This article originally appeared on Oct. 26th, 2021. We’re rerunning it as PaperDiamond releases the last piece in his “Left To My Own Devices” series, seen left.
By Oliver Scialdone
There is more opportunity for humans to connect with one another than ever before, but also more opportunity for more intense isolation. The last two years have perhaps measured this contradiction best, with platforms online continuing to bring us together virtually while also serving as a constant reminder of the distance between each person and real life communities and spaces. Is it any surprise, then, that DJ, producer, and musician Alex Botwin, whose stage name is Paper Diamond, developed his most recent creative endeavor over the course of the past year, a time when many of us began to navigate re-learning the art of human interaction as well as growing and transforming it?
Paper Diamond’s “Left To My Own Devices,” or LMTOD, is his first NFT collection. The series contains five single-edition pieces. Prior to “Left To My Own Devices,” Paper Diamond released three albums: 2011’s Levitate, 2013’s Paragon, and 2018’s Holograms. He’s played festivals including Coachella, Electric Zoo, Electric Forest, Lollapalooza, and Bonnaroo to crowds who showed up to experience the physical, visceral, concrete effects of his music. His tracks are designed for sensation, thumping and pulsing but also smooth and gliding, grounding listeners, connecting them to their own bodies and the bodies that surround them. And though his music is available outside the context of a festival stage, namely on music streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, this is Paper Diamond’s first major foray into a medium where his audience is entirely a virtual one.
I have been obsessed with creative breakthroughs my entire life. Music, art and technology have alway been the vehicles for this obsession. The trio have served me for as long as I can remember, occupying my mind and driving my passions and direction in life.
Paper Diamond
“Patiently, I’ve spent the last year creating & observing the change that NFTs are establishing,” he said. He views NFTs as an industry changing stride forward for artists, excited that “humans can connect directly without big companies in the middle. Communities are being formed. There is a newfound freedom in creativity.” He is fascinated by the ever-blurring distinction between the physical and virtual worlds, and he seeks to explore what that means in relation to the ways people are able to connect. “Left To My Own Devices” stands as “a perspective on life, death, time, and connectivity through our digital age.” Each piece incorporates sounds and animations entirely of Paper Diamond’s conception, all addressing these very themes, meditating on not only the innovation that humanity’s…
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