DISCOGRAPHY

solo/leader

Kyle Bruckmann - oboe, English horn
Tim Daisy - percussion
Anton Hatwich - bass
Jen Clare Paulson - viola
Jason Stein - bass clarinet

"Bruckmann effortlessly occupies the space between jazz and classical music, generating movements of somber reflection one minute, turbulent intensity the next. From Morton Feldman-esque minimalism to Charles Ives-like bluster, Wrack has few equals. . . Historically, attempts to combine classical music with jazz often tend toward the programmatic and cerebral. Bruckmann's writing sounds wholly organic and natural. With Intents & Purposes, he delivers an album rich with tricky contrapuntal writing, bolstered by unusual arrangements and intricate interplay. Whether Wrack qualifies as free jazz, chamber jazz or some other hybrid is irrelevant: this is music made by artists unafraid of genre constraints." (Troy Collins, All About Jazz)

Kyle Bruckmann - oboe, English horn, suona, and mijwiz
(with Kurt Johnson, double bass)

"Gasps & Fissures's microscopic constructions are meticulously built from some of the music's smallest bits. . . Bruckmann's classical and jazz influences are stripped down and dissected, resulting in music that's as much electronic as it is either of the aforementioned styles. Gasps & Fissures inhabits the areas in between these territories, not straddling them so much as existing deep in the cracks, where many wouldn't even think to look. Like a slide of single-celled organisms bursting to life under a microscope, this album finds flourishing life in the most unexpected of places."
(Adam Strohm, Dusted Magazine)

Jeb Bishop - trombone
Kyle Bruckmann - oboe, English horn
Tim Daisy - percussion
Kurt Johnson - bass
Jen Clare Paulson - viola

"Bruckmann's compositions are a carefully constructed balancing act between a written hybrid of jazz/classical motifs and improvised interplay. These seven compositions (with one non-original) emphasize a dark, reflective sound that thrives on dynamic variance... On Ornette Coleman's "Lonely Woman", the ensemble cuts to the core of the piece in perhaps the most breathtaking version of this song ever recorded (after Ornette, of course)."
(Jay Collins, One Final Note)

Kyle Bruckmann - oboe, English horn, suona, raita
duo improvisations with:
Jim Baker - synthesizer
Jeb Bishop - trombone
Gene Coleman - bass clarinet
Fred Lonberg-Holm - cello
Scott Rosenberg - contrabass clarinet
Weasel Walter - percussion
Michael Zerang - multiple percussion

"And is a collection of duets pitting his oboe, cor, suona (a Chinese double-reed instrument) and raita against the cream of Chicago improvisors. . . Where Bruckmann's first album showcased his virtuoso playing, And reveals he's just as capable of virtuoso listening."
(Dan Warburton, The Wire)

Kyle Bruckmann - oboe, English horn, suona

"Entymology could have been only a curiosity, something exotic-sounding for the improv crowd, but it goes beyond that. It so happens Kyle Bruckmann is a seasoned improviser with impressive extended technique and peculiar artistic flair. These 13 untitled improvisations aren't exercises: in each one of them, the improviser uses many techniques, varies moods and captivates. . . Entymology is an enchanting experience that expands the possibilities (and the comprehension) of the double reed family. Strongly recommended."
(François Couture, All-Music Guide)

Collaborative Ventures

Kyle Bruckmann - oboe, English horn, analog electronics
Ernst Karel - trumpet, analog electronics
Giuseppe Ielasi - electronics, guitar, piano, etc.

"Composed of microscopic electronics, floating brass instrument tones and prepared/tabletop guitar events, Group -- paradoxically -- rocks. It's an object lesson in the inherent breadth of vision made available by the contemporary melding of acoustic instruments and electronics. . . The music is quiet but not undemanding, careful listening yielding subtle vistas and engaging sonic environments. . . The pieces arise, unfold and then depart with a stately logic all their own. . . The players evidence an informed knowledge of a range of musical styles, reflecting their mix of conservatory training and broad experimental practice. Their repertoire of sound sources and collaborative strategies is diverse and engaging. Group is a fine example of the kind of genre hybridisation that typifies early 21st century music. (Bruce Russell, The Wire)

Kyle Bruckmann - oboe, English horn
Werner Dafeldecker - guitar, percussion
Boris Hauf - synthesizers, baritone saxophone

"...these are musicians whose sense that conscious restraint can be enablng is coupled with a deep concern for sonic content... Their music is gradual and relatively stark: pulsation and sustained tones from Hauf's synthesizer; an undulating drone from Dafeldecker's guitar or steady ringing and chiming like a ceremonial gong; precise microtones and gradations of timbre expressed from Bruckmann's reeds. There's an air of serious investigation taking place - close attention to elements combined, interacting and mutating. The sounds carry weight and are made to matter. It's sound-led music, but the musicians are making the right choices, and from that Wane acquires its quiet intensity." (Julian Cowley, The Wire)

Kyle Bruckmann - analog synthesizers, double reeds
Sam Coomes - keyboards, guitar, bass, voice
Gino Robair - drums, keyboards, violin
Scott Rosenberg - saxophones, contrabass clarinet
John Shiurba - guitar, bass, violin

"Pink Mountain improvise with impunity through anguished prog-metal, squalling jazz-rock, and the agitated, gnarled-to-hell dirges that pocked the weirder end of SST Records' catalog. Pink Mountain's self-titled CD is a bracing ordeal, portending an overwhelming live show." (Dave Segal, The Stranger)

Kyle Bruckmann - minimoog, electronics, suona
Kurt Johnson - bass guitar, double bass, electronics
Tatsuya Nakatani - drums, percussion

"...this pair of improvisations sound like AMM plugged into a stack of Marshall amps, a monstrous Metal/free jazz-inspired meltdown that goes beyond the usual industrialised churn by experimenting with different modes of expression. Gaping Maw spark off each other with all barrels blazing, constantly projecting and reflecting back ideas as the volume of their improvisation intensifies or subsides into a shrouded, echoing drone state." (Edwin Pouncey, The Wire)

Kyle Bruckmann - accordion, minimoog, organ, oboe, voice
Kurt Johnson - bass
Philip Montoro - metal percussion, drums
Mark Stevens - drums

"LOZENGE, a four-man band from Chicago, makes a clattery, distorted racket... Cheap organ and synthesizer, clanking percussion, clobbered drums and cranked-up bass work up stop-start patterns that sound like progressive rock locked in a dank boiler room.... Every so often, someone howls a line like "What are we waiting for?" amid the din, or the music switches to a sardonic oom-pah. All the lurching and buzzing is invigorating and hilarious, unless you're prone to motion sickness." (John Pareles, New York Times)

Kyle Bruckmann - oboe, English horn and/or analog electronics
Ernst Karel - trumpet and/or analog electronics

"EKG is capable of a langorous lyricism while in other cases this tendency is willfully crushed and ground down into a gritty landscape of fine-grained glass and silt. Open and inviting tones draw the listener in at the same time tenser noisy outbursts work to alienate. Tightly controlled grainy textures splutter to life and dissolve into hovering drones. The sequencing can be jarring (as when the largely open "Days" collides with the claustrophobic "Hours"), but the effect is of an irregular pendulum's swing - a fevered and woozy oscillation through tension and release." (Steve Rybicki, fakejazz.com)

Kyle Bruckmann - oboe, English horn, suona
Ernesto Diaz-Infante - acoustic guitar
John Shiurba - electric guitar
Karen Stackpole - percussion

"An unusual ad-hoc grouping, with Chicagoan Bruckmann horning in on a nest of Bay Area experimenters. Grand Mal is a bright-toned yet challenging suite of snippets, as far from standard improvisation blowouts as it is from patience-draining Austrian angst. Which is to say, no quarter is given the eardrums, yet good humor carries the day... A disc to return to again and again, impressive for its lofty levels of extended virtuosity, but even more for its improvisations-each showing its own beautiful kind of composure." (Tom Djll, Transbay)

Kyle Bruckmann - English horn, suona and/or analog electronics
Ernst Karel - trumpet and/or analog electronics

". . . a set of six austere, slow moving soundscapes in keeping with the prevailing tendency in new improvised music to move away from rapid-fire interplay towards territory more traditionally associated with contemporary classical and electronic music. . . as much a landmark of the genre as the highly acclaimed releases on Jon Abbey's Erstwhile label. Bruckmann has in recent times preferred to downplay his dazzling virtuosity on the double reed instruments in favour of patient exploration of the microtonal and micro-timbral inflections of long-held tones, which combine with Karel's plaintive trumpet and the grainy analog electronics, blasts of white noise and crackling static to create music of an extraordinary intensity which richly repays repeated listening." (Dan Warburton, Paris Transatlantic Magazine)

Kyle Bruckmann - accordion, minimoog, oboe, voice
Kurt Johnson - bass
Philip Montoro - metal percussion, drums
Mark Stevens - drums
with Boris Hauf, tenor saxophone, and Chuck Falzone, guitar

"Lozenge are too unruly to be indie rock, too sensible to be grindcore and too damn good to be unjustly heaped into the overcrowded and underappreciated pigeonhole that is noisecore... Lozenge's world is one where beer-barrel polkas slam headlong into caterwauling prog-metal and improvisational jazz riffs." (Jason Jachowiak, Splendid)

Kyle Bruckmann - minimoog and live processing
Scott Rosenberg - alto, tenor and sopranino saxophones, flute, contrabass clarinet
Michael Zerang - multiple percussion

"The music builds up a head of steam, but it never reaches a point where a predictable continuity of momentum is achieved. Instead, it feasts on irregular movements, serrated edges, and explosive outbursts of sound that are the product of the imaginative minds of the players." (Frank Rubolino, One Final Note)

Myles Boisen, Matthew Brubeck, Kyle Bruckmann, Lara Bruckmann, Erik Carter, Graham Connah, John Finkbeiner, Larry Ochs, Dan Plonsey, Gino Robair, John Shiurba, Dave Slusser, Matthew Sperry, Karen Stackpole, Ron Thompson

A two-day music improvisation event supervised by Myles Boisen 12/31/00 & 1/1/01; Bruckmann's inclusion is the fruit of his pre-move reconnaissance mission to the Bay Area.

Kyle Bruckmann - English horn and analog electronics
Ernst Karel - trumpet and analog electronics

Out of print, but available from the EKG website as a free mp3 download.

"The cross-pollination of punk and improvised music has opened various new avenues of exploration..Lozenge has charted a similarly twisted path that leads through art rock and the territory inhabited by Japanese eclectic extremists the Boredoms and Omoide Hatoba... Doozy is a messy, frenetic, supercharged pack of tracks... Bruckmann, Johnson, and saxophonist and electric violist John Robbins make an effectively and purposefully clunky front line, barreling through occasional odd meters, fuzzy garage riffs, and menacing prog-punk pronouncements..." (John Corbett, Chicago Reader)

"...Then there are other other bands that take a far-fetched musical idea (like mayhem, for instance), aggressively fart around with it for a few months, play about two live gigs, break up, disappear and then a year later, when individual band members may already have tenure in hell for all anyone knows, hawk up a gob of indispensable racket such as Plenum – which, besides being a band-described "mannerist exercise in manic self-deprecation," is also the greatest example of unaffected sonic artiness to see daylight in Houston since I can’t remember when." (Brad Tyer, Houston Press)

Sideman Duties

Anthony Braxton: Nine Compositions (DVD) 2003
Rastascan 060 (2007)

Christine Sehnaoui: A Second Shadow
Recorded 022 (2007)

Ghost in the House
Edgetone 4054 (2007)

Guillermo Gregorio: Coplanar
New World 80639-2 (2005)

Olivia Block: Change Ringing
Cut 016 (2005)

Harris Eisenstadt: Ahimsa Orchestra
Nine Winds 0237 (2005)

Jason Ajemian: Who Cares How Long You Sink
Lucky Kitchen 025 (2004)

Scott Rosenberg: Creative Orchestra Music
New World 80572-2 (2003)

Guillermo Gregorio: Faktura
hat[now]ART 146 (2002)

Scott Fields Ensemble: From the Diary of Dog Drexel
Rossbin 008 (2002)

Olivia Block: Mobius Fuse
Sedimental 031 (2001)

Olivia Block: Pure Gaze
Sedimental 026 (1999)

Negligible Contributions

Damon & Naomi: Within These Walls
20|20|20 05 (2007)

Oxbow: The Narcotic Story
Hydra Head (2007)

Christmas Decorations: Communal Rust
Community Library 13 (2007)

Olivia Block: Heave To
Sedimental 044 (2006)

Michael Zapruder's Rain of Frogs: New Ways of Letting Go
Howells Transmitter 03 (2006)

Olivia Block/Seth Nehil: Sunder/Unite
Sedimental 034 (2003)

Cheer-Accident: Gumballhead the Cat
Skin Graft 67 (2003)

The Lofty Pillars: Amsterdam
Truckstop 23 (2001)

(Smog): Rain on Lens
Drag City 187 (2001)

Bobby Conn: Rise Up
Truckstop 06 (1998)

Buddha on the Moon: Stratospheric
Farrago 10/Drive-In 12 (1997)

Buddha on the Moon: Translucence
Farrago 06 (1994)

Forthcoming 

Cube of Force: Book of Vile Darkness
Praemedia

Baker/Bruckmann/Zerang: Extraordinary Rendition

Albums are best obtained directly from the respective labels; most should also be available through distributors such as Jazz Loft, CD Baby, Cadence/Northcountry (US), Verge (Canada), Fringes and Jazz Today (Italy).

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