Markus Wormstorm

Markus Wormstorm (born Markus V Smit; 1981) is a South African electronic musician.

Overview
Markus is a composer, game developer, and writer currently completing his MA at UCT. He has scored numerous global campaigns for esteemed brands such as STAR WARS, Google, Coke, Amazon, and Audi, among others.

Markus has won several major international awards, including the Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music (2024), the Annecy Special Distinction Award, and the SAFTA Award for Best Original Score. The latter was South Africa’s nomination for the Oscars. He has also won other notable awards like the Clio, Loerie, Summit, and Ciclope Awards (in Europe and Africa). In addition, Markus has been nominated for the Cannes Lions and the Annecy Cristal.

Signed to Sound Ink NY records at the young age of 19, Markus has collaborated and remixed tracks for a variety of artists, including MF Doom (as Viktor Vaughn), Burna Boy, and Waddy & Yolandi from Die Antwoord. Over the years, he has honed an exceptionally sophisticated classical sound, praised by Rolling Stone Magazine. His foray into the gaming industry includes work for brands like EA Games and the creation of a widely downloaded mobile game, "Petting Zoo," in collaboration with New Yorker Illustrator Christoph Niemann.

Operating from his 5.1 studio in Cape Town, Markus excels in blending his classical recordings with cinematic electronic sound design, showcasing his versatile and innovative approach to music and sound production.

2000s
Markus moved to Cape Town in 2001 where he began his career on the city's electronic music circuit.

He graduated from the Pro Arte School of music, art and drama in Pretoria, where he created a number of theatrical writings and won school awards for music and literature. Wormstorm received classical piano training at the age of 12.

After moving to Cape Town, Wormstorm formed collaborations with other musicians. The earliest of these was IDM producer Felix Laband. Together they created 'Killed by Dwarf', a series of experiments spawned from jam sessions which were never released.

In late 2001, Wormstorm was invited by African Dope Records to submit music to their production music libraries. This resulted in a number of minor synchronisation licenses, which Wormstorm quickly spent on hand-making copies of his "album", which he would hand out at gigs and to friends. This brought him to the attention of rapper/composer/protagonist/satirist Waddy Jones, front man of Johannesburg's hip-hop group Max Normal. Later frontman for the band Die Antwoord. When Jones disbanded Max Normal in early 2002, he and long-time DJ partner Sibot invited Wormstorm to collaborate on Waddy's The Constructus Corporation project, which resulted in the concept album / graphic novel The Ziggurat (ADOPECD009 African Dope Records 2002).

In January 2003, he along with Felix Laband decided to leave The Constructus Corporation to work on the Real Estate Agents.

Meanwhile, a copy of Wormstorm's "demo" album had found its way into the hands of Alex Threadgold, owner of New York-based electronica / IDM label Sound-Ink, which resulted in a 3-album deal for Wormstorm, alongside stablemates M Sayeed of Anti Pop Consortium and MF Doom. His first album for the label, Rachel the Bear, was released in digital-only format in 2006.

Together with Simon Ringrose (Sibot) and his brother Duncan Ringrose (long-time collaborator and manager of The Constructus Corporation and The Real Estate Agents), he formed the corporate sound design agency 'SAYTHANKYOU', which has won a number of Gold and Silver Loerie Awards for Composition and Sound Design. Wormstorm's works have provided the soundtrack for ad campaigns for the likes of MetroFM (South Africa's biggest urban music radio station), VR Brandy, Audi, Ford, B.O.E., South African Design Indaba, Nokia and local mobile network CellC.

In December 2004, African Dope Records, in association with management label Sshadoworkss, released Wormstorm's self-titled debut South African album, bundled as part of the 3CD pack The Real Estate Agents

Wormstorm is also a writer and music producer for the animation collective The Blackheart Gang, who creates short film stories. The group shot their film The Tale of How (2006), which toured with Resfest in 2007 and has won several animation awards, including Chanel Plus – France. The film was nominated for the Annecy Cristal and won the Annecy Special Distinction Award.

In 2006, together with vocalist and long-time collaborator Spoek Mathambo, Wormstorm launched a new collaborative music project called Sweat.X, which they describe as "Afro-electro". Subsequent to an intensive networking effort on MySpace, Sweat.X signed a deal with the UK label, Citinite, in March 2007 and toured Europe in June/July 2007.

2010s
In 2012 Wormstorm created a boutique online music search engine geared towards commercial licensing.

In 2013 he released a 12-track album, Not I, but a Friend. In 2013 Wormstorm founded Honeymoon Studios, in Cape Town.

In 2014 he starred in the documentary Future Sounds of Mzansi, as he was interviewed as one of the pioneers of electronic music in South Africa. In that year, he also created an online store called The Wormstore. In that year he also created Honeymoon Podcasts. His studio created three episodes in collaboration with the Arthur C. Clark-winning author Lauren Beukes and political analyst, award-winning author, and historian Max du Preez. In April 2015 Wormstorm won a Safta Award for Best Achievement in Original Score for his work on the feature film Four Corners.

Later that year, he released a self-titled EP under the pseudonym of Akira on his own label, Biblo Records, for digital download.

2020s
Markus scored his second feature film in 2021 for director Robin Goode's debut feature, Free State. In 2023, Markus scored Ian Gabrial's film Death of a Whistle Blower, which [https://tiff.net/events/death-of-a-whistleblower#:~:text=When%20an%20investigative%20journalist%20is,faced%20by%20South%20African%20whistleblowers. premiered at the Toronto Film Festival that year.] In 2023, Markus scored a STAR WARS film titled "Aau's Song," for which he would later win Best Achievement for Original Music in TV/Streaming at the 51st Annie Awards.

Recognition
Markus Wormstorm features in the 2010 South African documentary, The Creators. In the film, Wormstorm and Sweat.X co-collaborator Spoek tour South Africa's Karoo, making music and exploring the disconnect with the impoverished local community.

Discography

 * Markus Wormstorm EP (Sound-Ink, June 2004)
 * Rachel The Bear (Sound-Ink, 2006)
 * ''Not I, But A Friend (M=Maximal, 2012)
 * Figure in Field (M=Maximal, 2015)
 * Hardly Human (Biblo.tv, 2020)
 * Theilax Shift (Biblo.tv, 2021)
 * A Room Without Shadows (Biblo.tv, 2021)
 * Liveware Problem (Biblo.tv, 2021)
 * Blindsight (Biblo.tv, 2022)
 * Invisible Friend (Biblo.tv, 2021)
 * Star Wars: Visions Vol. 2 – Aau's song (Lucasfilm Ltd, 2023)

Awards

 * 2005 Bronze Loerie Advertising Award
 * 2005 Bronze Craft Clio Award USA
 * 2006 Special Distinction Award, Annecy International Film Festival France
 * 2007 Nominated for the Annecy Cristal, Annecy International Film Festival France
 * 2007 Best Independent Film Award, Bradford International Film Festival
 * 2007 Canal+ Award, Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival France
 * 2007 Excellence Award (Silver), Expose 3
 * 2007 Grand Master Award (Gold), Expose 4
 * 2007 Artistic Perfection Prize, International Festival of Animation, St Petersburg, Russia
 * 2007 Grand Prix of Festival (Golden Peg Bear), Animanima
 * 2007 Best Video Creation, Curtocircuito International Short Film Festival
 * 2007 Third Prize, Backup Festival
 * 2007 Festival Internacional de Cortometrajes France
 * 2007 Honorary Mention, Woodstock Film Festival USA 2007 Animated Dreams Grand Prize “Wooden Wolf”, Russia
 * 2014 Loeries Craft Award
 * 2014 Loerie Awards Craft
 * 2015 Safta Award for Best Achievement in Original Score 2015 Loerie Awards Craft Best Music
 * 2016 Loerie Awards Craft Best Music
 * 2017 Loerie Awards Craft Best Music
 * 2017 Shortlist Cannes Lion, France
 * 2018 Immortal Awards New York nomination USA
 * 2018 Loerie Award
 * 2018 CiclopeAfricaAward
 * 2018 Ciclope Europe Award, Germany
 * 2019 Ciclope Africa Award selection
 * 2019 The Lost Botanist Annecy Festival Official VR selection, France
 * 2019 biblo.tv's Shave to Remember project is shortlisted for a Cannes Award, France
 * 2021 Nomination for Best Original Music. Cyclope Africa
 * 2024 Best Achievement in Original Music for TV/Streaming 51st Annie Awards