Exiszt | neuro.studio spotlight
Written by: chris.
At the time of writing this, Exiszt (real name Gray Goliszek) is the newest addition to the neuro.studio family, and his arrival has been marked with excitement and anticipation. Having recently crossed paths at the Applecross Festival, where I got to experience his unforgettable set, I knew it was the perfect moment to kick off our new Partner Spotlight series with him.
Exiszt’s music blends deep, emotional layers with driving bass and intricate beats—a combination that immediately stood out during his performance. I immediately found myself drawn to the personal, emotive undercurrent that ran through his set. It felt like more than just music—it was storytelling through sound.
Enjoy this in-depth conversation with Exiszt, where we explore the creative process, his unique background and his ambitions both as an artist and a community member.
Synapse: At the time of writing this, you are our newest partner, so congratulations!
Exiszt: Thank you so much! I'm really excited to be a part of this community.
Synapse: I’ve been meaning to start a series of partner spotlights. With us connecting so recently at Applecross and you being our newest partner, it was an easy choice to start here.
So let’s start. Your set at Applecross was awesome. I’m the first to admit that I’m not actually the biggest fan of bass music. I like what I like, but am not overly zealous of the scene as a whole. That’s just to say, that amongst the weekend of music that begins to get a little monotonous to me, your set really stood out. I can’t put a finger on it, but it just felt more personal – more emotional. Did you play a lot of originals? Or was it more of a DJ set?
Exiszt: I played around 70% originals, with a couple songs from friends & artists I enjoy mixed in. I love playing my own music, but can't help myself when I hear a song that really sticks with me to try and work it into my sets
Synapse: I feel that. I struggle so hard with deciding to play originals or play out my favorite songs. Lately I’ve taken the route of just producing my own flips so I can kind of do both.
Do you make an intentional effort to have a deeper emotive element to your music? In other words, do you use music as a way to process emotions, or is it more of a playful experience for you, as it is for me?
Exiszt: Flips are definitely something I want to do more of, as I haven't really made too many before!
I made the switch to playing mostly original sets at the beginning of last year and found that I have much so much more fun now playing out WIPs and little sketches I make.
As for songwriting and adding emotional elements, I'd say it depends on what's happening. I have a couple tunes I've made while trying to work through specific experiences I've had, but for the most part my music is a result of experimentation. I love to just sound design until I stumble upon something which triggers an idea in my head, and then keep going and see where the DAW takes me, and then fine-tuning it afterwards.
I'm happy though that you find my music carries emotion, as I feel that the most memorable & impactful music are things which emotionally resonate with me. So I think it's something I'm always striving to add as I want all my tunes to be able to tell a story, at least in my mind.
Synapse: I think it’s clear we just connected recently, It feels a bit like we are picking up on an old conversation. Let’s back up. Tell us about Gray. What was your childhood like? How did you get started? Where are your artistic roots?
Exiszt: I grew up in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. My dad was in a punk band named Slappin' Grama growing up so I was always around music and live performances for as long as I can remember and always knew I wanted to make music. Punk, Hip Hop & Metal were definitely my earliest musical experiences before really discovering drum & bass and dubstep in 8th grade and then electronic music took over as most of what I listened to. I was just so interested in how everything included sounds I'd never heard before. I had tried being in bands a few times which never worked out, so being able to do everything myself while creating brand new sounds was very appealing to me.
The county I'm from offered something to high school students called the career center, where every high school student had the opportunity to spend half the day at their home school and then the other half there, where you could take AP classes, or auto shop, computer science, etc. They offered electronic music production which is why I went there, and they had 5 music studios with iMacs, monitor speakers & ableton. So for 2 years I got to learn Ableton, primarily how to record instruments, but it allowed me to dip my toes in the water of music production and get a feel for the DAW. I then had a couple years of producing on and off while at college in Asheville (where I'm continued to be based out of), before fully diving into the Exiszt project at the start of 2019.
Syanpse: First festival or event that made you want to be a part of this community in particular?
Exiszt: Tipper & Friends is easily what has inspired me the most. After a few years of attending their events I realized during Tipper's downtempo set in New Orleans 2018 that it was time for me to really sit down and work on my music, as it's always what I've wanted to do and is what has brought me the most joy throughout my life.
Synapse: I remember us talking about your name, at least the spelling, being a play on your actual last name, but the name itself, Exiszt, how’d you come up with it? Does it have a special meaning?
Exiszt: So it was actually my gamertag from CS:GO (Counterstrike: Global Offensive) when I was in high school. It started as Xist (which one of my best friends gave me) and then I morphed it around slowly for a bit. I had a few other names for making music before landing on Exiszt, which I spelled like that due to my last name Goliszek. When my grandpa & great grandparents came to America, their last name was americanized and the 'z' is now silent, so I added that in as a way for it to feel like a bit of myself and help make searching for me easier.
Synapse: I was a 1.6 guy myself, but, oh the good ole CS days. I always loved Surf Maps.
Exiszt: Same!
Synapse: What is your long term vision as an artist?
Exiszt: As long as I can continue to consistently make music throughout my life, always continue learning and improving my skills and try to make the best music I can, I'm so happy and consider that all the success in the world.
I'd love to continue performing and traveling as well, and ultimately I would like to write albums based on short stories & then create short films to pair with each song and utilize that during my performances. This is already a practice I've begun to incorporate and would love to expand on further. Ivy Lab & Koan Sound have been a huge inspiration to me lately in pushing story-driven music.
Synpase: That’s beautiful. That first paragraph is so refreshing … I love when people are just happy with the process of making things. That’s my whole thing.
I’m excited to see the results of those audio/visual experiments.
How did you find out about neuro.studio? What made you want to join?
Exiszt: That's what it's all about, having fun with it!
I have many close friends who are very involved with neuro.studio so I have been aware I feel like since pretty early on. What inspired me to join was the core value of community, which is so heavily emphasized by the cooperative. The school I went to, Warren Wilson, was largely student run and community-driven in that there were work crews and almost every student had a job with all hours worked coming out of our tuition. Crews ranged from janitorial crews & kitchen staff, to administrative assistants & IT Helpdesk, to farm crew & autoshop & electrical crew, to blacksmiths & woodworkers, etc. This instilled a sense of worker ownership and democratic organization within me and is something I greatly resonate with. The organizational structure of neuro.studio reminds me of many of these values, and emphasizes collaboration over competition, where the success of the individual is directly linked to the success of the collective. This only works to create a supportive culture that I find incredibly motivating.
Synapse: Now that you are here, what do you want to do? Let’s get you involved.
Exiszt: I think growing the neuro.studio label would be something I'd love to help with, working to pair visual partners with musicians for releases. From there I think that some neuro.studio stage takeovers at festivals could be really incredible.
More immediately, I would love to help organize a fundraiser event for my home of Western North Carolina, which was recently devastated by Hurricane Helene and the resulting catastrophic flooding that displaced so many members of our community. Pansy Collective, Asheville Survival, World Central Kitchen and BeLoved Asheville are a small handful organizations in particular that I'd love to continue to support as they've been working so hard to help deliver mutual aid to those in need.
Synapse: I think I mentioned that I lived in Asheville for a while. I used to get drinks down at The Wedge regularly. I loved that whole district down there. It’s so devastating to see the pictures, I can’t imagine living it. We have definitely been discussing ways to help out so I’ll gladly include you in those conversations.
You kind of nailed it preemptively, but is there anything I didn’t ask that you wanna say while you have our attention?
Exiszt: You did! One of my favorite activities has been to go to The Wedge at Foundation before seeing movies at Grail moviehouse. But yes, it's still so hard to wrap my head around. I feel very fortunate for my health & safety but so devastated for my home. Definitely let me know, I'd love to be involved!
I'd say that in moments like these, it continues to highlight how important community and direct action really is. This was a direct result of capitalism and environmental extractivism where corporations and the political class have refused to take action on climate change. We all need to work to take care of each other so that we can build something bigger than any singular individual.
Thanks so much for taking the time to talk with me! I'm so happy we had the opportunity to finally meet and connect at Applecross Festival and I can't wait until next time.
Synpase: It was so great meeting you in person. It’s rare to meet another big guy with a beard and nail polish. Shoutout to my gender non-conformists. I’m stoked to have you on the team.
To check out Exiszt’s contribution to the neuro.sound compilation, click here.