Get His Track: Loop 8 And Burroughs (Edit)
Get The Entire Compilation: Bandcamp | I Heart Noise
Drohnwerks is a solo project of James Lehmin and in online interview he explained some of the ideas behind the project
Much of your work came out on your own label (also called Drohnwerks), but your compilation tracks can be found on labels like Noise-Joy and Digital Vomit.
Any ongoing plans on releasing anything on labels other than your own?
Yes, the “drohnwerks” brand (label and artist) are slowing down to a halt, but there are still a couple of things to put out. I have a track in for a digivom comp based on Ken Nordine’s “Colors“- and need to edit a track for the next ambient comp for ISIGTUTEOT. I should be releasing a track by Stellyr (or ANV thereof) sometime soon, probably on floppy.
How about the possibility of releasing anything in CDr or CD format?
The projects have tended to morph into low bitrate digital releases. I like physical formats, but am more interested in the artistic process rather than packaging. I think this reflects the process by which the tracks are created (most were done on a decrepit Mac whose CD disc drive didn’t work).
Who would you consider your biggest musical influences?
Musical influences. As a general rule I don’t intentionally sit down to listen to much Drone/Ambient/noise, but direct influences would be people like Deathprod, Earth, FM3, Steve Roden V/VM (particularly the Caretaker), Kevin Drumm, the Silent Hill OSTs, Cock ESP, and Kyle Wright. I like the idea of ambient being background music, and have started to look at composing sound that should add to existing background noise (such as traffic noise, crowd noise etc), so field recordists such as Quiet American are an inspiration.
Any non-musical influences to your work – any movies, cartoons, video games or literature that you were inspired by?
Non-Music influences. I love Sci-Fi, whether it is on film, in writing, or in video games. I read, and watch a lot of the obvious stuff; PKDick (Bladerunner, etc), the Dune Series (Frank Herbert) and so on. The stories that really resonate with me tend to have a theme of of alienation (especially the PKD novels) which is something I try to reflect in my music. Game-wise, I have spent the past year working on re-soundtracking Quake, and have really enjoyed the Half-Life series, Portal (which has an amazing soundtrack), and Osmos. I really admire the way that Valve use music in their games – there really is a sense of the music adding to, and heightening storylines, without the music overpowering the rest of the experience.
Are you an active live performer or would you consider Drohnwerks to be a studio-only project?
The Drohnwerks (artist) is totally studio based. I can only think of one session that was recorded live, though that set up would be very easy to take on the road (laptop and a lap steel). Live performance is something I would like to pursue, but I don’t think there are enough people interested in this type of music around me 🙂
You contributed an edited version of “Loop 8 & Burroughs” to “Gone In 60 Seconds”. What was the inspiration behind this track? Are you a fan of Burroughs?
The inspiration behind the track was a Reaktor ensemble I created which chopped up, and randomly played back parts of a sample. It was created for a .microsound project, but it struck me that the idea was similar to Burrough’s cut up technique. I haven’t read too much Burroughs to be honest (Nova Express, Naked Lunch, Place of Dead Roads etc), but what I have, I have enjoyed – there is a lot of alienation in his work, which is a theme for my music.
Further Info: Official Site / MySpace
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