FAUST & NURSE WITH WOUND: DISCONNECTED

Ha, finally Nurse With Wound makes it onto this site, albeit indirectly. NWW and Faust are both sonic innovators and there influence has been felt for decades. It is therefore a real treat to hear them together here for the first time. It's really such a logical pairing that I'm amazed it didn't happen earlier.

The best thing about this record is that it is a true collaboration, with neither artist overwhelming the other, and yet both individual styles remain intact. It is also about the rockiest I've heard Stephen Stapleton (the genius behind NWW) get, at least since his collaboration with Stereolab. Now I should fully disclose that I am more of a Nurse fan than a Faust fan, although I certainly enjoy their work as well, particularly their first album.

What Disconnected consists of primarily is a mix between freeform, Krautrocky jams and surreal electronics with found sounds and samples. The first track is a very Fausty rock piece, but as it progresses layers of shimmering noise are superimposed on top until you the band is barely audible. It has a very nice hypnotic quality to it, and really sucks you into the world of these two artists.

The title track is for me the least interesting. It is a minimal electronic backdrop, with a sampled voice repeating the word Disconnected every once in a while. Here, Stapleton uses his recent favorite technique of time stretching words until they become unrecognizable. As much as he has used this simple process in recent years, it still has not gotten old for me, however, and gives the music a quite druggy feeling.

The third track is a drum loop, with all kinds of craziness gradually unfolding on top of it. Probably my favorite track on the record, it reminds me a lot of White Light From The Stars In Your Mind, from NWW's Man With The Woman Face album. About halfway through the drum loop stops abrubtly and we get dark, spooky soundscapes. Don't worry though, the drums come back eventually.

The final track (on my copy. Silence and Hard Rain were included without Stapleton's approval and were yanked from later copies) is another Fausty jam that lasts just long enough to make you feel crazy. A perfect ending!

Overall, this is a very good collaboration, although still not even with the best work of either artist. Disconnected is a very apt title, because the music here is disjointed and will make you feel paranoid and alienated. I highly recommend it to Krautrock fans who have not heard Nurse With Wound before. I think you'll be in for a treat.

Hypnotically repetitive, harsh yet somehow soothing, Disconnected basically sounds like Nurse With Wound spent two days playing with the master tapes for Faust's C'est Com... Com... Compliqué. This did come out before that one, but some instrument parts are noticeably identical to sections of Compliqué, so I assume recording had begun before Disconnected's release.

Disconnected is fairly different stylistically than most of Faust's other material, I daresay less "straightforward," however it definitely has the same distinct atmosphere that Faust fans have grown to love. Sound clips and tape loops are prominent. Sometimes minutes go by without any discernible change in the music. There is probably no point recommending this to the vast majority of people, but I find it particularly beautiful. An excellent listen for those endeared with non-tradition definitions of "music."

4.5*, rounded up because I felt like it.

This recording is how I imagine the original Amon Düül sounding in 2007 if they'd had the technology and any sense of professionalism at hand. The opener has many similarities to 'Psychedelic Underground' from 1969. Forget about the 4/4 beat - this is a 1/1 Red American Indian tribal dirge.

Despite being well produced and being very clear in sound separation, 'Disconnected' leaves me feeling disengaged by its conclusion. I own around 40 Nurse With Wound LP's and have the first 4 'Faust' recordings so had high hopes approaching this collaboration of two very studio-bound artists.

Overall, this album sounds far more 'Nurse With Wound' than 'Faust'. I can only imagine that 'Faust' handed over some DAT tapes with which Steve Stapleton deconstructed, mashed, bashed and re-built to his own requirements.

'Disconnected' is mostly made up of the usual 'Nurse With Wound' precisely clipped vocal snippets, while all sorts of metallic drones and ethereal groans are layered one on top of the other. It creates a very odd Dadaist atmosphere where intentionally, nothing makes sense. There's even a john Cage moment called 'Silence' where you have to listen to nothing for one minute. Why?

"Tu M'Entends?" utilises that 'Nurse With Wound' electronic drum loop that he relied on heavily in the mid nineties. Steve Stapleton is the ultimate magpie plagiarist. SO many of his sounds are 'borrowed' from other bands. This is no bad thing, as they're all so fleeting it's hard to get a grip on them. But I always listen to 'Nurse With Wound' thinking I've heard that somewhere before, but can never put my finger on it. Infuriating...

'Faust' re-appear live on the last track 'Hard Rain' with some violently shouted German vocals and heavy drums. It's tuneless of course and is raw, loud and completely out of place on this recording. It does however, slap me in the face and brings me out of my dead man stupor.

This is not a good place to start if you're unfamiliar with either band. It sounds nothing like 'Faust' and there are far better 'Nurse With Wound' albums available.