“What’s a paper diamond?” is as valid a question as asking what one might sound like. Signed to Pretty Light Music as well as running his own gambit-running label, Elm and Oak, is the genre-bending, spectrum-broadening electronic music dance producer Paper Diamond.

The producer has opened for the likes of Pretty Lights and Bassnectar and returns to Chicago now for his first North Coast Music Fest follow-up. He is preparing for his already sold-out headlining performance at the Bottom Lounge this Friday, Jan. 27 with The M Machine. Anticipating the release of his second EP, “Paragon,” under the Paper Diamond moniker, his tour stop in Chicago as well as his upcoming festival slots, Alex Botwin spoke over the phone with The DePaulia about his career.

The DePaulia (TD): What do you like about playing in Chicago?

Alex Botwin (AB): I love Chicago. Really my favorite show that I’ve played there so far was, I got to play at North Coast recently. And that as just ridiculous. I love coming to Chicago. Through other bands and everything I’ve been to Chicago a couple times, and I love a lot of the city aspects and getting to go around and see like the cool record stores and Saint Alfreds and all kinds of stuff around the city. And so I definitely like that. I feel like Chicago has a strong culture and I’ve got a lot of friends there. Me and my parents have even stayed there for a period of time. I have a lot of strong connections to Chicago, so for me to be able to come back and do a show, I mean, honestly, it’s one of the most anticipated shows of the tour for me personally.

TD: You’ve gone through a few different incarnations as a musician: you were a bassist in a group, you have your own solo thing and then another solo thing as Paper Diamond. How did you land where you are now?

AB: Well, one sense of the answer is that I do everything I do for the love of music, and I’m an artist through and though. So the visual representation of music, the music itself, the videography, photography, design, branding, identity– it’s like all these things, it’s all intertwined for me. I grew up playing instruments; I started playing violin when I was four, I moved into playing guitar, bass, drums and piano when I was 12 and 13, I’ve been in bands […] then I was going to a studio school and then computer design school, and that’s what I went to college for. Then I dropped out of college when I was 19 to pursue a career as a musician and I’ve been a professional touring musician since. So for me, I think the different incarnations come from different necessities of mine to release all kinds of different music, and I try to be a super versatile producer that can make any kind of music. I landed on [Paper Diamond] because I had been looking for some kind of moniker that separated me from my music a little bit more, gave me a little bit artistic freedom, in a way that I could visually represent differently. I was in a band called Pnuma, and at the time, it was pretty cutting-edge to do electronic music with a live band. There weren’t many people doing that, so to me at the time, that was cutting-edge […] and I was kind of branded with my name, Alex B, as like a down-tempo, hip-hop kind of project. I just wanted something to give some artistic separation between me and my art.

TD: So there was never a moment when it was like, “A-ha, this is what I’m going so,” it was just one continuous path for you?

AB: I think when I was like a little baby, I wanted to be a pediatrician. And then I was like, “wait a minute.” I mean, I’m 28 years old now, I’ve been literally working on nothing but music and artwork since I was 19 years old, professionally. And now I own an art gallery and I own a company called Elm and Oak. I mean along with being associated with Pretty Lights Music, who’s a friend of mine and helps support my music, I own a label called Elm and Oak, which means Explosive Limited Merchandise and One Of A Kind. We have a physical location in Boulder, CO, it’s a beautiful gallery where we have a one-legged table in the back that everyone works at, with crazy, design stuff. It’s cool to be able to not only be part of the music but have all these amazing designers and illustrators and photographers and videographers working on my team, not just for me, but all my friends as well. And there are several artists that we manage and release their records, like this band called Cherub out of Nashville. They actually played a late-night at North Coast. They kind of sound like MGMT meets Prince in the body of two white guys. We do all different kinds of music, like the band Two Fresh on Elm and Oak, and it’s great to be able to have young artists and give them a way to support themselves and be able to pursue their dreams and cultivate a career out of their art.

TD: It’s awesome you’re so hands-on behind the scenes, and in front of the scenes, all the different aspects of the industry.

AB: Thanks, I’m very passionate about it, the music industry as a whole and just music itself and everything. It really concerns me, it’s my life. It’s a daily thing of working on music and traveling and playing music. Since I’ve started up the Paper Diamond thing, which has been a year ago, Jan. 1, my first show was opening up for Bassnectar on New Year’s Eve, it’s been crazy, just nonstop movement. I’m excited to see what happens this year because the schedule just keeps piling up, and I keep being like, “let’s go!”

TD: How would you describe the genre of Paper Diamond?

AB: I would say it’s a barrage of genres because I understand there’s a bunch of different kinds of genres and I feel like I can make anything. So I’m going to make some, you know, hip-hop tracks or some dubstep tracks or some electro house tracks or some robotic beats, but the thing with me is that I come from being a musician so I feel as though music is a conversation, and that’s what they teach you in music school, that every instrument in itself within this bigger piece is a voice, and together you create this conversation. Music for me is my voice and at times it’s an onslaught of atonal sound that’s like I’m creating melody lines that have meaning and tell a story. So it’s a mixture of all these new genres, you know, moombahton and all these other things that I embrace all these different genres of music and basically do what I do with it and create something that’s me. It’s not my version of it, but it’s an incarnation of it.

TD: What are some things you’re exciting about on your upcoming EP, “Paragon”?

AB: That’s almost done, I’m working on the last track. You can download “Levitate” for free from Pretty Lights Music, and all the music that I release is free with Paper Diamond. The new “Paragon” record has some great singers on there and some MCs and I’m working on the last track. It’s a very dancey record, even moreso than the last, but there’s still a wide array of styles and genres all blended together.

TD: Are you going to play some of that next weekend?

AB: Oh definitely. I have something very special planned for Chicago.

TD: What’s one artist that you tend to keep your eye open for?

AB: Well there’s several, I’m obsessed with music, so it’s changing all the time. I mean, in our scene, I listen to everybody’s new stuff. Lorin’s (Bassnectar) and Derek’s (Pretty Lights) new stuff, Porter [Robinson] and Zedd, and I really like Dillon Francis, a lot. Recently, honestly, I’ve been into to rap music, A$AP Rocky, Wiz Khalifa, all kinds of different stuff like that. I like Little Dragon, Toro Y Moi, it’s a pretty wide spectrum of music that I listen to on a daily basis. Oh, and Big Gigantic, definitely, I’m really excited about their new record that just came out. Dominic is a good friend of mine and I taught him how to make music on a computer. He’s a phenomenal musician, but when he was starting Big Gigantic, he came over every day for almost a year and I showed him like the ins and outs of making computer music. So it’s been cool to see him prosper, and Big Gigantic is doing such amazing things. All the people from Colorado, I feel like Colorado really has a strong musician community and it’s great to everybody thriving.

TD: Who are some artists you look up to?

AB: I really want to work with Yukimi from Little Dragon. I think when you saw who do I look up to, it’s really more like who I want to collab with. I’d say the singer from Little Dragon, Yukimi, I love her. I pretty much say that in every interview, I’m just waiting for her to be down. There’s so many people, I feel like I’m just getting started in this whole thing and I’ve been a musician for so long, but this is the first time when I’m really just getting to do whatever I want to so and really have a good time on tour and at my shows. So it’s reflected in the music because I’m making a lot of it and it feels right right now and so I’m really excited about the touring aspect. I feel like the live show is better than it’s ever been; I’ve had even close friends be like, you know, this is a whole other level of everything. I’m excited to bring that to Chicago.

TD: How do you define success? Do you consider yourself successful?

AB: Definitely. I think success is measured in happiness. If you’re having fun and loving what you do, then you’re successful. I’m grateful for every show that I get to do, whether it be a huge festival, which I’ve been lucky enough to play a bunch of this last summer, and next summer, it’s just going to be insane, or club shows or whatever, it’s just, it’s amazing to go and be able to make people happy and inspire people. For me, it’s jut like having somebody leave my show and be inspired to make music on their own and express themselves artistically, that means everything. That’s why I’m doing it. So I feel extremely successful and blessed to have that and my own business, the store, my crew, and to be able to have all my other friends touring and doing their thing. The answer is yes.