Alexander Padei - Artist, Producer, DJ

Alexander Padei is a self-produced artist and culture creator who seeks to push beyond the boundaries of independent artistry to a new realm: Interdependence 

At age 19 and still attending Harvard for his undergrad, Padei jump-started his career by co-founding a nightlife company and simultaneously buying his first pair of speakers and DJ mixer. He quickly made a name for himself in both college circles and on the New England club circuit, regularly performing at clubs like NAGA, ROYALE, WHISKEY SAIGON and ASCEND. 

Padei used these experiences to self-fund the development of his music production skills, as well as building his own studio. Eventually, he turned to his childhood / teen experiences as a cellist, singer, guitarist and poet to teach himself to write and sing lyrics over his productions. In the meantime, Padei engaged in various professional roles in marketing and entrepreneurship to refine his non-musical abilities. 

After years of synthesizing a front-to-back skill set in music-craft, Padei introduced himself to Boston's Hip-Hop Scene in the Summer of 2019. Over the course of a year, Padei self-produced a monster-sized collaborative mixtape called F*** IT, WE'LL DO IT OURSELVES. The tape featured 18 artist and guest producers across New England. Padei extended his collaborative abilities beyond the music by directing a 25 minute "visual DJ mix" Mixtape Video, which seamlessly combined music video style visuals of 14 of the songs on the tape with documentary footage. The multimedia campaign captured the streets and the press in equal measure, being hailed by Vanyaland as "...a salute to the strong DIY ethos that permeates the Boston music scene, aiming high in every direction..." 

Today, Padei continues in his role as a culture innovator. He has turned the studio session into a form of entertainment with his show "THE COLD CALL," where he invites a new artist each episode to make a song with him in 5 hours or less on camera. Since the COVID crisis began, Padei has expanded that concept into the realm of Livestreaming, making his story and experience ever more accessible to his fans. Finally, Padei released a solo project called "GOODBYE AND HELLO," which combines 11 songs 100% written/produced by Padei with a self-made documentary / video mixtape that tells Padei's origin story over 45 minutes. 

Padei hopes to continue raising the bar and innovating as a creative. Time will tell where this journey takes him. But all of these experiences share something in common: A thirst for creative self-sufficiency and growth combined with a deep interest in collaborating - and growing with - others. 

In other words: Interdependence

Padeilife S1: Goodbye And Hello

Over the Summer of 2020, Padei launched a 3 month campaign around an 11 - song, self-produced mixtape called "Goodbye And Hello." Over the course of the campaign, Padei dripped out a multi-media array of songs, video performance pieces and livestreams on a weekly basis. Finally, to capstone this "season" of content, Padei released a self-made documentary and performance video that repurposed much of the aforementioned content into one 45 minute video piece, released in three "parts" across 3 weeks. Overall, the project was meant to be a beta test, Padei's first attempt at integrating music-making, visual content and episodic livestreaming into one coherent story.

Ongoing Project: Music Livestreaming

Padei is investing and experimenting heavily in live broadcasting in the brave new world of COVID-19. Through broadcasting services like OBS, Twitch and the like, Padei spent the summer conducting beta tests for a variety of musical live content formats, including live-streaming studio sessions, where he produces and writes entire songs from scratch in front of a live audience. He does so both independently and while collaborating with others through over the cloud. Padei is confident these efforts will pave a new way forward for digital music collaboration.

His recent experiments have also dipped into the live performance space, as Padei tests the delivery of live shows, round table discussions and more, all with high fidelity audio, video and branding.

Ongoing Project: The Cold Call

Padei and his videographer Matt Collamer love making content fast. On The Cold Call, they invite an artist each episode to Padei’s Medford music studio with one goal: Make a dope record in 5 hours. 

No existing material is allowed. Instead, the collaborators must trust where the energy takes them. Over the course of a single episode, they write, produce and record a full collaborative record from scratch in just one session. The record is then released along with the episode. The goal isn’t perfection. The Cold Call is a test of creative agility and collaboration.

The Studio

Padei was always independently minded. All his music releases are self-produced and written. As his career progresses, so does the studio that breathes life into his work. Padei's studio is filled with the signatures of artists who have been to his studio in the past (That number is closer to 100 than 0, at this point). 

Now, with the shifts taking place due to COVID-19, Padei has upgraded the lighting and installed camera equipment to support live studio sessions over the cloud. He is also developing a small, live performance space, designed to enable live-streamed performances for himself and other artists, as well.