MICHAEL BRUECKNER: Music with a meditative state instead of perceiving the dance of all phenomenons

You worked with a plethora of artists over the years. What collaborations were/are the most interesting and important to You and why?

Well, maybe I wouldn't call it a "phletora", but there indeed were a few. :-) It's a little difficult to "rate" my different partners though. Because most of them (if not all) were, and still are, good friends. Each situation was, or is, unique, as are my fellow artists, and each of them contributed something special, gave me new impulses, thought me something I couldn't have learned otherwise. Some challanged me in an inspiring way, with others I rather experienced a strong sense of harmony. But it's really hard to highlight anyone especially. So, if You want to hear names, I can't avoid to mention all (or many) of them:

Early on, Klaus Chmielewski introduced me to the music of Brian Eno, and tought me a lot of the basics of arranging and mixing music in general.

Also my wife Cäcilia - who actually is a much more naturally gifted, and also skilled, musician than I am - thought me a lot about composition.

Reinhold Krämer and Wolfgang Bechtluft, my band mates in B4 SUNRISE, were the first to give me a chance to work in a band context.

With classically trained - yet experimental - musicians like French horn player Detlev Everling or cellist Doris Hach a whole new world of semi-accoustic sounds opened up.

Since a couple of years Mathias Brüssel and me form an improvisational ambient duo called "La Mansarde Hermétique", and we also performed more Berlin School oriented material as "Brückner & Brüssel" for one special festival, Cosmic Nights 2015 - this collaboration feels especially like we're very much on the same vibe when making music, usually we just get into a flow and drift along without having to talk or plan anything.

There's also a friendship and collaboration with drummer Tommy Betzler, an EM veteran who has, for example, played for Klaus Schulze in the early 80ies and co-founded the electronic prog rock band "P'Cock"; recently we were joined by Sammy David, who is a brilliant guitaris from a rather traditional rock context.

Then - during the past few years happened a lot of collaborations for all kinds of V/A compilations and similar releases, and it was a pleasure to work with great musicians like Cousin Silas, Harald Bertram, Lutz Thuns, Gabriele Quirici. Or Bernhard Woestheinrich of Centrozoon. And others. Well, naturally this kind of collaborations are less intense than full albums or other long term projects. But any of them were valuable experiences, too.

And all those guests for one or two tracks on my solo albums - like Fryderyk Jona, Hans-Dieter Schmidt, or my brother, Steffen Brückner, and others...

In addition there are several collaborative projects still in the pipeline (and more guest appearances) - some since a few years already. It's not sure if all of these projects finally will see the light of day - therefore I won't name them here; but some at least for sure will, and two are most likely to happen next year. Actually I'm looking forward to these a lot.

OK - thinking twice, maybe "plethora" wasn't so far off the mark after all. And I fear I've still forgotten some musicians who will come to my mind later (sorry, guys and girls - no bad intention!). But whether I named them or not: all of them are lovely people, great artists and a joy to work with, and I'm honoured that they gave me the opportunity of a collaboration. :-)

I think as long as we are here to perceive anything, there also will be sound. There is never such a thing as "no sound". Or maybe rather: as "no vibration". My idea is that all that is - that everything is vibration, and beyond the patterns woven by these vibrations, there is nothing..."

Can You tell me, in short, the main ideas are behind Your music? Could You name Your favorite Your compositions / albums / collaborations? What about the new album? What's its concept?

One of my problems - if You like - is, that I love all kinds of music, and as a consequence, my own music strays in all kinds of directions and encompasses a lot of genres / styles - often in one and the same album. Another problem is: I have troubles to talk about my music (or other topics which are close to me) "in short"... ;-)

I've started to play music at all rather late - I already was 21, without any previous training or experience - and the impulse for my decision to give it a try came from practicing a kind of meditative yoga which included mantra chanting and playing Indian kirtans on harmonium. And I think this initial vibe, this introspective, meditative quality is inherent in most of my music; of course especially in my (drone) ambient albums, but also in others. However, as I (just for example) always loved progressive rock and sequencer based electronica (especially from the 70ies) a lot, there is also a rather agitated, lively side of my music - and all kinds of other elements join in the mix of that, to various degrees.

As I've said, I'm an autodidact and have no musical training - therefore initially I didn't consider myself to be a "musician", but rather a "sound artist" (since some years I've dropped that distinction though, because it grew tiresome to try to explain people the difference... ;-) ).

I've always felt that in addition to the introspective aspect, the element of story-telling was very important to me - that's why I thought that "sonic storytelling" describes quite well what I try to do.

Finding favorites from my own catalogue seems to me as difficult as highlighting some of my collaborators. But for the sake of keeping this short, I will name a couple of albums from the past 20 years or so that I think are interesting starting points for anyone who likes to explore what I did and do:

A NEW AGE, 1996 (actually a drone ambient album)

MOVIES MOVING IN MY HEAD, 2000 (ambient and experimental electronica)

ONE THIRTY EIGHT, 2002 (an odd mix of dance, electronica and ambient)

ÔRNITHÉOLOGIQUE, 2003 (drone ambient)

FIRST HALF OF THE MOON, 2004 (lively "progressive" electronica)

DAYDREAM, 2006 (dance, chill-out and other "contemporary" electronica)

DAYS IN THE SUN, 2008 (relaxed electronica)

OMBRA (ReVisited), 2010 & 2014 (dark & ethereal drone ambient)

100 MILLION MILES UNDER THE STARS, 2012 (Berlin School, space music, traditional EM)

ELEVENTH SUN, 2012 (ambient)

TWO LETTERS FROM CRIMEA, 2014 (live album, ambient & experimental & electronica)

ONDES INTERGALACTIQUES with Mathias Brüssel, 2015 (contemporary Berlin School)

TWO with Tommy Betzler & guests, 2015 (electronic rock)

MUZIKHALA, 2016 (long form ambient)

This may seem to be a lot of favorites, however these are "just" 14 of (so far) 117. Actually I'm rather productive...

I like the other 101 too, by the way. ;-)

As for "the new" album - actually (and as always) there's not just one, but a couple of them growing simultaneously.

Just a short while ago I released a new album on SynGate records called "Trois Briques" which can best be described as relaxed contemporary electronica with movie soundtrack leanings and some ambient and more experimental interludes; as a concept it suggests a mysterious story around three coloured bricks that suddenly appear in all kinds of places like a strange symbol, and it's the mystery of it all to find out what these bricks are about (something I won't disclose here ;-) ).

I think what is going to happen after that, in December, is a new album with drummer Tommy Betzler and guests Sammy David on guitar and Fryderyk Jona on Moog synthesizer again. Actually this album still has to be properly announced, because we were forced to change our plans here: in fact we are still working on one particular album since 2013, and the plan was to release *that* in December. However Sammy David - who is in this case the one who will mix and master it - has to move into a new house and thus to close his studio for some weeks, and so (like several times before) the release of this material has to be delayed (until next spring). However we are going to release another album that is based on improvisational structures that we had developed and rehearsed for a festival gig that happened about a week ago. The music on this album will mix neo Berlin School with electronic / space rock - which is what that project - Betzler & Brückner -  is all about.

Beyond that, for 2017, there are already a few more releases which are likely going to happen, and most of them are rather ambient or other introspective music...

The sound is magic. But, what ends, when there‘s no sound?

I think as long as we are here to perceive anything, there also will be sound. There is never such a thing as "no sound". Or maybe rather: as "no vibration". My idea is that everything is vibration, and beyond the patterns woven by these vibrations, there is nothing...

Of course - as You might guess - this (perhaps slightly esoteric) view is quite in line with the philosophy of the yoga that started it all for me (like mentioned above).

So to follow that train of thought further, I can think of any experience of "no sound" only like reaching - perhaps with the help of music - a meditative state where, instead of perceiving the dance of all phenomenons, we experience only the throb of that first, all-encompassing, unifying primordial vibration from which the dream of this universe constantly emanates...

However, the way You put Your question invited me to stray into such exotic "eastern" ideas; the truth is that I don't really know.

But from what I've experienced in my life so far, and from what I can imagine, and for what I can grasp intellectually (which all may not reach very far, though) that's more or less how I still imagine the universe...

What is and what is not a Sound Art to You?

This question about "sound art" is so all-encompassing that any serious answer would require a whole book to answer it properly.

For a short cut, I'd like use that (maybe somewhat clichéd) distinction between music that is created for commercial reasons - like some producer who is "planning" hits and attempts to feed the fashion of the day - no matter what that is at a given moment - or like music for movies that are motivated in the same way, or other "library" music etc. - as opposed to all music that is created from a genuine interest in that specific music, in the seek for original, genuine expression of an idea, for the love of it, or out of a sense of necessity...

I think it's obvious that the second attitude is much more likely than the first to create "art".

Of course, in real life that distinction is not always that clear (some commercial producers still love the music they do, for example) and it also doesn't tell us anything about the quality of the result (there are many examples of brilliant commercial music as well as terrible "for arts sake" music).

Still I basically think that the intention with what we create something, the intensity with which we strive for the best result we can achieve, and the love for what we do shows in the more subtle qualities of the resulting piece of music, sound art - or whatever it is.

And my heart goes out to those artists who are very serious in what they do and who strive to express their inspiration fully and who put all their soul into what they do...

Beyond that, I'm very open minded to many forms of expression - there is marvellous art both in different traditional forms of music as well as in experimental music; in every genre or style I've found moving, expressive and magical songs, pieces or compositions, whatever... (although in some more than in others).

So, to me, it's never the genre, or style, or "camp" - the crucial thing is the inspiration and dedication of the artist who fills true art with life.

What do You think about relations between the old art and computer art? Are they compatible?

Absolutely, and why not...? To me, all art is about expressing ideas and emotions, or exploring possibilities, proportions, principles -  or combining all this in an even bigger context.

For any expression You need *some* means of expression, some medium. On the other hand, any medium can be put to use to express something. It doesn't matter if it's a voice, if it's any traditional instrument, or modern instrument, or found objects, paint, pixels - whatever. Artists project their minds and inspiration into whatever medium they choose, and create...

That said, of course different media all bring their specific qualities, and ideally, they complement each other, and bring together their specific strengths for the sake of an even purer, or more intense, more interesting, more stimulating, more thought provoking, higher, deeper, more meaningful expression.

To me, there are "vibes" and subtleties in vibrations coming from the human voice or acoustic instruments or other "natural" sound sources that cannot be achieved by or found in any kind of synthesis; on the other hand, different forms of synthesis allow for all kinds of sounds that never could be generated any other way.

The same is true for all other kinds of "traditional" expressions versus "digital" ones.

A good artist will probalby strive to use the best of both worlds.

Then again, maybe some feel they want to concentrate for whatever reason on just one specific field of expression - but whatever any particular artist goes for: that's all great for me.

We should be openminded and appreciate the creativity of others, regardless of their specific means of expression.

What Lithuanian and foreign musicians do You value most?

Oh, dear - You got me here: the only Lithuanian musician I'm aware of is Clara Rockmore, the early Theremin virtuoso. I might like some more musicians from Your country without knowing where they are from, though. Strangely enough (given that I don't really know a lot about them) I always felt a special liking for the Baltic countries. The first net label, or label at all, where I ever released some music at is from Latvia (INQB8R, maybe You know them...). And there's a listener, a lady from Lithuania, who I always felt close to and who keeps following what I do since quite some years now...

As for "foreign" musicans - again, those who impress me a lot, who I really adore and who in many ways had an influence on me are far too many to name them all here, and even if I tried, I would probably forget to include half of them anyway. So for the sake of a brief answer I'll mention *some* to give an idea of my general preferences, most from the closer context of electronic - or introspective - music (no specific order):

Klaus Schulze, Robert Rich (actually I listen to his album "Fissures" with Alio Die while typing this), Mike Oldfield, (partly) Tangerine Dream, Yes, Camel, King Crimson / Robert Fripp, Jon Lord, Peter Michael Hamel, Brian Eno, Andreas Vollenweider, Markus Reuter, Stephen Parsick, Mathias Grassow, Lightwave, Laurie Spiegel, Aziazah Mustafa Zadeh, Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Paul Horn, Aes Dana, Pete Namlook, Nils Petter Moelver, Kimmo Pohjonen, Arvo Pärt (from Estonia, at least ;-) ), Györgi Ligeti, J.S. Bach - and 10.000 others...

What inspires You most?

Again, it's hard for me to highlight anything specific - it's a mix of all that came (and keeps coming) my way during all my life: people, relationships, landscapes, clouds, dreams, books, movies, music of all kind (obviously), paintings, sculptures, cities, buildings - and so much more. And it's not only what I like or enjoy, but also what I don't like, reject, which horrfies me - everything that triggers any reaction and thus has to be digested by my system in some way...

That said, I'd like to describe one phenomenon that seems special to me: this odd experience that, if you immerse yourself in the process of creating music, at some point it seems that the positions are swapped and music (like an entity) is using your hands, ears and brain as tools to manifest itself.

By saying this I don't want to imply that I'm anyone "special" - like a medium with some kind of "supernatural" ability. In the contrary, as far as I know (for example from what fellow musicians told me) this is a rather common notion to occur - just something that seems to happen when anyone immerses him- or herself into the creative flow.

It also doesn't mean at all that the results are automatically brilliant - they are still determined by the skills and talents of the hands, ears and minds through which the music is apparently "channelled".

But again and again it's a wondrous and mysterious process to experience when it takes place. You have no specific idea. You play one note with some sound. You play a second note - and between these two notes, there instantly occurs a relationship. And unevitably, this relationship suggests different ways into which it can develop. You opt for one of them - and instantly, the resulting constellation suggests the next steps, and if You keep following that, new music will evolve of which no one had any idea before it started to manifest.

One of the members of the German electronic avantgarde-pop duo "Mouse On Mars" once said: "What we do is assisting at the birth of pieces of music."

I can very much relate to that description...

Religion, philosophy, ...?

Yes, please... ;-)

Well, I already wrote a few words about that yoga thing I was involved with in the second question; to give a more complete picture:

I was raised protestant, and although my parents were never interested in religious topics, as a boy and during my adolescens I had been quite acitive at the protestant community of my hometown.

However, already then I had been open minded and curious towards other religions and forms of spirituality - and actually, philosophy and psychology too, although I have to admit that after all I didn't read too many original text by philosophers, like Kant, Nietzsche or the likes...

At some point, maybe starting when I was 16, I somewhat lost my way for a couple of years, I had alcohol problems and suffered from bleak depression.

That (more or less) ended when I started to practice meditation, mantra chanting and such things and immerse myself in Indian - and later other eastern and mystical / religious philopsophies - like Yoga, Sufism, Kabbala, Christian mysticism and more such things.

I also took a lot of interest in "holistic" approaches in science, which were en vogue for some time between the 70ies and (perhaps) the 90ies, like for example such books as Capra's "The Tao of Physics" and others.

All this still very much shapes the way I perceive, or imagine, the world - however after perhaps 10 years of being an avid follower of Yoga - including following a particular Guru etc. - life had some turns, perspectives slightly changed, and my perhaps in some ways narrowed points of view dissolved in a more general, open-minded form of spirituality that's not tied to any particular belief system anymore.

To name a hand full of books that still are cornerstones of my idea of the world (and of course there are more - these are just some "prototypes") :

"The Neverending Story" by Michael Ende

"The Art of Loving" by Erich Fromm

"Through Music to the Self: How to Appreciate and Experience Music Anew" by Peter Michael Hamel

"Beyond the Brain: Birth, Death And Transcendence In Psychotherapy" by Stanislav Grof

"The Lord of the Rings" by J.R.R. Tolkien

...plus a few selected parts of the bible. ;-)

(You may be surprised by the inclusion of Ende and Tolkien, but to me their books are treasures of spiritual wisdom...)

Thank You.

Oh - thanks to You, Mindaugas, for the opportunity to answer Your questions.