config["redis_primary_endpoint"]
+        self.pool = aioredis.Redis(host=primary_endpoint)
 
     async def get(self, key: str, use_json: bool=None, encoding: Union[str, None]='utf-8') -> Any:
         """Check if an item is cached in redis.
@@ -85,10 +68,13 @@ async def get(self, key: str, use_json: bool=None, encoding: Union[str, None]='u
         if use_json is None:
             use_json = self.use_json
 
-        value = await self.pool.get(key, encoding=encoding)
+        value = await self.pool.get(key)
 
-        if value is not None and use_json:
-            value = orjson.loads(value)
+        if value is not None:
+            if encoding is not None:
+                value = value.decode(encoding)
+            if use_json:
+                value = orjson.loads(value)
 
         return value
 
@@ -107,12 +93,18 @@ async def mget(self, items: List[str], use_json: bool=None, encoding: Union[str,
         if use_json is None:
             use_json = self.use_json
 
-        values = await self.pool.mget(*items, encoding=encoding)
+        values = await self.pool.mget(*items)
 
-        if use_json:
-            values = [orjson.loads(val) if val is not None else None for val in values]
+        results = []
+        for val in values:
+            if val is not None:
+                if encoding is not None:
+                    val = val.decode(encoding)
+                if use_json:
+                    val = orjson.loads(val)
+            results.append(val)
 
-        return values
+        return results
 
     async def set(self, key: str, value: str, expire: int=None, use_json: bool=None) -> int:
         """Set one key-value pair in redis.
@@ -136,7 +128,7 @@ async def set(self, key: str, value: str, expire: int=None, use_json: bool=None)
         if use_json:
             value = orjson.dumps(value)
 
-        return await self.pool.set(key, value, expire=expire)
+        return await self.pool.set(key, value, ex=expire)
 
     async def delete(self, key: str) -> int:
         """Delete key from redis.
@@ -166,10 +158,13 @@ async def hget(self, key: str, field: str, use_json: bool=None, encoding: Union[
         if use_json is None:
             use_json = self.use_json
 
-        value = await self.pool.hget(key, field, encoding=encoding)
+        value = await self.pool.hget(key, field)
 
-        if value is not None and use_json:
-            value = orjson.loads(value)
+        if value is not None:
+            if encoding is not None:
+                value = value.decode(encoding)
+            if use_json:
+                value = orjson.loads(value)
 
         return value
 
@@ -190,8 +185,10 @@ async def hmget(self, key: str, fields: List[str], use_json: bool=None, encoding
             use_json = self.use_json
 
         items = {}
-        for index, value in enumerate(await self.pool.hmget(key, *fields, encoding=encoding)):
+        for index, value in enumerate(await self.pool.hmget(key, *fields)):
             if value is not None:
+                if encoding is not None:
+                    value = value.decode(encoding)
                 if use_json:
                     value = orjson.loads(value)
                 items[fields[index]] = value
@@ -216,13 +213,15 @@ async def hmget_many(self, keys: List[str], fields: List[str], use_json: bool=No
 
         pipeline = self.pool.pipeline()
         for key in keys:
-            pipeline.hmget(key, *fields, encoding=encoding)
+            pipeline.hmget(key, *fields)
 
         results = []
         for values in await pipeline.execute():
             items = {}
             for index, value in enumerate(values):
                 if value is not None:
+                    if encoding is not None:
+                        value = value.decode(encoding)
                     if use_json:
                         value = orjson.loads(value)
                     items[fields[index]] = value
@@ -246,8 +245,12 @@ async def hgetall(self, key: str, use_json: bool=None, encoding: Union[str, None
             use_json = self.use_json
 
         items = {}
-        for hash_key, value in (await self.pool.hgetall(key, encoding=encoding)).items():
+        for hash_key, value in (await self.pool.hgetall(key)).items():
+            if encoding is not None:
+                hash_key = hash_key.decode(encoding)
             if value is not None:
+                if encoding is not None:
+                    value = value.decode(encoding)
                 if use_json:
                     value = orjson.loads(value)
                 items[hash_key] = value
@@ -271,16 +274,20 @@ async def hgetall_many(self, keys: List[str], use_json: bool=None, encoding: Uni
 
         pipeline = self.pool.pipeline()
         for key in keys:
-            pipeline.hgetall(key, encoding=encoding)
+            pipeline.hgetall(key)
 
         results = []
         for item in await pipeline.execute():
             items = {}
             for key, value in item.items():
+                if encoding is not None:
+                    key = key.decode(encoding)
                 if value is not None:
+                    if encoding is not None:
+                        value = value.decode(encoding)
                     if use_json:
                         value = orjson.loads(value)
-                    items[key] = value
+                items[key] = value
             results.append(items)
 
         return results
@@ -308,9 +315,9 @@ async def hset(self, key: str, field: str, value: str, use_json: bool=None, expi
         if use_json:
             value = orjson.dumps(value)
 
-        pipeline = self.pool.multi_exec()
+        pipeline = self.pool.pipeline()
         pipeline.hset(key, field, value)
-        pipeline.expire(key, timeout=expire)
+        pipeline.expire(key, time=expire)
         result, _ = await pipeline.execute()
 
         return result
@@ -320,7 +327,7 @@ async def hmset(self, key: str, items: Dict[str, Any], use_json: bool=None, expi
 
         Args:
             key (str): cache key
-            items (List[str, Any]): list of redis hash key-value pairs
+            items (Dict[str, Any]): list of redis hash key-value pairs
             use_json (bool, optional): set object to json before writing to cache. Defaults to None.
             expire (int, optional): cache expiration. Defaults to None.
 
@@ -339,10 +346,9 @@ async def hmset(self, key: str, items: Dict[str, Any], use_json: bool=None, expi
             items = modified_items
 
         pipeline = self.pool.pipeline()
-        pipeline.hmset_dict(key, items)
-        pipeline.expire(key, timeout=expire)
+        pipeline.hset(key, mapping=items)
+        pipeline.expire(key, time=expire)
         result, _ = await pipeline.execute()
-
         return  result
 
     async def hdel(self, key: str, fields: List[str]) -> int:
diff --git a/aioradio/requirements.txt b/aioradio/requirements.txt
index c4abaec..4a5c71d 100644
--- a/aioradio/requirements.txt
+++ b/aioradio/requirements.txt
@@ -1,10 +1,9 @@
 aioboto3==8.2.0
 aiobotocore==1.1.2
 aiojobs==0.3.0
-aioredis==1.3.1
 ddtrace==0.46.0
-fakeredis==1.4.5
 flask==1.1.2
+git+https://github.com/aio-libs/aioredis@sean/aioredis-redis-py-compliance
 httpx==0.17.0
 mandrill==1.0.59
 moto==1.3.16
diff --git a/aioradio/tests/redis_test.py b/aioradio/tests/redis_test.py
index e304090..c42b51a 100644
--- a/aioradio/tests/redis_test.py
+++ b/aioradio/tests/redis_test.py
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ async def test_hash_redis_functions(cache):
     }
 
     result = await cache.hmset(key='complex_hash', items=items, expire=1)
-    assert result == 1
+    assert result == 4
 
     result = await cache.hmget(key='complex_hash', fields=['name', 'team', 'apps', 'fake'])
     assert 'fake' not in result
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ async def test_hash_redis_functions(cache):
 
     items = {'state': 'TX', 'city': 'Austin', 'zipcode': '78745', 'addr1': '8103 Shiloh Ct.', 'addr2': ''}
     result = await cache.hmset(key='address_hash', items=items, expire=1, use_json=False)
-    assert result == 1
+    assert result == 5
     result = await cache.hgetall(key='address_hash', use_json=False)
     assert result == items
 
@@ -102,6 +102,13 @@ async def test_set_one_item(payload, cache):
     result = await cache.delete(key)
     assert result == 1
 
+    await cache.set(key='set_simple_key', value='aioradio is superb', use_json=False)
+    result = await cache.get('set_simple_key', use_json=False)
+    assert result == 'aioradio is superb'
+    result = await cache.mget(items=['set_simple_key'], use_json=False)
+    assert result == ['aioradio is superb']
+
+
 async def test_set_one_item_with_hashed_key(payload, cache):
     """Test set_one_item."""
 
diff --git a/conftest.py b/conftest.py
index cf687af..ef14330 100644
--- a/conftest.py
+++ b/conftest.py
@@ -56,7 +56,9 @@ def cache(github_action):
     if github_action:
         pytest.skip('Skip test_set_one_item when running via Github Action')
 
-    cache_object = Redis(fakeredis=True)
+    cache_object = Redis(config={
+        'redis_primary_endpoint': 'prod-race2.gbngr1.ng.0001.use1.cache.amazonaws.com'
+    })
     yield cache_object
 
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 0aa03d8..c299768 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
     long_description = fileobj.read()
 
 setup(name='aioradio',
-    version='0.11.7',
+    version='0.12.0',
     description='Generic asynchronous i/o python utilities for AWS services (SQS, S3, DynamoDB, Secrets Manager), Redis, MSSQL (pyodbc), JIRA and more',
     long_description=long_description,
     long_description_content_type="text/markdown",
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@
         'aioredis',
         'boto3',
         'ddtrace',
-        'fakeredis',
         'httpx',
         'mandrill',
         'orjson',