What made you decide that music is a thing for you?
Already as a child, I felt very attracted to music and I was always fascinated with certain sounds. But my real love for music began when I started to play guitar as a teenager and realized that I could also express my own ideas and feelings with it instead of just playing other people’s songs.
Introduce us to you and your musical history.
My name is LAUTMALR and I’m a music producer and composer from Berlin, Germany. My current music is rooted in the electronic field which is complemented by organic instruments and a rather grainy sound aesthetic. I had classical piano lessons as a child, but that didn’t much connect with me emotionally, I would say in retrospect.
I had conservative piano teachers and it was a lot about technique and playing sheet music in a certain way. It wasn’t until I borrowed my aunt’s guitar at the age of about 13, and taught myself the first chords so I was able to play songs by bands that I actually heard and loved, that it clicked. From then on I played in different bands, took guitar lessons from suitable teachers, and learned to play different styles. I’ve always been very open to different genres and played in various projects of punk, hardcore, blues, and pop music in my youth.
During my time with these bands, I also learned to play drums on a basic level and also my interest in audio and recording equipment began to develop. I started to record my own bands but also fell in love with programming HipHop beats which eventually led to producing the first tracks with local rappers. Fascinated by being able to create my own musical worlds I began to dig deeper into production and recording techniques.
After I finished school I studied audio engineering, worked for a film composer for four years, and then moved in 2013 to Berlin to work in different recording studios. During all this years I did not work on my own music but rather recorded and produced different bands and artists in Berlin. In 2019 I felt the strong need to create my own stuff again and LAUTMALR was born.
My first album »Chasing Past« and a music video was released in 2020 and this year my second album »In Between The Noise just came out.
Name me your 3 favorite Albums.
That’s a tough one! Some of my favorites albums in recent years are:
Jon Hopkins – Immunity, Lana Del Rey – Lust For Life, Sohn – Trust.
What was the first song you heard that steered you into a music path?
John Lee Hooker – Boom Boom
The music industry is the hardest industry in the world to progress in, How do you feel you are doing?
I’ve always struggled with the music industry and still have an ambivalent relationship with it since I made some bad experiences with the wrong people early on.
But I think I’m slowly but surely finding an authentic way to market my music and connect myself with like-minded people. I’m also at an age now where I know what I want and also what I don’t want from potential partners and collaborators. That helps a lot.
I’m seeing a lot of debate about women not feeling safe at music gigs, any thoughts on what we need to do to help?
I can’t speak much for the situation at music gigs in particular but can definitely say that the music industry needs to work on that topic in general.
I’ve been in too many studio sessions where female artists were shut down by other band members or I heard stories from female artists that their creative decisions were not respected by the producer.
I think it’s very important in order to create meaningful art that the studio is a safe space where everyone and every idea is respected equally. Creating awareness of this is crucial. We also definitely need more women in key positions in the industry and also must support female producers and audio engineers since these jobs have been male-dominated for far too long.
As you develop as an artist and develop using socials what ways do you get new ears on your music? Any tips?
This may sound esoterical but somehow the music always finds me. Be it by recommendations from friends and other musicians or stumbling upon new artists on Spotify or Youtube.
Do you sign up for any conspiracy theories?
Only the ones I make up myself. 😉
What makes you stand out as an artist?
It’s hard to say that about myself. But one thing which is really important to me is having a high level of emotionality and atmosphere in my music especially since I work a lot with electronic sounds which can have a tendency to sound sterile or lifeless.
I hear you have a new music, what can you tell us about it.
Yes indeed my new album „In Between The Noise“ just came out.
It’s my second album and it’s composed and produced in different phases during the last two years. It stands for my personal journey over the recent years where I dealt a lot with my own identity and self-discovery.
It’s about finding and asserting oneself in a mass of endless possibilities and preconceived opinions. An intimate and personal journey that is driven by the urge to find an authentic place in life and society. A place that is developing out of itself and not by chasing external dreams and standards. It’s about embracing and celebrating the complexity and diversity this world has to offer instead of shutting down each other.
Musically, the album is rooted in the electronic field, which is complemented by organic instruments and a rather grainy sound aesthetic but also has some bright moments.
The album is complemented by a short film that accompanied me on a foray through my hometown Berlin.
What was the recording process like?
I’ve made approximately 30 rough musical sketches in the last two years and distilled them down to eight tracks that represent my state of mind and my personal development during this time. Technoid pieces meet experimental sound collages and hypnotizing synthesizers are embedded in noisy pieces from cassette recordings.
What was the biggest learning curve in writing the new tunes?
Being patient during finishing tracks, believing in myself as an artist and musician, and developing some kind of tenacity for realizing the album and the short movie.
Would you change anything now it’s finished?
No. Because then the whole point of capturing a certain moment in time musically would be pointless.
Is there anything else you would like to share with the world?
I hope that »In Between The Noise« will resonate with some of you and maybe even inspire you to go on the search of your own creative path and find your individual voice – whatever it’ll be.
PRE SAVE // STREAM // DOWNLOAD HERE
WEBSITE HERE
📸 Credit Johanna Berghorn