#SOTD: Moritz Simon Geist - “Grams”

image courtesy of Moritz Simon Geist

Last week German media artist Moritz Simon Geist unveiled his latest piece, GRAMS, a collaborative short film with filmmaker Robert Arnold. GRAMS takes you through a brief dystopian journey through dance, color & weirdness.

After entering cyber-reality through a portal, the protagonist (played by Gero Dumrath) seeks solace in a vibrant, weird and drug-infused reality, filled with dance and distorted vision. The short film is soundtracked by Geist, who leveraged his electronic music making robots to create the dark downtempo distortion-laden dance track, incorporating AI-vocals courtesy of Portraitxo and dadabots. The Videowork was produced in Dresden, Germany between 2020 and 2022, and features dancers Charles A. Washington and Jule Öft.

5 Videos To Help You Coast Your Way Through Your Friday Afternoon

Friday afternoon got me like.

Let’s be real, you have no interest in doing any real work on Friday afternoon. If you’re like me it’s a fun challenge to see just how little work you can do but still look like you’re being productive.

If you’re at a loss of worthwhile distractions, fear not. I’ve got just the distract-a-thon for you!

‘Black Mirror pop’ artist Big Data released this 10-ish minute trailer for his latest single, “Monster” and it’s as delightfully dystopian as one could expect from our AI obsessed friend.

My latest obsession in life is the YouTube series Two Minutes To Late Night, which is a metal late night talk show featuring backing band Mutoid Man and is hosted by fictional character Gwarsenio Hall (played by Jordan Olds). I happened to sporadically attend one of their tapings at legendary metal club Saint Vitus and have been hooked on the show ever since. Anyway, like all late night talk shows the episodes feature pre-recorded sketches and the second installment of their Poseur Cops sketch will have you laughing until you’re crying. The nice thing about 2M2LN is you don’t really have to be a huge metal fan to feel like you’re in on the jokes, so music fans of all genres can appreciate their brand of humor.

If you enjoyed the techo-making robots created by artist Moritz Simon Geist and want to see an in-depth look at his cute little music making machines, this behind the scenes video is super informative.

Casual fans of Gorillaz will appreciate this super detailed recap of the Gorillaz universe from their early beginnings to present day. This dude is so thorough with the band’s timeline that while I feel a little guilty that I haven’t spent more time immersing myself in the band’s carefully crafted world, I do have a much stronger appreciation with how just much effort goes into the project.

Y’all know I try to encourage people to love Beck as much as I do as often as possible so I’m rounding out my reccos for today with a close examination of one of Beck’s wackier videos (and we know he’s good for the weird stuff) for his single, “Sexx Laws”, off his 1999 album, Midnite Vultures. I always knew that Beck went super deep with his weirdness, but the painfully obscure inspiration he references in “Sexx Laws” based on what this guy pulled up just further prove that he is my weird cool dad and I hope that maybe one day I might be even half as awesome as him.

[WATCH] Moritz Simon Geist Makes Techno With Music Robots

Hey! Wanna see something that will break your fucking brain? 

I have had to sit on this video for an entire week and basically since I saw it I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. 

My two favorite things have collided courtesy of Moritz Simon Geist, an electrical engineer turned musician based in Germany. From his upcoming debut EP, The Material Turn (out on October 12), please feast your eyes and ears on his first offering, "Entropy", which I am having trouble not watching for the 30th time while writing about this. For this EP, Geist has built robots to act as his musical instruments to make techno music. As in, there are no synths or traditional instruments involved (unless you count the "drone guitar," which is essentially a motor attached to an electric guitar). 

Robots. Making. Techno.

CAN YOU EVEN HANDLE YOURSELF RIGHT NOW!? BECAUSE I CANNOT!

I think the thing that I love the most about this is how he's managed to bring a deeply tangible aspect into electronic music through this project. As the music making process becomes increasingly simplified, the performance aspect, especially in electronic music, has a problem of essentially being a table, a laptop, and confetti cannons/LED screens/etc. Don't get me wrong, I love a good dance party, but I feel like a lot of times we take the craftsmanship that goes into these records for granted because the only way to make a live show interesting is to add pyrotechnics. I am now more upset than I was previously about not making it to Moogfest this past year because I would KILL to see this live. I know I'd be conflicted about dancing to this because I'd be taking my eyes off him tuning a robot who plays water glasses. Or would I be more entranced watching little styrofoam balls pulsating through a cylinder as a "pneumatic hi-hat" of sorts that I'd forget to dance? I DON'T KNOW BUT I WOULD LOVE TO FIND OUT! 

okay imma stop talking now WATCH THIS!!

Now that you're obsessed too, you can go pre-order this EP over on Bandcamp. There's also a full-length (!!!!) coming November 16th that's appropriately titled Robotic Electronic Music. Meanwhile, if you want to see how some of these dope robots are made, you can watch the below behind the scenes video. 

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE!