Grim104

Horror is a grimace lurking beneath the veneer of money: Moritz Wilken has seen it and decided to make a clean break. In the rapper’s sound, the bleakness of the status quo meets muscular beats and the sonic repertoire of a man with his finger on the pulse of things. No escapism, just reality. Whether apocalyptic and bleak, as on his debut EP, “grim104” (2013), or danceable and aggressive, as on his polarising “Ende der Nacht” (2023): As Grim104, the rapper reflects a thousand facets of the present and pours them into bangers that straddle conscious rap and trap, hardcore bars and EDM. His delivery is at times desperate and uncertain, but the next moment, it’s straight to the point and laced with the requisite scathing commentary on the state of the world. The beats are just as unpredictable, drawing on anything that can be fused with an Akai MPC, a sampler, and an open mind. A drum & bass rhythm might just clatter over sepia-toned lines in which memories of another time shimmer. But even though Grim’s new album, “No Country For Old Grim” (2026), ruthlessly captures the disastrous conditions of neoliberal late capitalism, oscillating between stark reality and apocalyptic lyricism, his sound conveys the necessity to carry on in a way that is more authentic, honest, and resonant than the bloodless slogans of perseverance spouted by the better-off. Grim is a middle finger to the system but an embrace of music, of people, of togetherness.