Fazer

German musical polymaths Fazer are today releasing their new single ‘Cuentro’ alongside news of their forthcoming album, ‘Plex’, which is being released on 14th January 2022 via City Slang. Built around an infectious drum groove, a deceptively simple trumpet melody loops and develops gradually over the six minutes of ‘Cuentro’ within which Fazer explore an organic, natural progression.

Fazer explain the influence for the single: “Cuentro is a good example of the way our music is inspired by unlikely genres. The drum groove was meant to recreate that broken-but-driving feeling of 2 step or UK Garage. The psychedelic melody creeps steadily forward while the bass, basically playing just one note though most of the song, adds a certain rock vibe to the track.”

he release of ‘Cuentro’ follows on from previous single ‘Grenadier’ which arrived alongside a wonderfully abstract music video that fits perfectly with the post-rock infused jazz sound of the band.

Fazer’s music cannot simply be described as Jazz; the Munich band is shaped by the experimental pop music of Talk Talk, the Afrobeat of Fela Kuti, the Krautrock of Can and the dub techno of Rhythm & Sound, but masterfully take aspects of all this and more, to create their own sonic identity. Each player and their instrument has an individuality, but together they blend into an organic and flowing overall sound.

Coming from different musical backgrounds, the members of Fazer met while studying jazz at the Academy for Music and Theatre in Munich. The German city has a rich history of improvised music; home to labels ECM (Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, Steve Reich) and Enja (Archie Shepp, Eric Dolphy, Freddie Hubbard, Elvin Jones) aswell as Krautrock icons Amon Düül II, Popol Vuh & Embryo.

Playing with two sitting drummers, a vigorous groove runs through all of Fazer’s music, whilst guitar, trumpet and bass play off each other, gradually developing textures and harmonies. Having recorded their previous album ‘Nadi’ in London, the quintet stayed in Munich to write and record their new album, ‘Plex’, over two months of intense sessions.

During the recording process, they played the new material live in the room, until they were able to play and record in a relaxed and self-confident way. The advantage of this way of working is that the magical first take can make it onto an album - a tactical move that worked out several times for ‘Plex’, as the album tremors with energetic charge.

The fact that Fazer’s music cannot be causally assigned to one place and sound is not least due to the special band constellation with two drummers, who deal a lot with music from regions where rhythm and also polyrhythms are more important than in Europe.  For the band, this is an endless reservoir of learning and stimulation to define jazz as a large space of possibilities.

FAZER are: Martin Brugger, Paul Brändle, Matthias Lindermayr, Simon Popp und Sebastian Wolfgruber