Gesaffelstein

French record producer and DJ (born 1987)

Gesaffelstein
Gesaffelstein at Amnesia, Ibiza in 2012
Background information
Birth name	Mike Lévy
Born	(1987-06-13) June 13, 1987 (age 33) Lyon, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France
Genres	Tech house industrial techno electro house electronica witch house EBM classical synthwave R&B alternative R&B hip hop
Occupation(s)	Musician songwriter record producer DJ
Instruments	Keyboards synthesizer sampler programming piano drums percussion guitar bass guitar
Years active	2008–present
Labels	Parlophone Columbia OWSLA Bromance Zone Turbo
Associated acts	The Weeknd Pharrell Williams Daft Punk Kanye West Jean-Michel Jarre The Hacker Brodinski Electric Youth Haim
Website	gesaffelstein.com

Mike Lévy (French pronunciation: ​[majk levi]; born June 13, 1987),^[1][2][3] known professionally as Gesaffelstein (German pronunciation: [ɡəˈzafl̩ʃtaɪ̯n]), is a French musician, DJ, songwriter and record producer from Lyon. He has worked alongside artists as varied as The Weeknd, Daft Punk, Kanye West, A$AP Rocky, Electric Youth, Haim, Miss Kittin, The Hacker, Jean-Michel Jarre and Pharrell Williams.

Name

Gesaffelstein is a portmanteau of Gesamtkunstwerk ("total artwork" in German, also title of an album by the American electro group Dopplereffekt) and Albert Einstein.^[4][5]

Career

Mike Lévy was born in Lyon, France, in June 1987. He started producing music at the age of sixteen when he first played an analog synthesizer.^[6] He released his first EP in 2008 through the label OD Records. In 2009, he founded with The Hacker, Alex Reynaud and David Rimokh, the independent label Zone.^[7]

In July 2012, Gesaffelstein made the cover of DJ Mag with Brodinski.^[8] The same year, his track "Viol" was used by Citroën and Givenchy advertisings.^[9] He co-produced two tracks on Yeezus, the sixth album of American rapper Kanye West, including the lead single "Black Skinhead" and "Send It Up", both tracks produced with Kanye West, Daft Punk, Brodinski and Mike Dean.^[10] On October 28, 2013, Gesaffelstein released his debut album Aleph under Parlophone Records and OWSLA (in North America only), which had been recorded since 2011.^[11] His remix of "Shockwave" by The Hacker is featured in the 2013 video game Grand Theft Auto V, on the Soulwax FM radio station.

In 2015, Gesaffelstein released the single "Conquistador" in collaboration with Jean-Michel Jarre, which is present on the album Electronica 1: The Time Machine.^[12] He also produced the soundtrack for the French-Belgian 2015 film Maryland, directed by Alice Winocour. In early 2018, he produced the tracks "I Was Never There" and "Hurt You" from The Weeknd's My Dear Melancholy, EP.^[13]

Gesaffelstein signed to Columbia Records in November 2018, with whom he released the lead single "Reset" from his second studio album Hyperion in the same month.^[14] In January 2019, he released a collaboration with The Weeknd titled "Lost in the Fire" as the second single from Hyperion,^[15] and later in March 2019 released another collaboration with Pharrell Williams titled "Blast Off".^[16] Hyperion was released on March 8, 2019 to mixed reviews.^[17][18] On October 3, 2019, Gesaffelstein announced his surprise EP Novo Sonic System, consisting of 6 tracks, which was released the following day.^[19]

Musical style

Mixmag describes Gesaffelstein's style as being a "dark and threatening techno, though enchanting";^[20] The Inrocks see it as "black, ultra-violent music, [which] revives the techno fundamentals, the intransigence of Underground Resistance, the mental and obsessive structures of Drexciya, the contemporary power and more".^[6] Megan Buerger from the Washington Post describes his style has a mixture of dark and underground music, and notes that a specialty of the artist is his use of silences to create a "tension" before a "raucous explosion of bass and percussion".^[21]

Rolling Stone magazine sees his music as being "a little more aggressive and punk-rock than normal".^[22]

Influences

Gesaffelstein cites as references Dopplereffekt, Kraftwerk, but also new wave formations from the 80s such as D.A.F. or Nitzer Ebb. He also appreciates Joy Division and The Hacker also influenced him a lot.^[5]

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Details	Chart positions
		FRA [23]	BEL(Fl) [24]	BEL(Wa) [25]	SWI [26]	USDance [27]	USHeat. [28]
Aleph	Released: October 28, 2013 Label: Parlophone, OWSLA Formats: CD, LP, digital download	30	77	66	95	16	50
Hyperion	Released: March 8, 2019 Label: Columbia Formats: CD, digital download	92 [29]	—	—	—	10	—

Extended plays

Title	Details
Vengeance Factory	Released: February 22, 2008 Label: OD
Modern Walk	Released: June 25, 2009 Label: OD
The Operator[30]	Released: November 30, 2009 Label: ZONE
Variations[31]	Released: November 5, 2010 Label: Turbo Recordings
Conspiracy Pt. 1[32]	Released: April 25, 2011 Label: Turbo Recordings
Conspiracy Pt. 2[33]	Released: July 18, 2011 Label: Turbo Recordings
Crainte / Errance[34] (with The Hacker)	Released: May 9, 2011 Label: ZONE
Bromance #4: Rise of Depravity[35]	Released: July 9, 2012 Label: Bromance
Novo Sonic System[36]	Released: October 4, 2019 Label: Columbia

Soundtracks

Title	Details
Maryland (Disorder): Original Motion Picture Soundtrack[37]	Released: September 11, 2015 Label: Parlophone, Warner Music France

Singles

As lead artist

Title	Year	Chart positions										Certifications	Album
		FRA [23]	AUS [38]	BEL(Fl) [24]	CAN [39]	DEN [40]	GER [41]	NLD [42]	SWE [43]	UK [44]	US [45]
"Pursuit"[46]	2013	96	—	[A]	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		Aleph
"Hate or Glory"[48]		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
"Conquistador"[12] (with Jean-Michel Jarre)	2015	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		Electronica 1: The Time Machine
"Reset"[49]	2018	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		Hyperion
"Lost in the Fire" (with The Weeknd)	2019	78	24	43	14	17	49	60	9	9	27	ARIA: Gold[50] BPI: Silver[51] MC: Gold[52] RIAA: Gold[53]
"Blast Off"[54] (with Pharrell Williams)		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

As featured artist

Title	Year	Chart positions								Album
		FRA [23]	AUS [38]	CAN [39]	DEN [40]	GER [41]	NLD [42]	SWE [43]	US [45]
"In Distress" (A$AP Rocky featuring Gesaffelstein)	2014	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Divergent: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
"Hurt You" (The Weeknd featuring Gesaffelstein)	2018	103	37	17	32	85	63	33	43	My Dear Melancholy
"I Was Never There" (The Weeknd featuring Gesaffelstein)		112	40	12	37	91	67	40	35

Other charted songs

Title	Year	Chart positions		Album
		USDance [55]	FRA [23]
"Aleph"	2013	-	200	Aleph
"So Bad" (featuring Haim)	2019	50	-	Hyperion

Other appearances

Title	Year	Album
"Control Movement"[56]	2011	Bromance #1
"Calling from the Stars" (with Miss Kittin)	2013	Calling from the Stars

Songwriting, production and technical credits

Title	Year	Artist(s)	Album	Occupation(s)
"Black Skinhead"	2013	Kanye West	Yeezus	Additional producer
"Send It Up"				Songwriter, co-producer
"The New International Sound"[57]	2014	GENER8ION	Homieland, Vol. 1	Mixer
"Euphoria"[58] (featuring Remy Banks)	2016	Boys Noize	Mayday	Composer, writer
"Fior di Latte"	2017	Phoenix	Ti Amo	Assistance

Remixes

Track	Year	Artist(s)	Title
"So Glad"	2009	I Am the Cosmos	Gesaffelstein Remix
"Lump"		F+S
"Les Enfants"	2010	Cassius
"Body of Eyes"		Sei A	Gesaffelstein Violation Remix
"Heliochrome"		Chateau Marmont	Gesaffelstein Remix
"New Disco Beat"		David Carretta
"What's the Point"		Ali Renault
"All You Need"	2011	Miss Kittin
"ZZafrika"		ZZT
"The Day"		Moby
"All You Need Is Techno"		Arnaud Rebotini
"Speechless" (featuring Carl Craig & La Scalars)		Agoria
"Big Bad Wolf"		Duck Sauce
"Hilinner"		Crackboy
"Blue Jeans"	2012	Lana Del Rey
"Lemonade"		Boys Noize & Erol Alkan
"Shockwave"		The Hacker
"Cover Your Eyes" (featuring Wave Machines)		The Shoes
"Rocket Number 9"		Zombie Zombie
"The Black Brad Pitt" (featuring Danny Brown)		Evil Nine
"Aftermaths"		VCMG
"Helix"	2013	Justice	Gesaffelstein Vision Remix
"Jacques in the Box"		Laurent Garnier	Brodinski & Gesaffelstein Dirty Sprite Remix
"Goodbye"		Depeche Mode	Gesaffelstein Remix
"Bankrupt!"	2014	Phoenix
"Hate or Glory"		Gesaffelstein
"A Palé"[59]	2020	Rosalía

Notes

1. "Pursuit" did not enter the Ultratop 50 chart, but peaked at number 83 on the Ultratip chart.^[47]

References

1. "Birthdays: June 13". Houston Chronicle. June 13, 2018. DJ/producer Gesaffelstein is 31
2. "Celebrity birthdays for June 13, 2017". The Mercury News. June 13, 2017. DJ/producer Gesaffelstein is 30
3. Battan, Carrie (March 25, 2019). "Gesaffelstein's Dance Music Punctures the Coachella Bubble". Mike Lévy, a thirty-one-year-old Frenchman who records as Gesaffelstein
4. Makarechi, Kia (December 5, 2013). "Gesaffelstein Produces For Kanye, Embarks On Live Tour And Keeps A Few Secrets". Huffington Post. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
5. "Main Square Festival 2014 : Gesaffelstein, qui es-tu ?". France 3. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
6. Géraldine Sarratia. "Gesaffelstein, nouveau prince de la techno française". Les Inrocks..
7. "Zone : le noir label de The Hacker et Gesaffelstein fête ses 10 ans - Tsugi". Tsugi. March 26, 2019.
8. "French new wave! Brodinski & Gesaffelstein bring the Bromance to SW4". DJ Mag. July 2012.^{[permanent dead link]}.
9. "Musique de la pub Citroën DS4 – Just Mat". reclame.fr..
10. Caramanica, Jon (December 5, 2013). "Gesaffelstein, a.k.a. Mike Levy, at Webster Hall". The New York Times.
11. "Gesaffelstein's Debut Album 'Aleph' - Out Now!". EDM Sauce. January 17, 2019.
12. "Gesaffelstein & Jean-Michel Jarre Collaborate For 'Conquistador'". Harder Blogger Faster. April 20, 2015. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
13. Meadow, Matthew (March 29, 2018). "BREAKING: The Weeknd Calls On Skrillex, Daft Punk, Gesaffelstein & More For New EP [MUST LISTEN]". Your EDM. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
14. Gesaffelstein Returns, Signs to Columbia Pitchfork
15. "The Weeknd's Got Everyone Excited Teasing New Music 'Lost In The Fire'". Capital. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
16. "Gesaffelstein & Pharrell Williams Go Pop In The Shadows On 'Blast Off': Watch". Billboard. Retrieved March 9, 2019.
17. "Gesaffelstein's 'Hyperion' Is a Moody Mix Of Pop, Goth & Cinematic Scores: Listen". Billboard. Retrieved March 9, 2019.
18. Larry Fitzmaurice (March 12, 2019). "Gesaffelstein – Hyperion". Pitchfork. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
19. "Gesaffelstein surprises fans with new EP, 'NOVO SONIC SYSTEM'". Dancing Astronaut. October 3, 2019.
20. Bridget Mills-Powell. "Brodinski: the family guy". Mixmag. Archived from the original on October 2, 2012. Retrieved January 9, 2019..
21. Buerger, Megan (August 31, 2012). "Gesaffelstein album review: 'Rise of Depravity'". pp. WW.6..
22. Skrillex (May 31, 2012). "Who Should Be Big". p. 24. .
23. "lescharts.com - Discographie Gesaffelstein". lescharts.com.
24. "Discografie Gesaffelstein". Ultratop. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
25. "Discographie Gesaffelstein". Ultratop. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
26. "Discographie Gesaffelstein". hitparade.ch. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
27. "Gesaffelstein Chart History: Dance/Electronic Albums". Billboard. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
28. "Gesaffelstein Chart History: Heatseekers Albums". Billboard. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
29. "Le Top de la semaine : Top Albums Fusionnes – SNEP (Week 11, 2019)" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved March 18, 2019.
30. "Zone 1: The Operator - Single by Gesaffelstein on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
31. "Turbo 093 - Variations par Gesaffelstein sur Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
32. "Turbo 099 - Conspiracy Pt.1 - Single par Gesaffelstein sur Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
33. "Conspiracy, Pt. 2 - Single by Gesaffelstein on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
34. "Zone 4: Crainte / Errance - Single by Gesaffelstein & The Hacker on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
35. "Bromance #4: Rise of Depravity - Single by Gesaffelstein on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
36. "Novo Sonic System - EP by Gesaffelstein on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
37. "Maryland (Disorder) [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] - Album by Gesaffelstein on Apple Music". iTunes Store. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
38. "Discography Gesaffelstein". australian-charts.com. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
39. "Gesaffelstein Chart History: Canadian Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
40. "Discography Gesaffelstein". danishcharts.dk. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
41. "Diskografie Gesaffelstein". offiziellecharts.de. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
42. "Discografie Gesaffelstein". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
43. "Discography Gesaffelstein". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
44. "Gesaffelstein ft Weeknd | full Official Chart history". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
45. "Gesaffelstein Chart History: Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
46. "Pursuit - Single by Gesaffelstein on Apple Music". iTunes Store. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
47. "Gesaffelstein – Pursuit". Ultratop. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
48. "Hate or Glory (Radio Edit) - Single par Gesaffelstein sur Apple Music". iTunes Store. Retrieved June 4, 2019.
49. "Reset - Single by Gesaffelstein on Apple Music". iTunes Store. Retrieved February 18, 2019.
50. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2019 Singles". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
51. "BRIT Certified - bpi" (To access, enter the search parameter "Gesaffelstein"). British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved February 2, 2020.
52. "Gold/Platinum - Gesaffelstein". Music Canada. Retrieved June 13, 2019.
53. "Gold/Platinum: Gesaffelstein - RIAA". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved June 13, 2019.
54. "Blast Off - Single by Gesaffelstein & Pharrell Williams on Apple Music". iTunes Store. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
55. "Gesaffelstein Chart History: Dance/Electronic Songs". Billboard. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
56. "Bromance #1 - Single - Single by Gesaffelstein & Brodinski on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
57. "Album Bromance Presents Homieland vol.1, Various Artists - Qobuz: download and streaming in high quality". Qobuz. Retrieved August 2, 2020.
58. "Album Mayday, Boys Noize - Qobuz: download and streaming in high quality". Qobuz. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
59. "A Palé (Gesaffelstein Remix) - Single by Gesaffelstein & ROSALÍA on Apple Music". iTunes Store. Retrieved January 6, 2020.

External links

• Official website
• Gesaffelstein discography at Discogs