Comprised of German-born, Dutch-based guitarist and composer Christian Kuhn; Israeli-born, Dutch-based bass clarinetist Ziv Taubenfeld; Serbian-born, Dutch-based drummer Lav Kovac; and Turkish-born, Dutch-based bassist Esat Ekincioglu, KUHN FU is a Groningen, The Netherlands-based psychedelic jazz band that formed in 2012, and can trace its origins to when the individual members of the multinational/multi-ethnic band were students at the Prince Claus Observatory.
Influenced by a varied array of artists and genres including 70s rock, Duke Ellington, Peter Brötzmann and others, the band’s compositions are based around heavy grooves, lyrical melodies while walking a tightrope between post-rock, noise, free jazz, acid jazz and wild improvisation. As the band’s bassist Esat Ekincioglu told me via email, that the band “dedicates their music to all the lost souls, losers and slackers.” And as a result, the quartet have toured across Germany, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Belgium and Turkey — and are about to embark on tours of the Czech Republic, the UK and the Balkans.
Recorded at Studio Bee Studios in Istanbul,Turkey, the band’s sophomore effort, KUHNSTANTINOPOLIS was released earlier this year through Cantina Records. Album single “Nosferatu” is an expansive and groove heavy composition that draws from reggae, Middle Eastern music, psych rock and trance that builds upon a musical idea and expands upon it before morphing into a moody baroque-inspired bridge before returning to a variation of the composition’s original idea. Although it’s jazz in a loose sense, it actually defies both genre and eschews familiar songwriting structure in a fashion that’s sonically challenging while being playful and accessible.
The music video features footage shot from the recording sessions in Istanbul — and it give you a sense of the simpatico between four musicians playing together in a room, feeling out ideas and vibes.
