Born and raised in the Detroit area, Lawrence was surrounded by classic electronic music from an early age. He began recording his own productions in 1986, and moved to a downtown loft by 1992 to pursue a serious recording career with a collective of DJs and musicians. After contacting Hawtin to release some of their material however, the collective disbanded. Lawrence persevered and began recording for Hawtin's Plus-8 Records with a 1996 full-length, Nano.
The album reflected the continuing global influence of Basic Channel, a combination label/artist concern centered in Berlin. The city had long fostered a close kinship Detroit, with the focus on echo-chamber dub and polar electronics also becoming evident in Hawtin's work as Plastikman. The development of a Plus-8 subsidiary named Minus (or M_nus) appeared well-suited for Theorem work. During 1998, Lawrence released a four EPs in the TH series. Much of the work was compiled on CD the following year when Theorem's second full-length, Ion, appeared in May 1999. ~ John Bush, Rovi