It is too easy for young musicians today to succumb to the commercial pressures that weigh down so heavily upon the music business, so it is refreshing and rewarding when one realises that there are still young players who will fly in the face of fashion and produce music that they believe in rather than stuff that might bring instant fame and riches.
Buki-Yamaz are such a band of bold hopefuls who stick to their musical guns and won't compromise their standards. They have the technical expertise and capability to churn out chart pop to order, and could easily retire to the sanctity of the recording studios to channel their musical skills into unworthy projects.
Instead they concentrate on instrumental music that allows them freedom of writing and playing expression. But this does not mean they wish to be introverted and produce inaccessible music. For Buki-Yamaz are lovers of melody as typified by the flowing string sounds on the beautiful performance of their composition "Rain Flower" featured on Side One. This melodic aspect stems from arranger and composer Aske Bentzon, who plays the romantic flute solos that give Buki-Yamaz music its flavour and identity.
Most of the music revolves around the sensuous flute sounds that pick out neatly constructed songs like "Lazy Bones", which is redolent of hot Summer days spent lying in the long grass observing the buzzing of bees and perhaps the passing of young girls' legs.
Aske is joined in his venture by some fine players. Aged between 19 and early twenties, they have only been together for 3 years, and yet they have a calm assurance and sophisticated style one might expect from much older and more experienced musicians.
Ethan Weisgaard on drums can handle a whole variety of approaches, from the solid back-beat required for funk drumming to the subtle Latin American rhythms of the exhilerating "Trade Winds", that opens Side Two. Cowbells and Klavs Nordsш's extra percussion give a bright lift to proceedings and provide a firm base for solo flights by two fine guitar players, Kim Sagild and Mikkel Nordsш, who contrast in styles, one slightly harder in attac