d.lawrence returns with a dose of maximalist dub techno on his debut LP Redshift on Diffuse Reality. Ahead of the full release, Peace Portal is pleased to share Bellevue Paradox.
A dense, pulsating kick underpins gliding chords, and orbital bleeps, while shuffling percussion set the cosmic cruise control. Before it's through, the bassline warps in its own gravity, and is slingshot into space. Something deep enough to get lost in, Bellevue Paradox is a timeless example of high energy dub techno.
d. shares a little about his track in a brief interview below:
Breakdown your production process for us. What inspired your track and what elements really brought it to life for you?
Music for me has always been about capturing a feeling, for this track I was really inspired by that feeling of being sucked through a wormhole by a really great night at a club. For a while I was producing my tracks in a very linear way, starting with a few elements, and creating a story as I went further along. It was working, but I was falling into the trap of things becoming too formulaic. Then I saw Shawn Rudiman at Process, and the rawness of his live set really made an impact on me. He did so much with so few sounds, moving between ideas, letting the music just take him where it wanted to go, seeming more like he was channeling the music than creating it. It made me realize I needed to reset and get back to doing things in a more “jam-based” way. Since then, I’ve really gone back to just building ideas and recording takes of jamming them out. On this particular track, the cymbals and the claps really keep the energy going, but the beeps from my modular system definitely take it to that ‘Deep Space’ realm.
Can you tell us about your studio space?
I’m lucky enough to have music as my full-time job, creating music/sound effects, mixing promotional videos/commercials, and recording on-set audio. I try to keep both my office studio and home studio spaces relatively relaxing and not feeling too much like ‘work spaces’, with some plants and art on the walls, but both definitely need me to spend a day or two actually getting them to where I’d like them to be haha
My office is my main studio space, and that consists mainly of my Maschine MK3, my guitars/bass, and a trusty pair of Alesis Monitor One Mk2’s. Keeping most of my professional work “in-the-box” just makes for easier recall and adjustments if needed. However, my personal music tends to include explorations recorded from my modular system, sequences made on my Novation Circuit Tracks, and field recordings from my Zoom recorder. My home studio has a slightly out of tune console piano for noodling/inspiration, some Technics turntables plugged into a Xone92, a bunch of guitar pedals, and a pair of Kali Audio LP-8’s.
Deep space seems to be a sort of muse to you also, can you share about that?
I’ve been creating music since I was a teenager, and I always found space to be a source of inspiration. I think a lot of musicians/artists sort of feel a sense of alienation at some point when growing up, and astronauts/deep space is a pretty quick connection to make. For obvious reasons, in 2020 those feelings became exasperated quite a bit. Along with my love for Dub and Techno, the sounds of long reverb tails and endless echoes fading out over thick sub bass, it just all feels so cosmic to me. There’s so much out there, and we know so little about it, It’s hard not to be fascinated by that.
What does the track title reference?
It’s a street in my neighborhood, and the word paradox sounds cool. I wish it was something super cool, like this crazy concept by a scientist about extraterrestrial life that would just blow everybody’s mind, but it’s just me doing a little Keyser Söze-ing.
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