Hamburg-based drummer/composer, Silvan Strauss flips crunchy Madlib-soaked beats with hazed-out contemporary jazz on debut album Facing, forthcoming on artist/producer Farhot’s label, Kabul Fire this November 2022.
Featuring UK jazz luminary, Joe Armon-Jones (Ezra Collective, Nubya Garcia) and a medley of Hamburg’s most exciting new jazz talent, Strauss’s Facing connects the dots between Badbadnotgood, Yussef Dayes and Kiefer across ten finessed, lo-fi beatscapes and experimental, jazz rooted electronic. Searching for a creative spark during lockdown, Strauss compiled an archive of 2-3min drum takes recorded from his home studio, embracing his love of Brazilian MPB, Herbie Hancock, Mel Lewis and Chris Dave and The Drumhedz, before sending the drum stems to friends, close collaborators and instrumentalists to experiment and riff over, unlocking a method that fused Strauss’s love of lo-fi beats aesthetics and jazz/live arranging. Some back and forth between its total of fifteen musicians/collaborators and executive curation from fellow Hamburg-based creator/producer and label founder, Farhot, and Facing was born.
“Recording two tracks with Farhot on his Kabul Fire Vol.2 album was a spark for me. Seeing him use live drums but bringing them into his beat world was inspiring. It clicked I can bring these two worlds together. I want to give people my drums and let people express themselves. Two things I love to do is play drums and connect people. That’s what I do and what I want to do my whole life.”
Featuring UK jazz luminary, Joe Armon-Jones (Ezra Collective, Nubya Garcia) and a medley of Hamburg’s most exciting new jazz talent, Strauss’s Facing connects the dots between Badbadnotgood, Yussef Dayes and Kiefer across ten finessed, lo-fi beatscapes and experimental, jazz rooted electronic. Searching for a creative spark during lockdown, Strauss compiled an archive of 2-3min drum takes recorded from his home studio, embracing his love of Brazilian MPB, Herbie Hancock, Mel Lewis and Chris Dave and The Drumhedz, before sending the drum stems to friends, close collaborators and instrumentalists to experiment and riff over, unlocking a method that fused Strauss’s love of lo-fi beats aesthetics and jazz/live arranging. Some back and forth between its total of fifteen musicians/collaborators and executive curation from fellow Hamburg-based creator/producer and label founder, Farhot, and Facing was born.
“Recording two tracks with Farhot on his Kabul Fire Vol.2 album was a spark for me. Seeing him use live drums but bringing them into his beat world was inspiring. It clicked I can bring these two worlds together. I want to give people my drums and let people express themselves. Two things I love to do is play drums and connect people. That’s what I do and what I want to do my whole life.”