Lozenge
Early Life & Career
Frontman for Lozenge, Kyle Bruckmann, an Oakland, CA-based composer/performer was born in 1971 in Danbury, CT, hometown of Charles Ives. He earned undergraduate degrees in music and psychology at Rice University in Houston, studying oboe with Robert Atherholt, serving as music director of campus radio station KTRU, and achieving academic distinction as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He completed his Masters degree in 1996 at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he studied oboe performance with Harry Sargous and contemporary improvisation with Ed Sarath.
Lozenge & Chicago Experimental Underground
From 1996-2003, he was a fixture in Chicago’s experimental music underground; long-term affiliations include the electro-acoustic duo EKG, the Creative Music quintet Wrack (recipient of a 2012 Chamber Music America New Jazz Works award), and the art-punk "monstrosity" as his site puts it, Lozenge.
Kyle, who played both oboe, accordion, circuit bent synthesizers usually had two sets, depending on the venue they were playing at - an experimental music set, and then a "rock" set. If it was a primarily punk venue such as the Fireside, they only played a punk set. They often played at experimental venues as well such as The Nervous Center
Other members
Other members included an electric violinist (who left the band after 1998 due to relocation), a bass player, percussionist, and steel drum player.
Discography
Lozenge released several punk EPs at first, Plenum 1996, Saw a Man 1997, Then several LPs: Doozy 2000, Mishap 2002, Undone 2005. Kyle Bruckmann himself appears on well over 60 recordings ranging from free form jazz, jazz, avant-garde, experimental, etc. His work extends from classical to gray areas including the before-mentioned to electronic music and of course post-punk.
Breakup and Move
Kyle moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2003, although Undone wasn't released until '05 since it hadn't been engineered yet.