Jazz as the only genre attribution to approach Fazer’s music is not enough. The aesthetic of the Munich band is shaped by a wide variety of influences. These range from the experimental pop music of Talk Talk to the Afrobeat of a Fela Kuti, the krautrock of Can and the dub techno of Rhythm & Sound. Especially the latter were very important for the genesis of Fazer, in terms of sound, but also stylistically. This can also be felt on the new album ›Plex‹ (Cityslang) and on the associated tour of Germany in spring 2022: Each instrument comes into its own and at the same time there is an organically flowing overall sound.
Fazer are Martin Brugger, Paul Brändle, Matthias Lindermayr, Simon Popp and Sebastian Wolfgruber. They met at the Munich Music Academy. From the beginning it was clear that the group should become more than a collection of soloists. Fittingly, there isn’t just one songwriting process, but multiple ones. Sometimes the first compositional threads come from guitarist Brändle and trumpeter Lindermayr, sometimes the two drummers Popp and Wolfgruber provide the groove as an impulse.
Two months before they went into the studio to record ›Plex‹, the quintet entered a concentrated phase of working together, which helped them to achieve greater playful self-confidence and more flexibility in the process and arrangement for the recording. The advantage of this way of working is that the magical first take can already make it onto an album – a tactical move that worked out several times for ›Plex‹, the album literally trembles with energetic charging.
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 polyrhythms are more important than in Europe. For the band an endless reservoir of learning and stimulation to define jazz as a great space of possibility. Live, FAZER aim to take the music created in the studio to a new level. Improvisations of radiance grow out of the energy of the moment and pieces of intimate euphoria follow on rhythms that make you want to dance. You can see that for yourself on their spring tour in 2022.
Listen to their latest Album „Plex“ released on famous City Slang Records: https://fazercamp.bandcamp.com/album/plex
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