Fresh sounds: Fazer - Cuentro

Munich’s kraut-jazz band Fazer released a second single Cuentro from their forthcoming new album Plex, coming out January 14 via City Slang.

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. Fazer are Matthias Lindermayr on trumpet, Paul Brändle on guitar, Martin Brugger on bass, Simon Popp and Sebastian Wolfgruber on drums.

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) as well as Krautrock icons Amon Düül II, Popol Vuh & Embryo.

From our Blog: FRESH SOUNDS: MATTHIAS LINDERMAYR – SANCTUARY

Listen to Fazer new single Cuentro, from the band's forthcoming new album Plex:

Among the Munich artists, the Fazer band enjoys a reputation of diverse musicians. Firstly, due to the background of the musicians: guitarist Paul Brändle, drummers Sebastian Wolfgruber and Simon Popp, trumpeter Matthias Lindermayr and frontman Martin Brugger in indie, jazz, rock, and punk music. Secondly, thanks to a separate tribal techno project, Abstand by Simon Popp and Martin Brugger. And, thirdly, thanks to the sound of the group, which fused all of the above. Thus, a passion for lengthy works and instrumental music - guitar parts in combination with soft percussions have developed into what Fazer call their signature style.

Celebrating the signing of the quintet to City Slang, label founder Christof Ellinghaus went on record: When you get introduced to a guy, at 4am in the morning, in the sweet spot on the main floor at Berghain, during the first ever set there of the one and only d&b legend Goldie… it’s not like any conversation will make a whole lot of sense, or reach certain depth… but, at least you can exchange numbers. What could possibly go wrong? And sure enough, this chance meeting with a guy from Munich, who turns out to be Martin Brugger in FAZER, well… it lead to him sending us music, and us flipping out over the unique post rock textures in their very Teutonic cup of jazz. Listening to FAZER immediately took us back to our own glorious Tortoise days, but then here’s a bunch of musicians from Munich picking up the baton and running with it, turning it into their own groove machine? Well, count us in!

Watch below Fazer new single Cuentro, from the band's forthcoming new album Plex: