Yamaha Fazer

• 1 Foam 05:44
• 2 Apex 05:30
• 3 Honda 03:34
• 4 Rectifier 04:59
• 5 Spirit Runs 03:27
• 6 1999 04:43
• 7 Chrome 04:06
• 8 22bhp down 04:47
• Total Runtime 36:50

Info for Yamaha

Fazer are back with roaring engines on their fourth studio album "Yamaha"! Munich-based quintet Fazer returns to Squama with their fourth studio album, ‘Yamaha’. After 2022's "Plex", Fazer contemplates the defiance and embrace of expectations, both in the industry and in art at large, on a record that melds indie, jazz and psychedelic rock with humour and depth.

Embracing a DIY approach, Fazer recorded and mixed the record with engineer and friend Noël Riedel at bassist Martin Brugger’s studio in central Munich. Without the pressure of a costly daily rate, the band took plenty of time figuring out the setup and experimenting with sound. Brugger gives an example: “We would spend an afternoon looking for the perfect reverb for the trumpet and ended up using the spooky-sounding staircase next door as an echo chamber.” While all tracks were still recorded live with everyone in the room, there are noticeably more overdubs on ‘Yamaha’ compared to previous records. Acoustic guitars, trombone, Wurlitzer, and assorted percussion add depth and colour to Fazer’s core setup, which MOJO Magazine described as a “tightly coiled, well-oiled machine.”

The album title stems from the artwork, which existed long before any new music was written. “There are obviously a bunch of companies and products named Fazer, and friends would regularly send us photos of a chocolate bar or a motorbike with our name on it. Max Schachtner (of Squama) came up with this draft that was just the logos of Yamaha and Fazer, their line of motorbikes, and it hit so hard that we decided to build the whole release around it.”

Unexpectedly, ‘Yamaha’ doesn’t start off with roaring motors, but quiet ride cymbal strokes that turn into the dark jazz opener ‘Foam.’ It slowly gains traction with the laid-back psychedelic rock piece ‘Apex’ and ‘Honda,’ arguably the catchiest tune on the record, albeit with an extended balearic guitar solo in the middle. The drum grooves of Simon Popp and Sebastian Wolfgruber are largely rooted in the rock vernacular, with latin and african influences from their first three records appearing either subtly or hyperbolically, as in the melancholic Casio keyboard samba ‘Rectifier’. ‘Spirit Runs’ links this record to Fazer’s previous ones in form and style with a two-voice theme and playful solo interplay between Matthias Lindermayr on trumpet and Paul Brändle on guitar. ‘Yamaha’ doesn’t exceed its speed limit until near the end with the full-blown rock hitter ‘Chrome,’ only to cool down right after with the closing track ‘22bhp down.’

Fazer

Fazer
aus München ist das Band-Projekt der fünf Studienkollegen Martin Brugger aka Occupanther (Bass, Produzent), Matthias Lindenmayr (Trompete), Paul Brändle (Gitarre) sowie den beiden Schlagwerkern Simon Popp und Sebastian Wolfgruber. Ihr einzigartiger Sound speist sich aus einer Vielzahl von Einflüssen, die von westafrikanischer Polyrhythmik und klassischer indischer Musik bis hin zu Dub- Techno und Post-Rock reichen. Erklärtes Ziel der Band ist die Übertretung der klassischen Genregrenzen und dabei die Unmittelbarkeit der improvisierten Musik auszuschöpfen.

So ist Fazers ungewöhnliche Band-Besetzung keineswegs zufällig gewählt – zwei Drummer ermöglichen komplexe rhythmische Song-Strukturen, ein fehlendes Tasteninstrument lässt den Musikern harmonisch und rhythmisch besonders viel Raum. Dub-artige Basslines von minimaler harmonischer Determination lassen reichlich Platz für das freie Zusammenspiel von Trompete und Gitarre, die sich permanent bewegen, stufenlos zwischen Solo und Begleitung.

Ein Jahr nach ihrem Debut ›Mara‹ veröffentlichten Fazer 2019 ihr zweites Album ›Nadi‹, das in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Londoner Engineer Ben Lamdin entstanden ist. Nebst Radiosupport von Gilles Peterson und Tom Ravenscroft auf BBC6 erlangte das Quintett international Aufmerksamkeit und folgte Einladungen nach Istanbul, Paris und Toronto.

Live haben Fazer den Anspruch die im Studio entstandene Musik auf ein neues Level zu bringen. So erwachsen aus der Energie des Moments Improvisationen von Strahlkraft und auf Rhythmen, die zum Tanz drängen folgen Stücke von intimer Euphorie.

This album contains no booklet.