MICHAEL BRÜCKNER

I was immediately drawn by the mysterious and colourful liquid painting cover by Tony Jimenez that reminded me of Tangerine Dream's "Atem", and I think it reflects perfectly the music found on this album.

The opener "Everlasting Footprints" was initially recorded in 2015 as an homage to Edgar Froese who had recently passed away but was shelved for a few years (as he didn't want to capitalize on Edgar's passing) and then was reworked for this album. In this 22 minute piece Michael explores the whole Tangerine Dream sonic universe, from Mellotron flutes, to wavetable synthesis and pulsating sequencers with glimpses of piano, organ, guitar and drums. While it could seem like a huge mess on paper, he successfully managed to create a mastercrafted tapestry of sounds. Some elements are used sparingly while others come and go to provide an anchor in this relentless and constantly evolving epic.

After that long musical journey, "The Sequence of Memories" brings some stability while never losing momentum, with its bright sequencers, wobbly synths and reverberating pads.

"Carbon" is a very odd and unpreditable track (in a good way), even after a few dozen listens I never know where it will take me. Slightly deranging at first, percussive the next moment and suddenly becomes contemplative. On the second half it starts shifting gears and all these elements collide to form the most fascinating and indescribable mood.

The album ends with "Space Suit", a cinematic three-part suite. The story I imagine is of an astronaut in awe with the sight of a strange yet beautiful quartz based planet. Suddenly the floor crumbles under his feet and after regaining conscience he finds himself in a luminous cave. Realizing that he lost communication with the ship, he has to find a way out before the oxygen runs out.

As usual, bonus tracks are provided, for those who want to dig deeper in his work and creative process. The CD has the 2015 recording of the opening track (simpler but not less engaging) while the download also comes working versions of the other tracks and improvisation sessions.

Once again Michael Brückner takes us on a colourful and emotional ride, constantly engaging and immensely inspired.

5 stars.

Eleven minute opener `The Undercurrent: Part 1 (Subliminal)' is an introspective ambient drift of lush synth washes that ultimately turn more urgent with dramatic whirring sweeps. While Michael has never been a mere clone of the defining prog- electronic sounds, `A Great Hope' takes a Jean-Michel Jarre-esque hold with its chiming keyboard melodies, and `24 Hours and 16 Days (In Amnesia)' quickly dances with a programmed rhythmic bounce that is joyful, maybe even a little giddy!

Strident programmed beats give `Activate!' an unexpectedly harder rock sound as it surges forward with constant momentum backing up joyfully excited synth outbursts. Fleeting abstract interlude `Mount Tuna (The Opening)' lies somewhere between dream-like and nightmarish but is ultimately full of hope, but `The Undercurrent: Part 2 (Messages)' is moody electronica fraught with unease and lurking danger. Defiant themes emerge from between `A Greater Hope (Reprise)'s jangling Berlin School-flavoured sequencer pulses and metallic programming.

Twenty-one minute environmentally-themed closer `The Unanswered Question' leaves a huge impression on the listener. Taking inspiration from US Senator Gaylord Nelson's speech about protecting the environment on the first Earth Day almost fifty years ago, the extended piece incorporates everything from contemplative ambient passages, Mellotron-like spectral choirs, ethereal reaches and mournful organ drones around sections of Nelson's recorded dialogue, and is a superb example of expertly executed build and drama.

(Note - the download version comes with additional reworked/reinterpreted bonus tracks too, all well worth exploring! `Undercurrent: part 1' almost resembles a mantra, being an eastern-flavoured and meditative reimagining. `24 Hours and 16 Days (Endangered)' is more up-tempo with light drum n' bass-like touches, and `Mount Tuna ' is expanded to twelve minutes as an evocative aural collage before a very chilled outro)

It's not easy to deliver proggy electronic music and not have it instantly sound like a science-fiction soundtrack, but Brückner has achieved that again here, and while `The Undercurrent' may be constantly melodic and rhythmic based, it's never at the expense of intelligently drawn out pieces with plenty of energetic soloing. Michael must be the eternal optimist, because one thing that instantly stands out about this disc is that, while it offers more sombre and confronting moments, there is a constant sense of triumph, humanity and hope always emerging throughout.

Four stars for another superb disc from the artist.

Of the absolute highlights, undulating electronic waves lap forwards and gracefully retreat over and over between spoken word voice snippets throughout moody opening `Prologue: The Kuroshio Current', and we get the first traces of the pristine and achingly beautiful piano reflections that pop up frequently on Brückner's projects. `Shatsky Rise' dreamily floats with pulsing electronics twinkling around graceful violin reaches, while both `The Aleutian Current' and `Hikurangi Plateau' take on a low-key soundtrack-like cinematic power. `Mariana Trench' bristles with danger laced to its moodier dark synth backgrounds over haunting piano ruminations and ultimately morphs into a howling and nightmarish icy drone, `Louisville Ridge' joyfully dances with spiralling and freed spacey synth soloing, and `The California Current' holds faraway ethereal voice- like shimmers.

Taking the album even deeper, `Richards Deep' is a cavernous sound-collage of eerily bleeding electronic twitches and groans and pattering percussion that drifts closer to a Popul Vuh sound, `Raukumara Plain' almost takes on a serene Kitaro-esque dignity in between its ringing synth noodling and Robert Rich-styled trickling programming loops, and both `Emerald Fracture Zone' and `Fobos-Grunt' are comprised of crystalline shards and disorientating hallucinogenic caresses. Meditative flute flits around `The Humboldt Current's humming ambient ebbs teeming with life that could have popped up on a Deuter album, clockwork-like chimes click in and out of `Galathea Depth's darker drones, and closer `Epilogue: Ring of Fire' is sobering and dramatic but lifts with carefully buoyant programming to ensure a seamless balance of lighter and darker thoughtful flavours to end this journey on.

This first Bridge to Imla album can be considered among some of the very best works of both Mr Brückner and Mr Schmidt to date, being an impeccably performed and captivating long-form atmospheric piece that never loses momentum or ceases moving in different directions, and it always retains great humanity and genuine emotion. Made even more special by the luxurious fold-out CD packaging that intelligent ambient music label Winter-light adorns all their fascinating releases with, `The Radiant Sea' is superior prog-electronic and ambient music storytelling at its very best, and this deeply immersive and constantly evolving soundscape can rank up there with the best releases in the above-mentioned styles of 2017.

Four and a half stars.

Fans of the classic defining Berlin School/prog-electronic acts will instantly love the way the disc starts - the near-ten minute `Queen of the Southern Cross' opens with a Vangelis-like synth fanfare, the effervescent soloing is pure early Seventies Klaus Schulze, and the unceasing repeating loops call to mind Tangerine Dream of the same era, and together they're all coated in soothing electronic pools of bliss. The shuffling and gurgling electronic bleeds of `Into the Birdlands' are gently disorientating yet enveloping, but `The Fountain, the Child and the Sun' proves to be quite schizophrenic, darting through everything from circling synth chimes, thick ruminative bass notes and gentle beats slinking in and out of a range of tempos. `Outcast' holds clanging alien sequencer beats, meditative chimes, the eeriest of ringing crystalline slivers hovering in their ear and Michael's contemplative electric piano touches meandering around the atmosphere.

The mellow twenty-one minute `Under the Trees of Olivandá' is mostly a collection of relaxed deep spacey themes and chilled programmed beats, where monolithic synth passages rise in grandeur around unceasing sequencer ripples that spiral into infinity, and the loveliest of electronic caresses weave around the listener, but the final minutes of zippy soloing are urgent and vibrant. `Sunflower Girl' is warm and shimmering pure ambience that slowly comes to life with quickening sequencer patterns and rapidly skittering dance beats, and the disc wraps on another nineteen-minute behemoth, `Escape to the Outer Moons, where moments of reflection and contemplative themes weave seamlessly together with endless serene oceans of sparkling electronics, strident sequencer patterns and constant colourful soloing.

Brückner releases a steady stream of worthwhile albums, so what makes `Trees of Olivandá' so distinctive? Despite much of it being based around lengthy deep-space exploratory soundtracks, it remains particularly accessible by offering plenty of colourful movement and constantly melodic qualities without ever being too lightweight or insubstantial, nor sacrificing atmosphere and intelligence. It's respectful of its influences but approached in fresh and interesting ways that don't merely suggest lazy idol-worship, and the frequent beats and rhythmic additions reign in even the most aimless diversions (we're not talking the vague panoramas of many modern Steve Roach discs here!). Followers of this underrated modern prog-electronic composer will likely return to this one constantly, and it even makes for a perfect introduction for newcomers to the superb space music of Michael Brückner.

Four and a half stars, and one of the best prog-electronic releases of 2017.

Throughout opener `Mandala', long drawn-out sustained veils of dark symphonic chords and warbling spacey effects build an eerie unease, the piece eventually taking on a more ashen drama with an almost imposing industrial iciness once pulsing colder beats kick in alongside searing slivers cutting through the air. A trilling loop then flits in and out of the slinking electronica of `Endemonic Howls', given a touch of psychedelic weirdness by colourful little bleeding twitches.

The unceasing backdrop of almost twenty-eight minute `Auf Sibernen Pfaden' is pure stormy deep-drone ambience, lightly coated with the fizzy rising/falling sprinkles of Klaus Schulze and his ever-unfolding vast landscapes with manic up-front soloing, and the relentless maddening pattering beats, bubbling effects and aching Mellotron choirs that remind of Tangerine Dream here are the closest Bruckner and Barkowski come to openly acknowledging their Berlin School musical forefathers.

The aptly-titled `Blissful' is absolutely sublime, soaring through deep space with hypnotic swirling electronics and lulling crystalline chimings without ever drifting into overly placid ambient patterns for even a moment, making it one to listen to over and over, completely enveloping and rapturous. Closer `Ionic Master' continues the nice come-down by incorporating tribal percussion and spiralling flute into chilled electronica grooves, truly becoming the soundtrack to a secretive ancient ritual on some faraway alien world...probably!

Even in its more shadowy moments, `The Dark Path' is never quite as pitch-black as its ominous title might suggest, instead preferring to graft mysterious moods to its furthest-space travels, and while the pieces are all unhurried and carefully unfolding, Brückner and Barkowski ensure they are full of movement and never become uneventful or too vague. It's also much more than mere slavish hero-worship recreation going on here (even if the longest piece in the middle comes the closest!), the compositions mostly aiming higher than simply remaking Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze's music using their exact same sounds of old - and let's face it, there's endless lesser electronic artists doing just that. Many repeated plays prove `The Dark Path' to be extremely rewarding and holding a quality that will likely reveal it to retain a timeless quality, and this is pure Berlin School music done right with a couple of other musical diversions also thrown in as well from two intelligent modern progressive-electronic composers.

Four stars.

Although the focal point is the properly finished new version, it's important to see where the original recordings were at in the first place, and they're included here as a bonus on the second disc of the set. Around its pulsing and gurgling rising/falling programming, opener `Jigsaw Riksha' slinks (perhaps accidentally?!) into a Canterbury sound-flavoured laid back jazzy saunter with its sparkling electric piano, quite an unexpected style to hear on an album from Mr Brückner! The lightly melancholic `Pole Connector' is gently dark electronica that glides into the slyest of grooves, `Broken Mirrors' is a low-key trip-hopper that teases a cool dub sound with the most subtle of Hammond organ, and the eclectic `The Big Division' is almost psychedelic with plenty of fuzzy electronics bubbling around a variety of strident beats. The mellow `Puzzled' floats with sparkling electronics, and the fifty-one minute title track is equal parts a mysterious humming drone and unhurried glacial drift that carefully introduces the most minute of rhythmic elements.

But it's with the new contributors for the pieces that completely rework the material in many vital and adventurous ways! Emerging Portuguese artist and Prog Archives website's own esteemed wunderkind Samuel Cadima aka Meltdowner truly recreates the opener `Jigsaw Riksha' with a subtle coating of eerie treated guitar drones, almost revealing a Pink Floyd-like dreaminess (apparently there's kazoo buried in his contribution as well, which will please Corporal Clegg). Soprano singer Clare Butterfield-Elséy aka Rosmerta adds both a wordless vocal full of an aching longing and a striking spoken word passage to `Pole Connector', Kemal Deniz's ravishing Bağlama (a traditional Turkish stringed instrument, something of a variation of the lute) replaces the trip-hop cool of `Broken Mirrors' with a heavy eastern-flavoured drama, and Ben I Sabbah's sparkling electric phin guitar chimes calm down `The Big Division's' bouncing unpredictability and gives it a shimmering ambience. E.U.P.R.P.I, the alias of Bulgarian guitarist Mirian Kolev gives `Puzzled' a graceful serene ambient makeover, and Australian artist Suzannah Moon aka MegaMoonMaiden (who was a key influence in encouraging Michael to recommence these recordings and project overall) not only enhances the fifty-one minute title track with crystalline chimes, meditative flute and tribal percussion, but her ethereal voice and haunting spoken word recitations call like a siren's cry weaving in and around the extended piece.

Some editions of the collection come with bonus tracks - the twenty-one minute `Collecting the Shards' is a dreamlike drone crossed with the spectral expanse of early Klaus Schulze and reaching landscapes of Steve Roach, and a further 2017 instrumental mix of `All of the Pieces Fit Forever' adds just a bit of liveliness and more prominent rhythmic details to give the piece more momentum, making it the superior vocal-free version.

Some listeners may find some of the original album a little lightweight, and diverse collections such as this - essentially three albums worth of material - and especially ones that mix both vocal and instrumental pieces, are always difficult to constantly win everyone over all the time. But if you appreciate constantly experimenting and exploring artists that continuously challenge themselves, don't feel the need to adhere to the style of the vintage masters, who hone their sound and deliver something different with each release, then Michael Brückner's `All The Pieces Fit Forever 2017' is a winning, evocative and colourful musical statement well worth investigating, made even more enchanting by its fine range of guests.

Four stars.

The four pieces on offer here are essentially later studio adaptions of ideas and themes that the main trio of musicians here mostly improvised at the E-Live festival at Oirschot in the Netherlands on October 29th 2016. Eighteen minute opener `The Trip' moves between a reflective atmospheric mood and lively stronger colourful bursts. Introduced by one of those stark piano ruminations that Brückner always does so well, whirring spacey trills and eerie Mellotron flute wisps flit around mellow bluesy Pink Floyd-like ringing guitar soloing. Guest keyboardist Fredryk Jona again contributes some tasty and delirious Moog Voyager solos, and once Tommy's electronic drums and pattering of percussion carefully break to the surface and take hold alongside softly bouncing sequencer patterns, the piece lightly comes to resemble Tangerine Dream's `Force Majeure' album.

Brückner and his electronics mostly step back for `Trilogy', allowing guitarist Sammy David to take much of the spotlight with plentiful soloing frequently in the manner of David Gilmour, but also adopting a tougher hard rock drive in parts, Tommy's constant punchy e-drumming pushing the piece towards an 80's Tangerine Dream flavour. `Doublette' then returns to the core pairing of Brückner and Betzler for a lengthy twenty-three minute workout that seamlessly transitions back and forth between softly sweeping cinematic-like synths, unhurried ambient deep-space drifts and liquid programmed trickles with stronger up-tempo rhythmic bursts fuelled by Tommy's drums, and it makes for a varied and unpredictable piece full of crowd-pleasing soloing.

The main CD also includes a bonus track of a live-in-the-studio interpretation from the four musicians of the third and longest set from the above mentioned show, here entitled `(Three) To the Flame of Life'. Rumbles of drums and cymbal crashes build behind weeping and spacey synth cries, programming slithers, buoyant beats and bubbling wavering psychedelic spirals bleeding over gutsy guitar soloing and peppy drumming, with a dreamy closing few minutes culminating in an uplifting triumphant finale.

Note that some versions of the `Triplet' CD come with a limited DVD-R (that admittedly works best accessing it from your computer) of rehearsals, interviews and rough concert footage of the main three musicians performing at the above mentioned festival in the Netherlands, and it's wonderful to see the musicians in action at their improvisational best backed to the hypnotic psychedelic visuals provided by Edward Rink and Jeroen Bouma.

Overall, the addictive and richly subtle`Triplet' would be ideal for listeners who frequently find a lot of prog-electronic/ambient music too vague or repetitive, as the musicians here have created a diverse, focused and interesting collection that remains exploratory and atmospheric but also melodic and easily approached. It has a great crossover appeal for general prog-rock fans with its liberal use of guitar, and overall the set is full of movement, energy and colour. If something that often sounds like a modern interpretation of Tangerine Dream's `Force Majeure/Cyclone'-era sounds intriguing, investigate `Triplet' immediately, and you won't find a better line-up of Michael Brückner, Tommy Betzler and their musical friends to deliver the goods!

Four stars.

In some ways, `Trois Briques' briefly reminds of Brückner's recent compilation `The Giant Illusion', a remixed set of highlights, obscurities and unreleased pieces that were given a fresh remixing to newly present them as a kind of continuous spacey `mix-tape', everything effortlessly flowing with ease without ever feeling forced. The thirty-two minute opener `La Brique Bleue' moves through a range of crystalline rising/falling electronic veils, drifting aural landscapes and bubbling synth pools. One moment it's reminding ever so briefly of Klaus Schulze's early pulsing solo-heavy alien worlds (just given a modern reinterpretation!), then diverting into stylish synth-pop breaks, slinking trip-hop beats, even sauntering into the chilled spacey realms of the Orb's `Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld'. On the first initial play all the voice samples that waft in and out seem intrusive and distracting, but careful listens reveal that they usually only occur to introduce a new passage or to highlight a more dramatic moment about to occur, surprisingly working very well navigating around this curiously puzzling and moody piece.

`La Brique Verte' is a welcome shorter eight minute interlude that serves as a break between the two bookending thirty-plus minute workouts, and it's one of those purer ambient and pristine piano-highlighted moments that Brückner often delivers with sublime taste, initially somewhat melancholic but ultimately hopeful and embracing. Then it's right back into the lengthy atmospheres, and `La Brique Noire', at almost 37 minutes, is the most mysterious section, the more upfront programming replaced with low-key and hypnotic arrangements of glistening chiming delicate beats and frequently comprised of deeply immersive ambient soundscapes and expansive thoughtful drones that gradually unfold with an unhurried and refined grace.

The voice samples will be a divisive issue for some listeners, but it just gives this new work a distinctive quality quite removed from most of the other works the artist has delivered over the last couple of years. It's also easy to be distracted by the cool programming that takes up many parts of `Trois Briques', but instead always pay special attention to the subtle, minimal ambient flavours going on at all times in the background, the most intricate of details revealing Brückner's sublime understanding of a range of electronic styles and keen musical intelligence. If you're after a reliable Tangerine Dream- modelled electronic listen, best look elsewhere, but if you want a stylish, unpredictable electronic journey that doesn't skimp on atmosphere and variety, `Trois Briques' has plenty of rewarding music to explore.

Four stars.

Opening with constant rhythmic variations bouncing in and out of electric piano tiptoes and whirring electronics, the ten-part suite of the main first disc initially meanders through chilled passages, pulsing beats with up-tempo bursts and plenty of colourful trilling synth soloing. But after the first twenty-two minute section, it slowly progresses into a beautifully uninterrupted drifting flow that mostly abandons the rhythmic elements in favour of plentiful serene ambient synth washes. Gliding electronic slivers, groaning faraway voices and alien tribal drumming float in and out of the near-77 minute selection, it quickly resembling something of a first-rate ambient/prog-electronic/space `mix-tape', and it closes on a very moving and stark piano reflection. Gentle but never empty New Age prettiness, nor too vague and uneventful in the way that some more droning electronic music can be, it's an evocative assortment of deep-space mystery with fleeting personal and deeply human touches with a distinctly modern sound.

The solo 77 minute work that takes up the entire second CD entitled `Rübezaal' is considered a bonus track, and while it's not one of Bruckner's most memorable long-form compositions, it holds plenty of variety and even presents some darker, more melancholic moods not found on the main disc. Subdued and reaching droning passages, slinking dance beats, clockwork-like programming, unfolding crystalline veils and strident guitar strums move throughout the lengthy piece in an unhurried manner, backed to ambient nature field recordings. While it keeps a very contemporary sound, some parts of the opening twenty minutes or so remind of Steve Hillage's 1979 ambient classic `Rainbow Dome Musik', other moments Tangerine Dream's `Thru Metamorphic Rocks' and fleeting spots nearer the end recall the wisping and bubbling disorientating phasing of the early Klaus Schulze albums. Overall the piece works particularly well as an undemanding and varied background listen, and one that reveals new and exciting little details with every spin.

Designed to be an introduction for unsure listeners to Brückner's music, not only is `The Giant Illusion' an ideal compilation for newcomers (and one that is far away from being a clichéd remake of vintage `Berlin School' sounds), the main disc also stands perfectly as a beautiful and completely satisfying proper prog-electronic-ambient album in its own right. This set compliments his earlier 2016 albums nicely (with another new one `Trois Briques' due at the end of October on the SynGate label as well!) and once again admirably showcases the talent, intelligence and great musical variety of Michael Brückner.

Four stars...and no that's not him on the cover, smart guy!

With a name that roughly translates to `Serenity' in the Chichewa language that originates from two countries in South Central Africa, it should come as no surprise to find that `Muzikhala' is frequently ambient-based and full of extended, constantly flowing long-form compositions (two of which, parts 1 and 3 of the title track, each cover the entirety of a CD!), yet it carefully avoids being too light or ever `New Age'-sounding - not always an easy task to achieve. Several sections of the longer pieces call to mind other predominately ambient-styled releases from Brückner such as 2012's `Eleventh Sun' on the Syngate label, but this is much more complex and dense, and the constant use of rhythmic and percussive elements that appear often balances perfectly with the lengthy unaccompanied passages. While each disc can be listened to as its own entity (and it works beautifully that way), Brückner suggests that the whole three-disc set forms something of a `story' that should be listened to in order.

The opening disc and first part of the title track is subtitled `The Aeronaut', an unhurried and subtle 78 minute soundtrack with long stretches of carefully unfolding atmosphere. Lulling synth breezes breath in and out over mysterious harsher slivers, echoing pristine piano and murmuring bass meanders seductively in over cooling serene electronic caresses, equally reflective and embracing. As groaning Mellotron-like choral voices float forwards and cooing electronic programming fizzes around the speakers, a slinking drum n bass/lightly tribal-like beat enters over the droning electronic collage that eventually turns lighter and full of hope. A mysterious and faraway Vocoder alien narration reminds instantly of Robert Schröder's fascinating and unique debut `Harmonic Ascendant' from 1979, and reprises of earlier themes, a brief haunting Tangerine Dream-like Mellotron passage and some fleeting darker teases close out the track. This piece is everything Michael Brückner does so well when choosing to focus on the more ambient side of his music, and it easily ranks amongst his best compositions to date!

Despite how good the first disc is, there's still two more to go, both full of plenty of worthwhile music. `Bem Betel' drones in a Popol Vuh-like ethno-ambient manner, `Reanimation (Zoom In)' is full of mystery, and Part 2 of the title-track presents constantly shifting electronic canvases backed by ringing drum and bass programming, carefully slinking beats and a hypnotic, constant ticking pulse. `The Vishnoor Incident' trickles with the gentlest of cavernous-like dripping beats and has a subtle Steve Roach-flavoured veil-like finale, and the sustaining glacial stillness of `Drowning' rises to life with perfectly balanced melancholic and embracing qualities, with an unhurried solo from Michael in the final minutes that is reflective and dignified.

The final disc, the third part of the title track and sub-titled `The Rift', is another 70-plus minute single composition, in some ways a remixing or reworking of the previous two segments with delicate and restrained reprises, but also managing to head into darker territory. It holds the most frequently rhythmic-based portion of the three-part piece with a variety of buoyant, clipping programmed beats constantly dancing in and out, zapping pulses and groaning sustaining drones taking the piece the closest to deep-space Berlin School territory on the set. It also refreshingly doesn't provide a perfectly safe finale, Michael presenting some uncomfortably eerie and stark tones instead, a brave way to close the saga.

Admittedly this set could perhaps have worked just as effectively as a double CD (and the first disc could have easily stood as its own standalone release!), but lengthy and intelligent collections such as this greatly reward the most patient and seasoned of prog-electronic listeners. Unsurprisingly, this deeply immersive and addictive latest work `Muzikhala' is another winner, continuing Michael Brückner's inspired streak of varied and creative works over the last several years, and it proves once again what an endlessly evolving and unpredictable progressive-electronic artist he is.

Four stars.