Loden creates profound beats from sound collages. He works textures into his funk that make you feel the heat in the city on a summer day. And if you don't believe me, check it out for yourself and grab his newest album from Circle Into Square called Burning Man Stage Hand.
HL: How did you get hooked up with Circle Into Square?
Loden: I think I was sending around my tunes here and there between people and places and threw it high and it landed in front of Tom Filepp and he picked it up. I am very happy that it's in his hands.
HL: What/who made you want to create the type of music you're doing?
Loden: I have no idea what I am making. It just happens and comes. It is all about what I currently obsess about. This latest record (BMSH) was sort of different though. This was all about working on textures and not giving a shit about song structure or whatever. The one before that (Buggy) either by the way. Again, it just came like that. Me messing around with sounds. I got all my song building satisfaction out of the record I did together with Busdriver, which was nervewrecking. So I felt like doing this spontaneous collection of jams and make it into this one big tune. The thing about BMSH was that I was really into this question about how big cities are messing with people's heads and how we are living more and more in our own heads and getting all detached and shit.
HL: Do you record your own field recordings?
Loden: Yeah I do record a lot of them. I love doing that. It's like taking pictures. I love listening to recordings of old places I used to live or go. These things sometimes are more powerful than full fledged tunes. On BMSH I sampled some weird documentaries on youtube about drugs and aliens and interviews with general weird people. Another absolutely amazing source of weird sounds are old VHS tapes from fleamarkets. But there's not so much of that on the last record.
HL: What's your recording setup like?
Loden: I recently got the slim phatty. Its fucking hot. I've got a nice setup of some old and new gear. It all ends up in the computer and get's mangled and spiced and cooked to charcoal. I honestly try to get the best of both digital and analog worlds. I love all.
HL: Who do you think everyone should listen to at the moment?
Loden: Listen to yourself.
HL: What's the weather in Belgium like today?
Loden: The weather sucks. Seriously. No joke. It's madness how in this part of the world we have temperature drops of like 20 degrees celsius in 24 hours. Figure out what that is in Fahrenheit yourself please ;) [For C to F, it's F=C*9/5+32 -Ed.]
HL: Any other projects on the horizon for you?
Loden: As far as Loden, I am kind of halfway finished with a new album, which for the moment has me excited like I never was about new material. It has not been since Valeen Hope that I felt so attached to the music I make. It's becoming a behemoth of sound. I hope to have that out next year.
HL: And last, where did you come up with the title of the album?
Loden: I liked the image it gave me in my head actually.
