Robot Koch aka Robert Koch, is an award winning musician/producer/composer who has lived in Berlin for many years and has moved to Los Angeles in 2013. In the early 2000’s he started his career as a member of the bass-heavy electronica trio Jahcoozi. Since than he has been developing his unique sound creating epic-cinematic moods with electronic soundscapes and massive beats. His music is used for TV shows and movies and he is playing as a solo artist at festivals and shows throughout the US, Europe, Russia and Asia.
FACTS:
1: Electronic music is more than four-on-the-floor.
2: Autodidact.
3: Creating soundscapes.
QUESTIONS:
1. What is the biggest inspiration for your music?
Nature.
2. How and when did you get into making music?
I got into music age 14 when I saw the video ‘Epic’ by Faith No More on MTV. That was the moment when I knew I wanted to make music.
3. What are 5 of your favourite albums of all time?
In no particular order:
Radiohead – Amnesica
Slayer- Reing In Blood
Harold Pudd – Pavillion Of Dreams
Linda Perhacs – Parralelograms
John Coltrane – A Love Supreme
4. What do you associate with Berlin?
Berlin has been my homebase for 13 year. Now I live in L.A., but I still love to visit Berlin. I associate good friends and a large part of my musical life with the city.
5. What’s your favourite place in your town?
In Berlin? I always like to be around nature, so even when I’m in a city I gravitate towards the parks. Viktoriapark and Gleisdreieckpark are my most favorite parks in Berlin.
6. If there was no music in the world, what would you do instead?
Maybe I’d work with plants.
7. What was the last record/music you bought?
Lorn – Remnant
8. Who would you most like to collaborate with?
With a film director like Denis Villeneuve (‘Blade Runner’, ‘Arrival’).
9. What was your best gig (as performer or spectator)?
As a performer I gotta say, that my recent show at the Planetarium in Berlin was one of my best shows. Also my show in Rajasthan, India, where I played for the Magnetic Fields Festival in an old castle in the middle of the desert was a very unique experience.
10. How important is technology to your creative process?
It’s really important but my music is also about balance between technology and nature.
I like to work with organic sounds that are produced by acoustic instruments (like piano or strings) on the one hand but also with futuristic, deep synths elements that embrace technology on the other hand – that’s the balance I seek in my sound. Also, the earthy, grounded approach of being in the moment and the constant pull into the future, where AI’s and Cyborgs are not a far-away reality any more fascinate me as a topic. I think our survival as a species will depend on how well we balance the nature that we`re part of and the technology that we create.
11. Do you have siblings and how do they feel about your career/art?
I do. They are happy about it.
Robot Koch will perform at the Neue Meister concert at DRIVE. Volkswagen Group Forum on 5th November 2018. He will be playing compositions of his new album ‘Otherwhere’ together with Savannah Jo Lack, an Australian violinist and composer. Presale tickets can be purchased here.
Photo © Neil Kryszak
