Playing Games With Coma

Cologne-based electronic duo Coma (aka Marius Bubat and Georg Conrad) recently dropped their album In Technicolor. It's a record of near perfect balance. Nothing is maximalist, but neither is it minimalist. Coinciding with the release of the single, "My Orbit," Coma is premiering a music video that also doubles as a trippy, TRON-esque video game. Designed by Philipp Carbotta, Hannes Hummel and Thilko Limbeck, the game allow users to interact with the glowing geometric shapes as "My Orbit" plays out.

Carbotta, Hummel and Limbeck are students at the Köln International School of Design, who have recently gotten into the field of motion and interactive design. They are interested in pushing the boundaries of new technologies and methods, and this is readily apparent in the "My Orbit" video game. (Check out their video for Pariah's "Signal Loss," in which the trio used a Microsoft Kinect as a 3D scanner.) With the "My Orbit" video game, Carbotta, Hummel and Limbeck used the development platform Unity3D to craft an innovative experience that wouldn't get lost amongst the noise of online videos.

We recently spoke to Coma's Georg Conrad about the "My Orbit" video game, the making of In Technicolor, and Cologne's underground music scene.

THUMP: Let's talk about the "My Orbit" music video game. How did it go from being a music video to a video game?
Georg Conrad: Philipp Carbotta is a friend and neighbor of Marius. We also knew that Philipp, Hannes and Thilko were art students at Köln International School of Design, so we thought he could create something in 3D for "My Orbit." But, when we approached them, they said, "How about doing a video game instead of just a video?" We thought it was a really cool idea, because it's quite common to do just a music video. This was a new approach. A chance to try something else.

The video game is pretty great. It has a retro aesthetic but also looks a bit like the current work of thatgamecompany's title flOw; though Phillip, Hannes and Thilko might not have seen it at all. Flow combines electronic music and sound with these vivid, glowing visuals. It's quite hypnotic.
We were thinking about getting connected with somebody who has an iTunes developer account, who could create an iOS version so you can download it on your iPhone as well. But, we don't have the right person yet, and there's no budget to pay them. I don't know how much it would be to create an iOS version, so we'll see. It's a really easy game. You just fly around and try not to hit things. Did you try it?

Yes, and I died quickly three times in a row, but then caught on.
[Laughs] I messed up as well. There's a bug in the game, though. When you don't do anything at all, you just fly through it.

On "My Orbit," the vocals sound a bit like Black Moth Super Rainbow's vocoded singing. So, instead of sounding robotic, the vocals sound organic and incredibly expressive.
This is a track on which I did the vocals. I showed them to Marius and he said, "I don't know about it. Maybe we have to re-record them to get the maximum effect." So we did that, and decided to play around with the vocals. We took a few samples out of the vocal track and layered them over top. So it's not a vocoder but it sounds like a vocoder. And then we played chords over top of it all.

You guys mentioned that you wanted the new album, In Technicolor, to be really colorful. What exactly did you mean by that and how did you achieve it?
On In Technicolor we tried to find our roots. We don't have the typical techno background like a lot of DJs and touring producers. We did indie rock when we were teenagers, and people often say they can hear it in our music. When you release EPs on an electronic label like Kompakt, you always have in mind that it has to be four-to-the-floor—a little more electronic. But, we tried to focus on being more poppy, playful, and harmonic on the album.

Listening to the album, it has great balance. Many bands now using electronic music production techniques tend to get a bit too maximalist. And then, of course, the sound of Berlin for several years has been minimal. In Technicolor lies somewhere in between.
You're right, we tried to be very organic with the sounds. I think the truth in that is that we don't use many digital samples. We try to record on our own with analogue synthesizers in our studio. I think you have to use a mixture of digital and analogue systems, otherwise it sounds too dry or too clinical.

Did In Technicolor grow out of the EP sessions?
We always wanted to release an album because, as a musician, it's the best way to express one's self. We had EPs on Kompakt before with a few tracks that were already candidates for an album. A perfect example is "Fiction" from our Gravity EP. We really wanted to have that track on the album because we thought it fit. Ultimately, we ended up leaving it off.

Let's talk about the track "Missing Piece." The synths, bell sounds, vocals, and the beat create a really perfect moment on In Technicolor.
When we finished "Missing Piece" we knew it fit perfectly on the album. It's funny because this was the only track on which Marius and I didn't work together in the studio. I had a friend from Finland who was just visiting, and I said, "Let's go to the studio and try a few things," because he's a musician as well. I showed it to Marius, who then sang on the track. Marius pitched his background vocals an octave higher and put them under the main vocal. It already functioned as an instrumental track, but the vocals give it a very cool shift. This was probably the last track we recorded, which is why we called it "Missing Piece."

The album closer, "T.E.D.," is a great endpoint for In Technicolor. It's really colorful and melodic, but also very cathartic. What's your impression of the track?
When we produced "T.E.D.," we were in a really cinematic mood. When you hear it, you have those pictures in mind, as you said. It's cool that you get a certain feeling when you hear it. We knew when we produced it that it would be the end of the album, because it puts you in this mood where you can't say anything else after that.

You mentioned that you and Marius had been in an indie band, and that you approach writing and recording from that perspective. What other music are you listening to right now?
Well, I like Metronomy and Gold Panda a lot. And with the "My Orbit" single release, we got Dauwd to do a remix. We personally like his stuff a lot as well.

When you look for someone to remix a track, are you looking for a remix for the dance floor, or do you want someone to do something really left field and unexpected?
We'd rather try to find people whose music we like. We're not so concerned with it being cool on the dance floor. Of course, we won't ask everyone we like because it depends on how much money they want for a remix. [Laughs] Caribou would be nice, but I guess he's too busy right now or whatever.

Coma is based in Cologne, Germany. What's happening there that might be different from the musical happenings in Berlin and other cities?
I wouldn't say that Cologne has a broader thing going on right now, but I feel that a lot of people try to push us. And we try to push younger musicians as well. We have our own studio with several other musicians in it, too. Compared to Berlin, though, Cologne is quite small musically. But, yes, there are always underground bands that need to be pushed to keep releasing stuff. And that's what we're trying to do.

In Technicolor album out now on Kompakt

Watch the video and play the game here