I'm Kelly McEvers, and this is Atlas Obscura, a celebration of the world's strange, incredible, and wondrous places.

This episode was produced in partnership with Destination Toronto.

And today, I'm talking to the artist and architect Danny Shaddock and the rapper Shad about this incredible

collaboration of theirs that is a tribute to the city of Toronto. Danny and Shad have known

each other since high school. They both wound up in Toronto making art together. And now they

have made this thing called Moving Monuments.

It is a musical robot that incorporates drums, actual physical pieces of the city of Toronto, and sounds of the city.

If it is hard to picture this, luckily I have them here to tell us all about it.

Danny and Shad, welcome.

Hi, Kelly. Hey. Okay, Shad, tell me about the first time you saw it. Well, okay, I'm going to go back because there's another robot that Danny had made

that he showed. Got it. We've known each other for years. We've been friends for years. So just being

in his apartment, I want to say a couple of years ago now.

And he takes me to a guest room. I think it's a guest room. Danny Kurt can correct me if I'm wrong.

Yeah, yeah. I think it was just last summer. Last summer, opens a door upstairs to his guest room.

And you can't even step in it. It's just all drums and percussion and wires. And it just looks amazing.

It was just stunning to watch. And then he fired it up for us. And it sounded so cool. And then

I also recall seeing this instrument, the one for this project for the first time.

And it was, so, yeah, I remember walking into the studio where he was building that.

And it was likewise, so cool.

It's a little bit more compact and streamlined, but still has the mad scientist vibe.

There's also a Toronto element, right, to the piece.

Like, what was the driving idea of that part of the piece?

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