FAULT: You describe your sound as Electronica / Experimental / Gothic How do you keep your sound  unique?

The ways in which we perceive, appraise and internalize an atmosphere as well as the transition of one atmospheric scenery to another are the foundations of my reflexions. Since our senses enable us to perceive and feel the complexities of existence, I try to provoke listeners’ self-explorations through more or less unique sound-structures – above and beyond the joy of experiencing  my music, of course.

FAULT: What’s the story behind Artefact of Dirt? How did you all meet?

That’s a short story; Artefact of Dirt is a one-man project and is likely going to remain so. Visions and dreams, in which I listen to exotic, strange and ecstasizing music, are my creative engine’s fuel. Though working alone helps me keep both my focus and my project undiluted, it also means that I have to invest a lot of time and effort in both my work and to overcome any arising technical challenges. For time, however, is a limited supply.

FAULT: What are your musical backgrounds?

I used to play the piano, trumpet and percussion. I especially liked playing the trumpet, focusing on jazz and improvisational music, both of which I greatly relish. The individualistic progression, the improvisational parts, the varied modulations, all of which come together in an unique snap-shot, resembling a person’s biographic history, devoid of any constraining statics or expectable constancy. Moreover, I’ve been inspired by various music and artists, among them the American Post Industrial and the early works of Depeche Mode or classical works like Collection d’Arnell Andrea and composers like Henry Dutilleux or Sir Granville Bantock. But my aim is not to recreate or modify the work of others but to create new, original music.

FAULT: What are you currently working on?

Currently, I’m focusing on various means of production; devices have to be replaced or modified. Though appropriate and contemporary methods of production are both necessary and convenient, they are, at times, insufficient for my needs; to achieve the ‘perfect result’ I’m aiming at, those production methods and devices have to be augmented with – at times – unorthodox means. The average and pre-existent never satisfied my requirements and thus provided me with the needed stimulus to find new forms of expression. And since there are no stylistic boundaries to curtail the creator – apart from those we impose on ourselves – there is little that is truly impossible or unachievable.

 

 

 

FAULT: What can we expect from Artefact of Dirt in 2011?

My tasks for 2011 are both a first, public release and the decision about the initial distribution channels. Whether the first release is going to be a mini album, a maxi-single or something else is as of yet undecided. A dedicated website is in planning but probably not realisable before 2012. In the meantime, I’ll continue to post information on my MySpace page.

FAULT: Are you inspired by your surroundings?

Oh definitively. The synthesis and interlaced existence of highly developed biological organisms and a highly industrialised and technocratic world does strongly influence me and my works. Knowledge of the national boundaries – and, by the way, some animals – put so much stock in as well as the sucked out living conditions in some parts of the world are part of what creates the melting pot of my mind – where my works originate from. Those conditions and the shortcomings of man are not only inspiration for me but also the main culprits for the failure of globalised politics. Lack of introspection, greed and delusions of ‘religious ownership claims’ form, together with human disposition to aggressive behaviour, shackles which, when considered from a more objective perspective, limit us.

FAULT: Do you have any live shows planned?

Currently, there are no live shows planned, no, though there might be a release party to celebrate my first publication. It’s not yet the time for Artefact of Dirt to perform live but I keep an eye on working things out.

FAULT: What is the creative process when writing new material?

For text-writing, I usually wait for the moment when a seed of inspiration has blossomed and matured, before beginning to work. Sometimes, that even happens independently from any musical writing.Sound-structures have, up to now, grown after hours of shaping and modification; after a certain time, those structures attain a character I consider intriguing enough to pursue. Some may consider this ‘modus operandi’ unprofessional and chaotic – but I don’t care, as it worked for me so far.After a promising construct has emerged, I employ complementing, programmed instruments or objects, to diversify and enrich the aggregate. In my estimation I haven’t yet reached the completeness I envision, which is why I personally consider a large part of my works up to date as incomplete trials. I sometimes doubt that I’ll ever manage to achieve a complete conversion of my mental ideas into a constant form. For my newer works, I’m aiming at more diverse layers, richer harmonies and more rounded-off structures.

FAULT: Do you write from personal experiences?

Personal experiences influenced many of my earlier works – like the ones publicly available on my MySpace page. But there’s a part in me which is dissatisfied or at times even dislikes this influence and urges me to keep my works free from personal experience. For future projects, I’d wish for a more objective style, containing exchangeable components and thus a more universal character instead of relying so strongly on a connection to me.Even if we cannot step out of our skins and free us from our past experiences, part of me dislikes the autocratic nature of infusing my works with my personal history – or maybe it is a reluctance to carry so much of myself into the public. But like with so many things in human nature and works, Paracelsus’ words are truth “Dosis sola venenum facit“ (the dose makes the toxin).

FAULT: What do you think of modern day Electronia?

Styles like pure Noise or cold, unstructured Industrial, which – in my opinion – both lack atmospheric depth and catching rhythms, are for me uninteresting if not downright otiose; today’s world is inherently loud and noisy. Why should I support such uncontrolled growth, if I can enrich the musical landscape with my own works? On the other hand, my own work may be needless noise on other’s opinions; to each its own.The creation of something new, a synthesis of various and varying stylistic influences, free from the rules and constricting bounds we as social animals so easily submit to is what I see as a chance. We develop and evolve only by allowing and facilitating the ‘new’, by relinquishing control and consider and explore new models. First purifying and then applying the essence of this ‘new’ can be a way to explore and experience new areas, insights and clang-constructs never heard before.Tangentially, this is one reason why I enjoy listening to the ‘Space Night’ productions while attending to, say, household tasks.

 

 

 

FAULT: Who do you think is underrated?

In my opinion, it is less persons who are underestimated than facts, e.g. the appreciation of clean water, namely an intact marine ecosystem and the availability of drinking water, which all other life in all its abundance is dependent on. As long as the importance of such elementary facts and factors isn’t recognized on a supra-national level and overpopulation isn’t stopped, lack of development and possibly even the future of human existence are questionable. United by essential and limited resources, we nevertheless consider the raising of the gross national product – and the corresponding improvement of life-quality in respective countries – as the highest goal. Regardless of the accompanying damage caused to the world, despite us all being the same, dependent on the same. And why? Because each country has a small, greedy and manipulative part, dictating the needs to a supposed, superficial benefit of all – while having the underlying motive of self-enrichment at the cost of others, even if it means damaging or exploiting another part.Simpleminded, egoistic, self-limiting, self-aggrandising and contemptuous behind a friendly looking mask. In other words: The motivation for their action differs from their benevolent promise, a deceit we should no longer accept in silence from anybody unless we enjoy them fooling us.

FAULT: What is your FAULT?

Repression, applied suppression and emotional overindulgence led me to develop a series of bad if not downright auto-aggressive habits and dysfunctional procrastination.Refusal to meet confrontations head-on (or at all) gave rise to anxieties and paralyzed mental and emotional competences.I wasted a lot of time on dissipations and good, old-fashioned laziness, meaning that I squandered mankind’s greatest good: Time.The time every person is allotted should be use to change – hopefully for the better – as much as possible and to meet the challenges of life.That’s why I currently see dissipation and procrastination as my greatest vices – and the gnawing parasites infesting my current state of development.

Hear more: http://www.myspace.com/artefactofdirt