Ultimate Music Experience Artist Profile: Paper Diamond

artist paper diamondPaper Diamond is a one of dance music’s buzzing artists creating a unique sound unlike anyone any of his peers. Using a varied tech-friendly workspace, this Ultimate Music Experience talent oozes productions rich in bass driven beats, catchy vocals and melodies.

Hailing from Colorado, Alex Botwin has been a bass mechanic long before his Paper project. As a part of The Pnuma Trio, Botwin played bass for the outfit since their inception in 2004. Fusing classical, jazz, funk, hip hop, and drum and bass, the group’s releases were lauded for their individuality with the media dubbing them “Music of the future.” After the group parted in 2010, Botwin found himself going back to the drawing board, “Basically, I had all this music that I had no outlet for. Pnuma was my dance music project and since I wasn’t having any reason to focus on that, I decided that I needed a new outlet to be able to make whatever else I wanted besides. For a while I was making music as Alex B as well, which is a downtempo project. But I wanted some separation from me personally and my art, and I wanted to freely make dance music if I wanted to–or make whatever type of music I wanted. So that was what led me to start the project.”

That project is of course Paper Diamond. When it came time to release his debut album Levitate, he called an old friend, “I became good friends with Derek Vincent Smith from Pretty Lights. It’s funny, he used to open a lot of Pnuma shows and now he’s obviously massive–huge beyond everyone. As much as people wanna not believe it, he kind of changed everything for livetronica music.” Armed with a vast treasure trove of music that he’d been working on, the two started brainstorming, “Basically, I made all this music, and I hit Derek up and was like, ‘You know, I heard you’re starting a label. We’re homies. I wanna run my new record by you.’ I gave him my new record. We talked about all the songs, and he gave me some ideas. Then I went back, and we ended up putting it out.”

After Levitate was released in 2011, Paper Diamond began gracing more and more lineups and flyers – and not just because of his stellar productions, but for his on stage presence as well. Known for his interactive live sets, versus the conventional DJ setup, Paper Diamond on stage is feast for the senses. His dynamic performance makes every show a unique experience. Gearing up for 2014 “Cold Crush” tour, Botwin gave his fans a scoop of what to expect, I’m using my iPad on stage to control two computers, one has Ableton to play the music, which then sends a MIDI signal to the second computer, where I can control all of the LEDs and live visuals on stage that will capture the nonstop energy of my set. So basically, I get to represent myself in not just a musical manner, but I get to provide an overall visual experience for my fans as well.”

Hard at work in the studio, this year will see the release of new tunes with never-before-heard collaborations with various writers, producers and singers. Having just announced an eight-month residency at Wynn Las Vegas, the producer released his new single “Black Rose.” This sultry downtempo track shows off Paper Diamond’s versatility and we are thrilled we get to see it live at Ultimate Music Experience on South Padre Island, Texas on March 13-15th. Buy your tickets to the celebration today!

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