D/P/I

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 <a href="spotify:artist:0A8iR5hxyyISL6XMkMhpRn">Sun Araw</a>, Gray first became known for his experimental ambient work produced under the name <a href="spotify:artist:0FiVRVcc4cC14bguBhMnhb">Deep Magic</a>, with releases on labels like <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Not+Not+Fun%22">Not Not Fun</a> and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Preservation%22">Preservation</a>, 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 <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Chanceimag.Es%22">Chanceimag.Es</a>) gained him a following in both experimental electronic and left-field hip-hop circles, and <a href="spotify:artist:4KKx8fVJ0y7EcpmYZ42jPc">Matthewdavid</a> released D/P/I's cassettes 08.DD.15 and Rico and CD-R MN.ROY on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Leaving+Records%22">Leaving Records</a> in 2014. D/P/I also co-produced a track on <a href="spotify:artist:4KKx8fVJ0y7EcpmYZ42jPc">Matthewdavid</a>'s <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Brainfeeder%22">Brainfeeder</a>-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 <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Shelter+Press%22">Shelter Press</a> and announced as the final D/P/I album. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi