The Obelisk Questionnaire: Alexander Donat of Vlimmer & Blackjack Illuminist Records
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Alexander Donat of Vlimmer & Blackjack Illuminist Records
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
What I do is fully dedicating my life to music and everything that comes with it. In 2007 I founded my own label, Blackjack Illuminist Records, because no label reacted to my music submissions. I literally had to create my own musical home for my musical projects which would become numerous and diverse, perfect to unite them under the label’s name. In 2015 I also started to release bands I liked, bands I wasn’t part of. It now is a place for atmospherical music of many genres which somehow share a certain indie background. Oh, if someone on the streets asked me what I do in the more traditional sense of the question: I am an elementary school teacher in Berlin Neukölln. It’s what makes me absolutely independent, it pays the label’s bills as well as everything else I need.
Describe your first musical memory.
Me, aged four, playing the violin in Berlin-Mitte (GDR) in the 15th story of my teacher’s apartment. Okay, it might have been the 10th story as well, I don’t know. Anyways, after the lesson my mother would pick me up and hand me a couple of cold Wienerwürstchens in the backseat of our car and we would drive back to the outskirts of the city.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
That’s a tough one. As a music listener the moment I first heard My Bloody Valentine’s “When You Sleep” (playing through the P.A. of Kesselhaus, Berlin before a Trail of Dead show) was equally as mind-blowing as listening to Converge’s “Jane Doe” closer for the first time. Especially through headphones and being half asleep, the final minutes felt like I was obducted by aliens or something. The goosebumps. THE GOOSEBUMPS!! As a musician, the first time I held a vinyl record of one of my projects in my hands was overwhelming. Also, when people tell me how much my music means to them, or that I inspired them to found their own label or start projects, it fills me with immense joy. I’m a happy and thankful guy most of the time.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
Seriously tested? Luckily, never. When my parents broke up and later decided to get a divorce it was pretty sad. I thought my family would be the sole sane and happy family around, the only foundation nobody could shatter, ha! Luckily, I was 30 years old already and happily married. If I had been 15 years younger it might have crushed me.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
Artistic progression is the thing that keeps me going, it’s what I dedicate my life to. Before I create, I might have a more or less vague idea of what I want to make in mind, but it never turns out exactly the way I originally planned, and that’s the most beautiful thing because that way it manages to surprise and overwhelm you. If you make art in a very analystic way, you probably won’t experience as much joy because you somehow get what you expected anyway. For me it’s the opposite, I follow my gut. If you combine that with the aim to never repeat or imitate yourself and if you try out new stuff with every release, it leads to a fulfilled life. Fulfilled doesn’t mean that you’re happy and satisfied every day. In the end it’s the ups and downs, it’s struggling, falling, losing yourself, winning, finding yourself, rising from the ashes of self-doubt. There’s no progression without pain. Man, that does sound a bit… death metal-ish.
How do you define success?
Success is finding the right balance between your own aspirations as a single existing person and recognition by the outside world. At first I make music for myself, but I’d lie if I said I don’t give a shit if anyone likes it. It’s a success when the listener has as much of an emotional reaction listening to my finished product as I had while creating it.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
When I was in my early twenties a friend of mine showed me a video he had found on the internet, it showed how during WWII a soldier slit another soldier’s throat. The image of that and the gurgling noise of the dying man was something that haunted me for some time.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
I’d love to create brutal, disturbing music with the means of fragile tones and minimalism. Brutal beauty. Beautiful brutality. I don’t know what it’d sound like, but I’ll try in 2022.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Art gives life a purpose.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Seeing my daughters growing up, wondering what they might become.
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