To me, "One Thirty Eight" - originally conceived, composed, recorded and produced in 2002 - from start has been a milestone in my musical efforts:
There was a very special feeling of flow and inspiration while I worked on it. When it was finished, for the first time I felt something I had created might be good enough to be presented to a wider public.
In the enthusiam of the moment, I sent a copy of it to music journalist Albrecht Piltz, back then the reviewer in charge for German Keyboards magazine.
And indeed he was kind enough to include a quite merciful review in one of Keyboard's summer issues (...I remember it to be July, but it also could have been June or August). A fair review it was, he critizised what he didn't like, but also pointed out what appealed to him (You can read the review below...).
Still using the abbreviation MBP then ("Michael Brückner Project", at the same time an anagram of "bpm" (= beats per minute), in 2002 my situation seemed very promising:
Many partners and collaborators were willing to contribute or otherwise lend a hand and support the project. A lot of doors seemed to open up for my music to grow into new dimensions (...some months later most of these doors did close again - all for non-musical reasons, but that's another story). Therefore, I always connect this album with the excitment and optimism I felt at that moment.
Being available as a private release on CD-R only before, I felt with todays changed situation that it would be appropriate to re-release the album on BandCamp as an "extended anniversary edition".
Here's what this release contains:
1 - the original release from 2002
2 - a carefully remastered version from 2012 (that's what You can pre-listen), in which I attempted to correct some of the issues that Albrecht Piltz had critizised (see below). Actually, the new mix has a lot more power in the bass range.
I also thought of changing some of the "funny vocals" that the reviewer didn't like, but then decided that they belong - for the better or the worse - to the special "charmes" of this album.
Then, in the original release, Wolfgang Bechtluft's gentle guitar contributions were heavily processed with filters and delays, and therefore mixed so well with the rest of the synthetic sounds that - without knowing it was guitar - it was hard to recognize; something Wolfgang actually had complained about.
When re-opening the old files for the remastering work, those original effects on the guitar were missing, and Wolfgang's contributions were now much more clearly audible. I decided to keep it that way...
3 - twelve bonus tracks. Eleven of them are early alternative Versions of different tracks, with one exception all from the calm middle section (see below). The 12th track is a live version of the album's highlight "A Thin Line" which I played together again with Klaus Chmielewski in 2007 on my performance at the release party of my big CD box set "No Single Single".
One word to the music itself:
I think it is noteworthy that this is a completely "through composed" album, the different tracks and sections are all musically related, and there runs a basic principle of using one element of the previous track in the following piece, the fundamental keys of the individual tracks form a melody in succession, and of course: they are all in the tempo of 138 bpm... ;-)
The album is devided in four distinct larger sections (see below), each with it's own pace and mood and start and end form a circle...
Here's an overview of all the content:
Part One: Serious Sirius
1.) Moongloom (Es war in wien)
2.) Starlight
3.) Sunshine
4.) Personal Black Hole
Part Two: Inner Circus
5.) Enchantment
6.) Treatment
7.) Meant For You
8.) Mental Piece
Part Three: Santa's Big Dream Convention
9.) A Thin Line (feat. Klaus Chmielewski)
10.) Woolen Glade (feat. Wolfgang Bechtluft)
11.) Retreat (feat. Wolfgang Bechtluft)
12.) Dry As Sand (feat. Wolfgang Bechtluft)
13.) Now Get Started
14.) Retreat Again
Part Four: This Human Puzzle Fits By Accident
15.) Geration
16.) Really four?
17.) Don't You Get Nervous
18.) New Targets
19.) We Could Sort It Out
(Please note that all these tracks come both in the original and in the remastered version, 38 files in total...)
Bonus Tracks:
Will not be disclosed in detail - there has to be some surprise, afert all... ;-)
Addendum - the review by Albrecht Piltz
(...maybe some of You know Albrecht Piltz, even if You are not German and no reader of that magazine, but: a Klaus Schulze fan - for he was the journalist who interviewed KS for all the re-releases some years ago, and he has also written liner notes for KS' big box sets in the late 90ies.
I'd also like to say that I always loved to read Mr.Piltz reviews, they always stirred my imagination and were a great inspiration for my own musical ideas for several years, even - or maybe because - without hearing most of the music he wrote about. It's a pity that today he seems to have stopped being active as a music jouranlist, or maybe I have just lost sight of him. OK, now here's the review):
Original German text:
"MBP · One Thirty Eight
Fettere Beats und Bässe, und Michael „MBP“ Brückners selbst gebranntes Debüt hätte für sich Club-Kompatibilität reklamieren können. Trotzdem ist gar nicht übel, was der 32-jährige Familienvater zwischen Windelnwechseln und Diplomarbeitverfassen (Fach: Kommunikations-Design) „so zwischen 1 und 3 Uhr nachts“ geschraubt hat.
Der aus 19 konsequent crossgefadeten Syntheticals bestehende MBP-Mix aus Ambient und bisweilen D’n’B-Terrain streifendem Hardtrance betört immer dann, wenn sein Schöpfer auf via Vocoder generierte „funny voices“ verzichtet und das Programm mit analogen Timbres anreichert – wie in Track 7 („Meant For You“), den ein vertrauter Gitarrenton veredelt (ein unkreditiertes Ashra- Sample?), oder im Highlight „A Thin Line“ (Track 9), wo MBP-Gast Klaus Chmielewski eine wunderschöne „fake string section“ zuliefert. Das sind die Pfunde, mit denen MBP künftig wuchern sollte."
My English translation (...if You should find a mistake or have any suggestion to put something better, please let me know!):
"With fatter beats and bass, Michael "MBP" Brückner's self-released debut album could have claimed to be club compatible. Still, it's not bad at all what the 32 year old family father did cobble together "between one and three o'clock in the night" and "between changing pampers and writing his diploma". The consequently crossfaded mix of ambient tracks and - sometimes dum'n'bass-ish - hard trance manages to appeal whenever it's creator renounces vocoder generated "funny vocals" and broadens the sound pallette with analogue timbres instead - like in track 7 ("Meant For You") which is enriched by a familiar guitar sound (an uncredited Ashra sample?), or in the highlight "A Thin Line" where MBP guest Klaus Chmielewski contributes a beautiful "fake string section".
These are the goods that MBP should deliver in the future."
P.S. The "guitar sound" that Piltz mentiones neither was from Ashra, not guitar at all...however, I still take the suspicion for a compliment... ;-)
Oh, and of course it wasn't my "debut album" at all - just the first one he ever saw. Actually, in my catalogue it has the number: 38.
Please also note:
If You prefer a hard copy of this album, You can order one directly from me. For details, please contact me via this mail adress:
bruecknermusic@gmx.de 
