The McDonald Theatre served up a treat on Thursday night when they hosted Colorado producer Paper Diamond on his ninth stop of his Tiger Style tour.
Paper Diamond, also known as Alex B, has a style and sound that draws from many different disciplines. His performance featured a solid mix of older tunes, including material from his first EP, “Levitate.” At one point he stopped and asked the crowd what they wanted to hear, only to receive a resounding cry for oldies over his newer remixes. @@http://www.paper-diamond.com/@@
“It was nice to hear a lot of his old stuff,” University sophomore Mike Hobizal said. “It’s definitely music to move to and it’s nice to see a producer move to their own music, ’cause he was grooving while he worked.” @@http://uoregon.edu/findpeople/person/michael*Hobizal@@
“Levitate” features some bass-packed tracks with elegantly composed melodies and spacey synthesizers. Hip-hop and trance influences are prevalent in his music and each beat is crafted to make a dance floor move all night long.
He opened up his set with three well-known songs to get the crowd jumping before moving into the bulk of his music. The crowd went wild for his remix of Fabolous’ “Throw It In The Bag” featuring The-Dream. @@http://www.islanddefjam.com/artist/discography_single.aspx?artistID=7301&productID=11819@@
Other notable songs that were well-received included “Imagine the Possibilities” — one of my personal favorites — and a new remix of Kanye’s “Power.” Throughout the show he employed the use of an iPad as a means to apply his effects and lights.
“I thought it was a spectacular show,” sophomore Joey Burgess said. “The way he was into his own music excited and motivated the crowd to have a good time listening to him play.” @@http://uoregon.edu/findpeople/person/Joseph*Burgess@@
While his older beats and tunes may have been the most popular at the McDonald Theatre, Paper Diamond hasn’t stopped producing new material. His latest project is his new EP “Wavesight,” which is set to drop on May 3rd, 2012.