Catch-22 is a single that reflects feelings and premonitions about humankind in its current state.

MAQ is a producer who is currently is located in Los Angeles.

Catch-22 single is a very emotional release that reflects his feelings and premonitions about humankind in its current state. The cover itself implies the life itself over a barren planet and if you watch the video on YouTube it actually shows the animated version of the cover that in a way tells a story of our possible future.

And it seems that we can’t get out of this situation. Or can we???

Q: May I ask how you arrived at your artist name? Give us the scoop.

It was a very long time ago! Around 2010 or so. I started looking for a name, because I started DJing at that time.

I wanted something really short and snappy. And there’s not a lot of options with three letters, believe me. So I started channeling this idea, it was that time when I really was really into the new all the latest Paul McCartney’s latest records and also I was into the latest Mac computers and all the music creation on those computers which seems incredibly magical at that time. So that Mac-Mac had been turning in my head and I thought maybe I can just spell it differently and that’s how I got the MAQ title

Q: Tell us a little bit about yourself. Your (music) background?

This is the “when I was a little boy”- kind of a story and that’s exactly how it starts - I started learning music at the age of 3. My mom is a music teacher and my dad was a devoted music fan for all the hip bands of their time, like Beatles and such… so it was kind of meant to be.

Up until I was 17, I was going to become a solo piano performer, I was very serious about it, but then something happened in my mind and I started experimenting with synthesizers and composition and I got all carried away with the studio stuff. I love

Q: What is it about music that makes you feel passionate?

I have no idea. I had music around me all my life. It’s like air to me. It’s just the way I am and there is no need to explain it.

Q: Do you have a preferred genre?

I love working with electronic sounds, so anything from ambient to techno or trance is very interesting for me. Also I write symphonic music but that’s a subject for another conversation :)

Q: Tell us about your song, “Catch-22”. Is this your 1st release?

It is the first release in the new reality, a reality of streaming. I started as far as 2002 when I became a co-founder of an incredible electronic label “Deja Vu records”. I had some releases back then and those were all CDs back then. The most important album of that era has been remastered and re-released in UK years later in 2017 and is accessible on all major platforms - it’s a very special project to me: Solaris “Pyramid Paradigm”, I wrote it with my best friend Vladimir Khlopovsky.

Then a bit later me and Vladimir created another label “Rombida records” and we had a few releases then, including a very special album “Voice of Lama”. It was a very successful project. We actually recording a real Lama Tenzin Sangpo who was singing his mantras. He asked us to put his mantras on western music, but the only demand was that we can’t change the number of his repetitions of each mantras. The result was incredible!

Other than that - during all these years I’ve been actively writing music for films and TV shows.

Q: Were there any challenging aspects to writing and/or recording your music?

It is always a process. I mean, the idea and the conceptualization of sounds is created very quickly, I think it was a couple of days of live improvisation on my synths and modular system. And then it took about two months to give it a right shape, right mix and right form. That’s where the most time is spent

Q: Do you have any other plans relating to this release? A video?

Oh a video is already released for this track. It’s available here:

It’s a beautifully made animation that expands the concept of the cover and creates a little story based on the cover and the concept of this track. What’s the concept, you might ask? I think everyone can find their own.

Q: Do you plan on writing, recording, and releasing more singles or do you have plans for an EP or album?

Part of this answer lies in my answer below, but other than that I have a few singles in the works right now and I will release them later this year. There will be a lot of interesting music.

Q: Do you create music for yourself or for fans?

I create it for myself but I want to share it with everybody every day.

Q: Do you, or would you like to, perform live?

Absolutely. I miss that a lot..

Q: What would be your ideal press headline, either now or in the future? In which publication? Why?

I don’t know. I never thought about it. All I want is my music to be heard and that people would reflect to it and it would make at least small positive changes in their lives.

Q: Are there any musicians who inspire you? What qualities do you admire about them?

Shpongle - for their otherworldliness, for their pioneering of the modern electronic sound, for their endless creativity

Deep Forest - for their incredibly beautiful music, that helps to discover different cultures! Their music is so different from anything else and I was growing listening to Deep Forest all the time

Peter Gabriel/Genesis/Phil Collings - these guys are my musical DNA as well. There wasn’t a day in my youth when I wasn’t listening to their music

Jean-Michelle Jearre - this guy is directly responsible for all my love to electronic music since I was 5 years old!!! :))))

Q: If one artist were to perform at your party, who would get the call?

Deep Forest and Agoria

Can’t help it - I love French electronic music) And I absolutely adore Eric Mouquet of Deep Forest, be have become very close after doing a few incredible music projects!

Q: Other than fame & fortune, is there something you hope to achieve through music?

What I really want to achieve through music is to bring to perfection the ability to fundamentally empower peoples emotions and changes peoples lives for better. This is the ultimate power of music!

Q. Do you have a preference… vinyl records, cassettes, CDs, or downloads?

As much as I love vinyl - streaming is the thing of today. We can’t foresee what the future will bring. It would be incredible to release something on the vinyl though.

Q. Is there an instrument which you would like to learn and why?

I was trained as a professional pianist, but I always wish I could also play guitar and at least some woodwind. It’s so different from the keyboard that if I learn it, I’m sure it would give me new ways of thinking about composing, thinking more outside of the box.

Would you like to travel to other countries to perform your music? If so, what would be your first stop?

I love to travel and like any other musicians I love to perform. My first choice would be my two home towns - Los Angeles or Moscow. These cities are very special to me.

Q: What is your favorite/best outlet to connect with your followers Instagram, Spotify, FB, Twitter, iTunes? How would you want them to follow?

I’m on Instagram (@itruskovski) and I’m certainly on FB (you can find me by the name MAQ or Ilya Truskovsky - Composer) and you can find my music on Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music and all other major and minor online resources.

However if someone is looking for the latest news and feedbacks - Instagram and FB is the way to go

Q: Is there something you would like to say, that I didn't cover?

The only thing I want to add that there is another very important release coming in about a month, It’s going to be a 4-tracks single, which is a collaboration with an incredible Russian musician Vladimir Khlopovsky.

I’ve made two of those tracked based on his incredible two themes, resembling the style of baroque period, but these themes are produced in an extremely electronic aesthetics. This is something not to be missed. It will be that rare case when modern electronics are seamlessly blended with eternal music of baroque.