* En anglais uniquement
Under the moniker
D/P/I, Los Angeles-based musician Alex Gray reconfigured elements of hip-hop, dance music, and pop culture detritus into glitchy, brain-scrambling sound collages. His work was often composed of fragmentary samples of music and field recordings, manipulated and randomized through various oscillators, filters, granular processes, and effects. A longtime associate of
Sun Araw, Gray first became known for his experimental ambient work produced under the name Deep Magic, with releases on labels like Not Not Fun and Preservation, as well as his own Deep Tapes. During the early 2010s, he began releasing trippy, sample-heavy recordings under the names Heat Wave and DJ Purple Image, which was usually shortened to
D/P/I. His bizarre, fascinating CD-Rs and online mixes (usually released via his own Chanceimag.Es) gained him a following in both experimental electronic and left-field hip-hop circles, and
Matthewdavid released
D/P/I's cassettes
08.DD.15 and Rico and CD-R MN.ROY on Leaving Records in 2014.
D/P/I also co-produced a track on
Matthewdavid's Brainfeeder-released full-length
In My World, also in 2014. In 2015,
D/P/I released Ad Hocc, a business card-sized USB drive containing 6 variations on the same 41-minute piece. This was followed in 2016 by
Composer, issued by Shelter Press and announced as the final
D/P/I album. ~ Paul Simpson