May 17, 2024

Skylight Webzine

Online since 2000

DJ and Producer CONVERSE BASIN Unveils a New Side of His Musical Personality with His New DUALITY EP

3 min read

CONVERSE BASIN is the moniker of California-based DJ and producer James Converse. CONVERSE BASIN sings, plays guitar, and has been a house DJ for 20 years, drawing from a wide variety of influences to fuse his passions for dance, techno, electronic, and indie music. A pandemic hobby that turned into a way of life, CONVERSE BASIN began releasing his own original music as a series of singles in 2022. A slight departure from the more chill vibes found on those songs, CONVERSE BASIN has compiled a set of darker, more danceable tracks for the DJs with his new DUALITY EP set for release September 30, 2022!

CONVERSE BASIN’s music uses many organic sounds, but he also uses human sounds which he then converts to synthesizers, resulting in a very human-like and familiar synth sound. The DUALITY EP is a heartfelt and personal release for CONVERSE BASIN. Musically it tells the story of a person who has trauma, goes out to fix it, takes it too far and ends up trying to sleep it off, but can’t…a relatable description of post-pandemic life. 

Mastered by Lucas Michaelski from Lumic Studios in Eastern Europe, the DUALITY EP is more influenced by indie and techno than chill electronic. Mostly instrumentals, the EP features guest vocals from Kat Sweitz on the track “Rude Awakening,” with her deep and edgy voice giving a unique Fiona Apple-esque flavor to the music. CONVERSE BASIN is also soon to release another collaboration with Kat Sweitz on the dubstep track “Siren,” which will also have an official music video release. 

CONVERSE BASIN loves the way dance music makes him feel. He makes tracks for fun, to express himself, and just hopes that it helps him meet interesting people who share the same passions as he begins to travel his musical journey. Now a full-time husband and father of three, CONVERSE BASIN has been amassing his vinyl collection since working at a record store in Rohnert Park in the early 2000s. He DJ’d in Boulder and San Francisco in his early twenties, burgeoning his love for music and traditional media. By 2020 he converted his vinyl collection to digital, went to an online school for music production, and began to learn guitar, taking on influences as varied as The Head and The Heart, Jose Gonzalez, Passion Pit, MGMT, and Miike Snow, to Paul Oakenfold, Sasha & John Digweed, Lane8, Jerro, Yotto, Sultan & Shepard, Shallou, and Attom.

Following the release of the DUALITY EP, CONVERSE BASIN plans to also release a full-length album featuring a more chill collection of music before the year is through. He will be doing a pop-up DJ series out of some national parks in late September and early October which will then be edited down and put on YouTube.

His namesake Converse Basin used to be the largest grove of redwoods in the world, but the lumber companies cut them all down, leaving just one. The story of Converse Basin is a story of how nature and civilization collide, usually leaving nature to lose, but mother nature sometimes fights back. CONVERSE BASIN utilizes a similar juxtaposition in his art to express the clash of nature and civilization.

The DUALITY EP is a featured release on the iTunes electronic pre-order page!

To order or stream the new DUALITY EP please visit: https://lnk.to/ConverseBasinDualityEP

For more information about CONVERSE BASIN please visit: https://conversebasin.com/