States of Play

MUSIC & BANDS

 

LINEUP 2025:

Dodó Kis – Recorder
Valentín Garvie
– Trumpet
Jonas Engel
– Sax
Johannes Schwarz
– Fagott
Carl Ludwig Hübsch
– Tuba
Fe Fritschi – Accordion
Tiziana Bertoncini – Violin
Carolin Pook
– Violin
Axel Lindner
– Viola
Philip Zoubek
– Piano / Synth
Christian Lorenzen
– Synth, Transducer
Sebastian Gramss
– Double bass
Thomas Sauerborn
– Drums
Enyalios Papadopoulos
– Percussion
Dirk Rothbrust
– Percussion

„Magische Klänge von größter Schönheit“ (RNZ, Mannheim)
.

upcoming concerts:

STATES OF PLAY – Urschall HΞLIX: Superposition
05.12.25 Köln / Alte Feuerwache 20h
06.12.25 Wuppertal / Loch 20h

NEWS: New album trilogy is out now
Meteors – HΞLIX / Risset: Protokol I

States Of Play – HΞLIX / Risset: Protokol II
Sebastian Gramss SEEDS – HΞLIX / Risset: Protokol III
Listen, download, order on Bandcamp

STATES OF PLAY

Wie klingt eine Musik, die sich ständig in vermeintlich endlosen Spiralen verlangsamt oder verschnellert ?
Mit der HELIX wird Zeit in Musik ganz neu definiert – Intuitiv, mit komplexer Schönheit.

HΞLIX / Risset: Protocol II

(Rent A Dog, 2025)
order CD or download from Bandcamp

URSCHALL Repercussions

(Rent A Dog, 2023)
order CD or download from Bandcamp

Subsonic

(Rent A Dog, 2021)
order CD or download from Bandcamp

States of Play live at moers festival LP

(limited edition, Rent A Dog, 2019)
order LP or download on Bandcamp

Out & About

(Rent A Dog, 2018)
order CD or download on Bandcamp

 
STATES OF PLAY / METEORS

Meteors are the spin-off sextet of the larger STATES OF PLAY ensemble.
It’s a compact sextet line-up:
Leonhard Huhn – Sax
Jonas Engel – Sax
Philip Zoubek – Piano / Synth
Christian Lorenzen – Keyboards / Moog / Synth
Sebastian Gramss – Double Bass / Composition
Dominik Mahnig – Drums
+ Stephan Vester – Klangregie / Live FX
find out more…

EARLIER WORK:
HUMAN ROBOTIC ENSEMBLE (2020)

Four human and four robotic musicians playing together.

A challenge: What happens when intuition, impulsiveness and emotionality meet algorithms, deep learning and programmed codes?

The HUMAN ROBOTIC ENSEMBLE attempts a dialogue at eye level. The
result is an encounter in which the boundaries between artificial intelligence
and human creativity blur. In which no distinction is made between what is felt, conceived, conceived by humans or analyzed, calculated and calculated by software. An encounter in which the joint audible result is clearly more than the sum of the individual parts.

The live interaction raises questions: How creative can robots be? How quickly do they “understand” and read the resulting musical situations? What can AI mean for our creativity
in the future? And: What does artificial intelligence actually sound like? In the interaction of man and machine, a joint piece of music full of autonomous creativity develops ¬- respectfully, attentively and with subtle depth.

Human Musicians:
Lotte Anker – Soprano Sax.
Nicola L. Hein – Guitar
Sebastian Gramss – Double Bass
Philip Zoubek – Piano

Robotic Musicians:
Helio (Logos Foundation)
Vitello (Logos Foundation)
Tubo (Logos Foundation)
Yamaha Disklavier

Software/ Composition: Nicola L. Hein
Concept/ Composition: Sebastian Gramss

Project Management: Hanna Behr
Robot Engineering: Godfried-Willem Raes (https://logosfoundation.org/)
Robot Support: Kristof Lauwers

Premiere: October 3rd, 2020, Kunststation St. Peter, Cologne

Supported by: Musikfonds, Kulturstiftung des Bundes, NRW Kultursekretariat, Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft NRW

PARKOUR (2019)

PARKOUR is actually a sporty, artistic discipline where athletes, regardless of structural conditions and obstacles, are able to cross a city on a direct route. TSebastian Gramss follows the same principle while composing. He moves across the map through sound routes on which he samples ambient sounds and prepares them as playing material for jazz quintet and music robots. An acoustic site visit, which dissolves from postcard views and road traffic regulations and even opens up new, hidden perspectives on the native city of Cologne.
read more…