Textures and atmospheres come together with skilled beat composition whenever Gesaffelstein takes the stage. Born Mike Levy, this Sun City Music Festival talent stands apart from the current techno scene in Paris because of his dark, yet energetic approach to production.
Born in Lyon, France, this 28-year old was feeding his musical reference library since the 90s, finding a love of electronic music born from Punk and New Wave. “In the beginning I’d never thought of doing music, I was always more into art but it always seemed like an inaccessible goal for the long-term. The first time I heard techno was when I was around 13 or 14 years old, listening to CDs that I found in my sisters bedroom. It wasn’t a sudden thing but little by little I began buying records, not mixing yet as that came through a friend who had decks at his house. At around sixteen I began to get interested in production. Being a producer was something that I could see a future in for myself,” Levy recalls in an interview.
Though he admittedly made many mistakes when he was younger, music had long been something he prided himself on. “I did a lot of stupid things in my youth and hadn’t really done anything with my life so when I found this thing, music, I said to myselfthat I had to concentrate on it because I was passionate about it.” And it wouldn’t be long before he found a ní®che in techno. “Pretty quickly I got into techno andimmediately wanted to know about its origins. I was interested in disco but I really fell in love with New Wave and industrial music from the 80s.” It is that style, currently, that Levy is inspired by, juxtaposing techno with crisp rhythms and dissonant tones creating a “dance metal” sound.
His first EP Vengeance Factory released in 2008 on OD Records was well received to much critical acclaim, and in 2010, Levy signed to the revered Turbo Records, releasing his Variations EP and later, releasing his Conspiracy Part 1 EP in 2011. Although, if you ask him, a producing DJ was never in the cards. “It wasn’t a clear objective to become a DJ/producer, it came more naturally. I have always been very faithful to my first music influences such as New Wave and the electro from Detroit. Today, I’m listening to less and less of ‘entertaining’ music. I’m not listening to music on an iPod in the street or in the tubes… And when I listen to a track that I love, I don’t listen to it a thousand times, I just need to go in my studio and I try to produce something better.”
Mixing the German word gesamkunstwerk meaning total art work with the surname of visonary Albert Einstein, Gesaffelstein will bring his innovative and atmospheric dark techno sound to Sun City Music Festival this August 31st September 1st. Tickets are still available online and in stores!
