Feature

Paradox

Paradox (also known as Alaska and Dev Paradox) began his career in 1988, when he and DJ Trax set up the project Mixrace. Mixrace's first professional recording was produced in 1990 by Plastic Jam (Labello Blanco).…

By yegor25 Oct 20042 min read

After brief spells with Suburban Base and Strictly Underground, the then-young Moving Shadow released the project's first record, the Mixrace hardcore classic "Too Bad for Ya / The Future Is Before Your Eyes" (SHADOW 018). The two were only 17 at the time. After four more releases on Moving Shadow, Dev and Trax founded their own labels: Stronghold, Mobhanded and Offset Recordings.

In the mid-1990s Dev released several tracks with Nucleus as Alaska, on Nexus (a sub-label of Good Looking), 720 Degrees, Timeless and Vibez. In 1997 he released "Cuba / Scanners" on Reinforced under the Paradox alias, combining the jazz atmosphere of Alaska with the hard sound of Mixrace. By the time his release count reached 55, Paradox had appeared on the Pennsylvania scene with a series of two-hour live sets.

Paradox's work has now come out on more than 25 labels, including 4 Hero's legendary Reinforced Records, LTJ Bukem's Good Looking, Certificate 18, Partisan, Renegade Hardware, Timeless, Total Science's CIA, Blame's 720 Degrees, Danny Breaks' Droppin' Science, Vibez Recordings, Twisted Funk, Toshiba-EMI, Ninebar, Sonica, 2000 Black, Sheebeen, the Dutch label Rush Hour Records, New York's Offshore Recordings and the Italian Archive Records.

Paradox continues to collaborate with musicians such as Seba, DJ Nucleus, EZ Rollers, Flytronix, Subject 13 and Volcov. In March this year his collaboration with Nucleus produced the LP The Esoteric Funk, released on Reinforced Records.

His remix work includes 4 Hero for Talkin Loud / Mercury, Yasushi Ide for Warner Brothers, Boom Boom Satellites for Sony / Epic, LTJ Bukem for Good Looking, and Justice, James Hardway, NXS, Blue and Trax for Lacerba, Konami Arcades, Sony PlayStation and the Japanese manga cartoon company Marine Entertainment / Avex Inc.

Alongside his studio work, Dev Paradox tours actively, taking his live show around the world. Over the years he has played in the United States, East Asia, Eastern Europe and Japan. On 13 March 2004 Paradox will appear as a guest at the All-Russian Drum&Bass Convention '004 at Port Club, where he will present his live set to a Russian audience.