He has worked alongside artists such as the Weeknd, Daft Punk, Kanye West, A$AP Rocky, Electric Youth, Haim, Miss Kittin, The Hacker, Jean-Michel Jarre, Lil Nas X, Charli XCX, and Pharrell Williams.

Gesaffelstein is a portmanteau of Gesamtkunstwerk ("total artwork" in German, also the title of an album by the American electro group Dopplereffekt) and Albert Einstein.

[9] His remix of "Shockwave" by The Hacker is featured in the 2013 video game Grand Theft Auto V, on the Soulwax FM radio station.

[11] Gesaffelstein signed to Columbia Records in November 2018, with whom he released the lead single "Reset" from his second studio album Hyperion in the same month.

[15][16] On 3 October 2019, Gesaffelstein announced his surprise EP Novo Sonic System, consisting of 6 tracks, which was released the following day.

[4] Megan Buerger from the Washington Post describes his style as a mixture of dark and underground music, and notes that a specialty of the artist is his use of silences to create a "tension" before a "raucous explosion of bass and percussion".