Interview on Sound Pressure Soul Diamonds
A conversation with Stephan Kunze about jazz, skateboarding and Zen
Last year I got to know the Berlin-based spoken word poet and experimental sound artist
. After an initial email exchange, we met for an in-depth interview on his balcony, and stayed in touch afterwards.Having recently launched his own Substack,
, and currently working on a documentary and a book about music and spirituality, Lukasz now reversed roles and asked me for an interview on these topics.I’m including the intro he wrote to our conversation. You will find a link to the full interview below. It’s freely accessible, no paywall. Enjoy!
Stephan Kunze is the editor of one of my favourite Substack threads, zensounds, where he explores left-of-the-dial music ranging from jazz to all shades of experimental. He dials in on the different ways music intersects with spirituality at large, and Zen practice specifically. It’s a rabbit hole that leads to a goldmine of insightful interviews with folks who don’t really care for algorithmic culture or the latest trend.
In 2021, Stephan published a book titled “Zen Style,” chronicling his recovery from burnout through Vipassana, and a love affair with a life shaped by mindfulness and common-sense minimalism. He’s also a regular contributor to Tricycle – The Buddhist Review, arguably the most important Western journal on Buddhism. I only found that out thanks to this interview — and I’ll definitely be catching up on everything I’ve missed.
Since we got to know each other — indirectly, thanks to Olivia Block — we’ve been nerding out over music (a lot of old-head hip-hop talk), but also over spirituality and our personal practices. Like the previous interviews I’ve shared, this too is just an excerpt of an ongoing building session. When I embarked on this journey — has it already been a month? — I said I was going to start with the beautiful folks around me. Where else?
