“My goal is to build atmospheres that allow the listener to tell his or her own story.”
Once again, Desert…Mountain…Dust…travels to Germany. This time on our list is Walsrode, a town in Lower Saxony where young Ambient / Drone / Noise maker Jott can be found.
Despite balancing music with becoming a father, Jott’s nonstop flow of creativity has paid off handsomely, with him already making a mark on the US...
Jott’s former primary project How I Met Lauren first caught my attention a few years back with the fantastic ‘//////sixsixsick//////’ originally released on Kansas based label Big Pharma Records back in March of 2016 (BPR would later appoint Jott the head of their sub label Big Pharma Europa in early 2017).
To me, it still holds up as some of his most ambitious and amazing work. Resulting in the successful merging of Brian Eno's positive energies with a much darker, indescribable force. Listen below:
Jott then hooked up with the New York based Ben Hudgins, and released a strew of material via Ben’s highly praised tape labels Endless Landscape of Decay and Zero Sum Recordings (under the banner of Machine Tribe Recordings).
The rest of 2016 and most of 2017 saw many collaborations for HImL, including the elaborate storytelling audio experiment in episodic form ‘the_cyberpunk:episode zero’ with Endless Chasm, and the more Wall Noise orientated release ‘Void’ with Melinoe and See Through Buildings.
But the biggest team up had to be ‘With the Blessing of Satan’ - which saw contributions from Armor Breach, hallwayss and Black Sheet Servitude to name a few, resulting in a unique, multifaceted extreme music experience.
Soon after, Jott joined forces once again with one of the participants - Ben Rehling of See Through Buildings - to form the noise / soundtrack duo ‘a wet palace’ who released an EP entitled ‘[]’ on Analog Cowboy Records and their debut cassette on Machine Tribe.
The following September, MT released the cassette ‘Todallem’ (Death to Everything) an EP by Jott’s Metal band “Dovahkiief” which featured stellar remixes by such artists as Lorenzo Abattoir (Mare Di Dirac) and Jack Lynch as well as bonus Dovahkiief tracks.
As well as the title track, the highlights of the release for me include ‘Schluss Machen Bei McDonald’s’ which is rather an out of body audio experience with haunting vocals that truly stealing the show.
Then ‘Satanic Death Ritual’ personifies a powerful conjuration with thunderous tribal drums and low guitar rumbles, the blackened ceremony reaching it’s climax with a wash of feedback as the drums change up their pace to the fadeout.
Finally the tape closes with the simple but effective guitar delay run of ‘-’ It’s a stripped down and sleepy sound but remains one of the most memorable tracks on the release. In short, Todallem’ balances Jott’s love of metal and more eclectic electronic pallette brilliantly.
Purchase a cassette copy of Todallem HERE
Purchase a cassette copy of Todallem HERE
In late 2018, Jott took another step forward and formed a new solo project entitled ‘Kummer' which saw a release on LSD Induced Nightmares Records in Texas. As well as the creation of a new Ambient duo with his other half ‘K8’ entitled ‘MOMOFUKU’ that fuses both analogue and digital software who were gifted a debut tape release via Chicago based label Lurker Bias ‘Blessed By The Algorithm’ a perfect modern yet minimalistic dream…drift…scape. Listen below:
I caught up with Jott to find out more about his musical beginnings, the happenings of Big Pharma Europa and what the future holds for him and his other projects…
DMD: What artists and bands had the biggest influence on you growing up?
J: ISIS (the band). They are by far the biggest creative influence I've ever experienced. Other people that influence me are The Mars Volta, Tim Hecker and The Boats.
DMD: Where did you first hear drone / ambient / noise / experimental music?
J: I was always interested in audio plays and therefore listened to a lot of ambiences and noises as a kid. I got fascinated by how some noises can give you real shivers.
‘Carry’ my favourite track by ISIS has a heavy drone intro that I listened to on repeat when I was younger. It was used as music in a video about parachuting.
A year later, YouTube added the feature that tells you the song playing underneath the video and that's how I found my favourite band of all time.
DMD: Please tell us the story of How I Met Lauren so far, I am particularly curious as to how you came by the name…
J: How I Met Lauren was the name of my personal music project because I became friends with an exchange student named Lauren from the USA in 2009. She was not the only reason I chose to express myself with music but certainly the biggest at that time.
How I Met Lauren started with a lot of shit songs and evolved into this ambient/drone thing it is now. I had never thought to get into this scene when I started making music at first.
I have put How I Met Lauren on hiatus for now because I felt like I had to leave something for later on. I will return to this project and make some violent ambient again (in the future) but I personally want to focus on more structured music at the moment.
DMD: Is there a strong noise scene in Walsrode?
J: There is none.
DMD: What recording gear do you use?
J: I used to have a studio/rehearsal room with my band Dovahkiief, the hyaenidae. It was a great spot and for two years I recorded most of my music there.
We had to abandon it after moving to another city and now I make most of my music in my bedroom studio.
In terms of software I was using Cubase and Audacity but made the switch to Logic Pro X last year. Recently I got into randomised step sequencing using a digital step sequencer with two oscillators, letting it generate chords within set parameters.
I'm also working with an elektron digitakt at the moment to realise randomised breakbeats and chance-based triggering with samples. I got the digitakt to work less with synths and more with samples but found myself quickly adding synthesisers to the setup since the digitakt has elaborate midi features.
I like to use gear that other people have thrown away. If I have to climb inside a dumpster to get it, it makes it more interesting. I like to use broken gear and I use a lot of circuit-bent stuff.
If I need a certain effect I'd rather let one of my more able friends build it for me to suit my needs rather than buying an expensive pedal everyone else already has.
DMD: Speaking of which, can please you elaborate on any pedals that have been custom made for you?
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| J: The metaldrone is a hardcore bend by simon the magpie. It's patch bay enables you to connect the bending points yourself. the barbed wire is functional and serves similar to a Thermerin in some settings. |
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| J: The Endless Chasm made by abraxas devotionals (AKA ZS Lawrence from the Futuristic Ambient project of the same name) is a delay pedal with a feedback loop that allows you to process only the wet signal with outboard gear and create feedback with it, for the purpose of creating washes of sound. |
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| J: The phase of the sun (also made by abraxas devotionals) is a circuit-bent phaser that glitches and mangles the input sound then routes it through an echo to create washes and waves. Both the EC and SP are custom build for my needs and basically the only two in existence. |
DMD: What’s going on with Big Pharma Europa?
J: Big Pharma Europa has been releasing free music since May '17. All of our releases are free for everyone from everywhere. Since my personal life has gotten more busy lately this project isn’t that active at the moment. We've had a small hiatus since my life got a bit busy but we are back on track and have just released a new split between MOMOFUKU and Dakota Snaketail's project The Flesh, Full of Black Sand which you can listen to here
DMD: What is your favourite release from How I Met Lauren? Also will there be any more releases in the sixsixsaga?
J: My favourite release is //////sixsixsin///// and yeah there will be more.
DMD: Tell us about your other projects and bands:
J: Kummer is my main focus at the moment. I want to combine ambient music with a more structured, approachable track concept. It’s basically a blend of Drum ’N’ Bass elements and Ambient / Drone atmospheres.
My first full album with Kummer is still in the process of recording at the moment.
‘a wet palace’ is an experimental collaboration between californian noise artist ‘See Through Buildings‘ and me. We’re burying real instruments in walls of terror. We’ve got an album out on MTRec and we’re working on a new EP at the moment.
'MOMOFUKU' is my newest project. In a phrase, it's complicated Ambient. I’m doing this with the Mother of my Daughter. It’s better than couple's therapy, trust me. MOMOFUKU blends digital possibilities like chance based triggering, randomising sample slices and random chord generation with experimental analogue gear that's in part custom build for our needs.
We are two people behind the hardware but we often feel like randomness is our third bandmate as it's the essential part for creating interesting artefacts and sonic environments that feel organic.
‘Dovahkiief‘ is a stoner/sludge band project I founded in 2015 with a good friend of mine. since we had to abandon our studio, this project is on hiatus until we find a place to shred again. The next tape is currently in the mastering stage though!
DMD: Could you please explain the meaning behind the name Dovahkiief?
J: ’Dovahkiin' is the main character in the video game 'Skyrim'. there it means ‘Dragonborn’. 'Dovahkiief' is a word that I came up with, figuring it would translate to ‘Dragonbong’.
'Dovahkiief' also sounds a hell of a lot like 'Doofer kifft' which is german for 'dumb person who smokes reefer’. ’Todallen' would really translate to 'death to all' but it’s actually 'Todallem' which means 'death to everything’ it's a made up word made from 'Tod' and ‘allem'.
DMD: Tell us some of your favourite albums
J: Isis - Oceanic
Tool - Lateralus
Cypress Hill - Black Sunday
Denzel Curry - Imperial
Arsonists get all the girls - Portals
Bob Marley - Exodus
Billy Talent - Billy Talent II
DMD: Any plans to play live with How I Met Lauren?
J: I’m working on a proper live setup but it's not a main concern at the moment.
You can check out my 'Magpie Metaldrone' video (see below) for a How I met Lauren live experience.
DMD: If you could work with any artist living or dead who would it be?
J: Isis or Aaron Turner
DMD: Was there a concept behind ‘NORSEFIRES’ and the ‘A Wet Palace’ albums?
J: Many artists try to tell a story in their concept art. My goal is to build atmospheres that allow the listener to tell his or her own story.
NORSEFIRES was a 'study piece' for me because it is the product of me figuring out a steady effect chain for my guitar setup.
With a wet palace, my partner Ben and I were trying to take this DIY niche music we already make to the next level. Not in terms of popularity, but in terms of production value.
The album definitely tells a story but I am sure mine differs from yours, a wet palace is by far my most complicated album to date.
DMD: How did the record ‘With the Blessing of Satan’ come to be? Are there more plans for another huge collaboration like that in the future?
J: I made WTBOS over the course of 2016, I had so many collaborations going that I found it more a curse than a gift, hence the name of the album. It’s a collection of tracks I made with a lot of great friends.
WTBOS Part II will be a thing at some future time but other things are more important at the moment.
DMD: In the past did you play in any other musical projects / bands? Also how many different instruments do you play?
J: Before going on hiatus, How I met Lauren was my musical outlet since 2009. I didn’t switch from the name but I have switched genres a lot, always doing what I wanted to do.
I’ve played with some bands, mainly keyboard in a metalcore band and vocals in another metalcore band after that.
I own a violin and trumpet next to a variety of synth equipment and my bass / guitar setup but I don't claim to know how any of this works.
DMD: Apart from music, where else do you find inspiration?
J: Movies, people, trash and nature.
DMD: What music have you been listening to recently?
J: I dug up my stoner rock vinyls and got those spinning in the last few days…
At the moment I’m trying to avoid any and all radio music. I tend to stick to Amenra and Old Man Gloom these days.
DMD: Do you have a favourite HImL release?
J: //////sixsixsin//////...However the ////// series is currently on hiatus, as is the rest of HImL. But there is already new material recorded for part four.
DMD: Do you have any plans to play live?
J: it was never my main focus but I am working on a live setup at the moment to be able to play my music in front of an audience.
DMD: Anyone you want to give a shout out to?
J: SHOUTOUTS!
I think I would have stopped making music if i haven't been 'picked up' by my buddy and mentor Benjamin Joseph, the head of Big Pharma Records. What they did for me when they believed in me and my music and challenging me to create a whole album that they would like to put out on CD was the push into the right direction I needed.
If I had to name one person that influenced my music more than anyone else I would name them.
s/o to the three Benjamins, (Hudgins / Joseph /Rehling) who each had their own way to support me and my music.
s/o to the moorstrassegang for being the local support I need.
s/o to Dakota Snaketail for their endless creativity and powerful spirit. The brightest diamonds really are made under the highest pressures.
s/o to K8 and every friendly noise fire out there. You know who you are!
s/o to Dakota Snaketail for their endless creativity and powerful spirit. The brightest diamonds really are made under the highest pressures.
s/o to K8 and every friendly noise fire out there. You know who you are!
Everyone who put me on his or her label, everyone who collaborated with me, everyone who waited days for me to send over files I promised. You are what makes me an artist after all. Thank you.
LINKS:
If you'd like to hear more of Jott, click HERE for a mammoth 3 hour MOMOFUKU YouTube mix!!!
