FAUST

Now for the second Momentaufnahme.

Compared to the first, I actually quite like the second one as a much better Faust experience, especially when you take in consideration to their more avant garde elements.

This album has the same quirks of Momentaufnahme I, however, here the more short snippets of weird electronic and avant garde are mostly gone, and in favor we get a nice blend of krautrock goodies that remind me of Faust IV and some other stuff, and very tranquil ambient elements that you'd find off of Faust's first three records.

The thing that makes this album work for me is this intricate balance between the ambiance and krautrock music, going back and forth from one mood to another, but still keeping in touch with one another, even fusing with each other to create this unique mix of krautrock and ambient music, one that I found works to my ears.

Another thing that I like about this album is the various flavors of krautrock on here. You get your usual Faust IV stuff, but I do notice some bits and pieces of the stuff that can be seen with Faust and So Far, and sometimes, like with Arrampicarsi Sul Vesuvio, they go to a more Amon Duul II brand of krautrock, getting a lot more psychedelic in ways. I really enjoy these little krautrock tunes found here, they are not only charming, but fun to listen to.

However, I also feel like there are still some elements that I do not like. The weirder and short songs, as mentioned before, make a return from Momentaufnahme I, however they are a lot less apparent, but still, tracks like Dampf and Ma Trompette are simply skippable, and I think they take me out of the album listening experience quite a bit.

I also feel like these songs do not quite have the same punch as other Faust stuff. I can definitely enjoy and like these songs, but I just feel like they are lacking in that special Faust sauce that makes them truly special. There are definitely good moments to be had, but I do not really think I will revisit this album much compared to other Faust works.

A really solid, if not enjoyable Faust archival record. I won't say this and Momentaufnahme I are absolutely essential listens, but Momentaufnahme II is definitely a nice record in my opinion, one that I do not see any harm in checking out. If you want some neat experiments with krautrock and ambient music, take a look at this.

Much like their album from last year, Punkt, Faust's 2 Momentaufnahmes were once exclusive to the 1971-1974 box set. Where Punkt was the band's lost album in the same vein as Faust IV, Momentaufnahme I and II are more akin to The Faust Tapes, being albums with very short songs and experiments that are less rocking and more sound collage and avant garde.

As opposed to the second part of these two whole albums, Momentaufnahme I is honestly just not really that good in my opinion.

The best things on this album are the more overtly krautrock songs that are still weird experiments, but with a bit more refining the band puts on. I really like Flaflas and Vorsatz, and the closing track of Rückwärts durch die Drehtür is also pretty good. I also sometimes enjoy the more weirder stuff like Weird Sounds Sound Bizarre and Bonne Soupe Au Fromage. I think the best parts of the album are the moments that are at an appropriate, minute or more run time that isn't just a short snippet of some weird thing the band decides to do.

Unfortunately, these short snippets, such as Interlude 18. Juni, and Karotten are pretty much all over the album, and most of the time they are not even that good. This definitely feels like a Faust Tapes sequel to me, but not in a particularly good way. With all these weird and unneeded sounds throughout the album, I find it hard to really like it at all.

Some of the more minute or longer songs also can be pretty bad, like Acouphènes being just static, and Fin de Face being nothing but bleeps and bloops that take me out of the experience. I really just do not like this brand of Faust's music.

As a pretty big Faust fan, this album is pretty disappointing. It is certainly not the worst thing the band has made, or even recorded, but still it definitely feels like a lot of nothing to me. I suggest skipping this, it's second part is much better anyways.

After the release of The Faust Tapes, and a new English audience for Faust to show their music off too, the band would go into a more mature mindset for their next, and last outing in their current line-up before the release of Rien in 1994. Faust, as a result, would loosen up on their avant-garde mentalities, and go to more toothsome elements. This would, in-turn, create Faust IV, which is some to be the band's best and most iconic record to date, and those claims I find to be most serviceable.

This album takes a heavy focus more on rock aspects rather than drone, musique concrète, collages, and field recordings. This results in probably the band's most mainstream effort to date, though, even then, Faust's mainstream appeal is extremely niche at best as this is still as avant as one can get.

For me, I find this album to be some of the best krautrock there is in the early bit of the 1970s. Tracks like Krautrock, Just A Second, and Giggy Smile resonate with me with their fun and bouncy jams that feel very intimate, almost like it is some sort of mating ritual between the instruments. The slower songs like Lauft...Heisst Das Es Lauft Oder Es Kommt Bald..Lauft, It's A Bit Of A Pain, and especially Jennifer are also really excellent to me as they break the tension between the savory jams for lighter works of art.

Speaking of Jennifer, this is Faust's best track in my eyes. This track just resonates such emotion in just some few simple chord progressions as the song advances repetitive phrases, but each feeling so different from the last, making the song feel like a unique experience each time I hear it. It also feels very ahead of its time to me. It can really fit in a more, early 90s alt rock or indie rock melody that many would rave about, such as No Surprises by Radiohead or Roads by Portishead. I'd say in most cases, plenty of krautrock groups, or, just German music in general were really ahead of their time, and Faust creating a very soft, depressing, but very astute song such as Jennifer when their catalog is mostly drone pieces, jams, and plenty of avant garde pieces really says a lot about the band's tenacity to create something truly unique.

While I do think this is the band's magnum opus, I always find that status really only goes to the first side of the album as side B feels a little less grand, and even a bit forgettable. While I can go into great lengths for my love of Krautrock, The Sad Skinhead, and Jennifer, the side B tracks of Giggy Smile, Läuft... Heisst das es läuft oder es kommt bald... Läuft, Run, and It's A Bit Of A Pain always left my mind as iconic tracks from this album. It isn't that they are bad, just really not as memorable as the songs before them in my humble opinion.

I will also point out that some of the repetition on these songs just never works out all that well in some cases. For slower songs like Jennifer it certainly does, but the more jammy songs here I feel deserve some variations of different riffs instead of repetition, especially for Krautrock. I think Krautrock could be so much more amazing if the band just did more with its riffs. In my mind, this makes the album feel a tad stale at times.

All that said, Faust IV is still an excellent display of krautrock soundscapes for Faust to explore, but with a more rock taboo that allows the group to fully embrace their more jammy nature and create some fantastic works. While this may not be my favorite Faust record, I can absolutely see why it is for a ton of people. It is just a great record all around, and one that I think can be essential for those looking for more krautrock in their lives.

As a follow up with their album of So Far, Faust decided to do a different type of experiment, which was instead of making a complex and weird krautrock album (which this album definitely is one, but I digress) they instead create an album that'd sell at the same price as a single. While I do not know how much a single would cost in 1973, it clearly was some sort of hit, at least in the UK, selling over 60,000 copies. Whether that number was due to the UK having a bunch of Faust fans, which I doubt, or the sales pitch of the album being the same price as a single was enough to get people to buy it, it became one of Faust's best selling albums and solidified them in the Krautrock spectrum more than they ever were.

The reason for the small price was due to the band's producer, Nettelback, signing the band to Virgin Records, and with a deal that the record company can acquire the group's tapes they worked on when making So Far, in exchange for making an album at a very low price. Virgin agreed to this, which prompted the band to gain a lot more traction than they ever got before. The traction was so great that the album would land a 12 on the charts, but was redacted due to the price, which in today's world with albums being at pretty much any price, it'd probably stay on the charts.

The sales pitch and the title doesn't lie however, because what you get here are just a bunch of tapes the band recorded, featuring both a mix of sound collage, Avant Garde, minimalism, and the whole shi-bang of music the band messed around with. What I dig about this record is that no song here sounds the same. You get a bunch of different musical stylings and jams that all create this expansive sound that the band played around with from time to time. I like the fact that many of the songs here create this uncomfortable atmosphere, more so than what their first and second albums provided. It allows them to stretch their arms and grasp the expansive genre of Krautrock in new and exciting ways that makes things fresh and new each listen. I like this a lot in music since it just allows for more eclecticism, and this album really does sell in its novelty.

I also really like how fun this album can get, with how random the songs are, you cannot predict what will come next, and how long they can last. Sometimes you might get something like Flashback Caruso, but then you might get something like Donnerwetter, and it doesn't matter if you want something actually rocking, or ambient, or just an album filled with sound collages, this is an album filled with nothing but tapes, pure experiments the band just wanted to try out for fun, and that is what this album is at the end of the day, dumb fun. An album that is nothing but fun is something I can get behind, even if it has a weird Faust charm to it.

However, in the same retrospect, I really do not like a lot of these songs due to how little they have in substance. Since I am listening to the versions on Spotify, and not a vinyl version (which these days costs way more than what it used to sell for), I do not get the glory of simply calling both sides two separate songs, instead I have to listen to 26 songs, each with their more varied lengths, and whether or not they have any real amount of power they fill me. The longer songs, the ones that are not just a few seconds long, are the highlights for me. They feature a lot more than what some of the 20 second stuff gives, sadly though they do not appear as much as I'd hoped.

Songs come and go like lightning rounds in a pistol, and with it means that none of the shorter songs will last for me, aside from maybe Dr. Schwitters (Continued) having this very nice melody carrying the song. I think Faust works best when they aren't making incredibly short songs that do not last, and instead focus more on their craftsmanship of more pronounced songs. That is the reason why I did not like Mamie Is Blue, Picnic On A Frozen River, and Me Lack Space on So Far due to just how short and unimpactful they made me feel in comparison with many other songs on that album. This is the same deal, and sadly due to there being way more of those ones here, it feels less like a true improvement and more of just the same from So Far with a lot more shorter stuff than the better and more improved stuff the band would create later on, which the more I think about it, really does make sense since these tapes were made during the So Far sessions.

Despite the fact that this may not be the band's best record, I can say for certainty that this was an important record in the band's career, and one that is important for me as well. Personally I probably would not be reviewing these Faust albums if it weren't for my intrigue of this album. While I do not love it, I cannot deny its impact on me, and on a lot of folks in the 70s. Something interesting, but one that shouldn't be overlooked.

After the band's ground-shaping debut, it would be criminal to not keep going and experiment more. With a fairly great yet commercially inaccessible album, Faust decided to step away a bit from less of their sound collage and highly Avant Garde style and instead try to be more accessible. Not pop, since I doubt they'll ever be pop, but accessible enough to draw in more crowds. For me, this worked for the band's benefit. Experimenting with song lengths and album run times to draw more crowds into their bizarre sound would become pretty critical, especially when you take into consideration the massive popularity their next two albums after this one, The Faust Tapes and Faust IV would receive to the public. With that, everything starts somewhere, and after their self-titled debut, they made So Far, comprising 9 tracks, each with interesting musical styles that twist and turn into new directions, though some not for the better.

The album begins with a more baroque pop song called It's A Rainy Day Sunshine Girl. I think in the grand sea of weirdness Faust employs, this is an interesting turnout. We get a very new style from the band here, focusing on acoustics and a more, almost more western style in their playing. It has that acoustical psychedelic feeling that you could spot in the early ages of the whole psych-rock movement of the 60s and 70s, which I think adds a lot of charm to the record as a whole. Added onto this is a good bit of the band's signature, more distorted sound that they were kinda known for in their early years. It is all built upon a looping acoustic strumming with pretty much only one chord. It is a very interesting song and one that gives off some interesting vibes that I do not think Faust has ever done before. Neat stuff.

While the last song was acoustic in a sense of the instrumentation, it was not purely acoustic. On The Way To Abamae remedies that by comprising only one instrument, an acoustic guitar. It is a lovely melody that comprises the whole 2 minutes of this song's run time. It gives you a breather after the distorted and repetitive strums of the last song, giving some relaxation to the listener, especially me. The folk tone of the song and how it all feels so peaceful makes this a nice song to listen to, and relax to. It is a good, admittedly short song that I think helps carry the first side of the album.

After that, we get back into the fray with No Harm, and this song is chaotic. Movements and moments go from different points at different times every other minute and it all makes for a wild ride throughout these next 10 minutes. It goes from a more symphonic progressive rock to something more big band-like, to straight-up intense jamming that ends off with weird sounds. Where it is due, this is the highlight of the first side. It leaves you guessing, and it rewards you throughout its run. It is never boring, and that is how I like my Faust songs, stuff that never leaves me bored, stuff that allows leaves me to guess, and stuff that deserves its credits that it's due. Side 1 is the signature treat for this album, filled with three impressive and really good songs that always leave me wanting more.

To some respect, side 2 also continues this weight with the next song of So Far. I think this title track is good at starting side 2. It continues the more jazzy sound the band had remnants of in their debut and refined them to a fun degree that reminds me of some contemporary jazz legends like John Coltrane and Miles Davis. Even though it is inherently repetitive, I never really feel bored listening to this song as it is still very good no matter what. It's 6 minutes of some bountiful jazzy wonder.

On the complete flip side, we get Mamie Is Blue, which is kind of a predecessor to harsh noise that'd be influential among artists like Merzbow. For my stance on this type of music, this song does drag on me. I am into this more annoyingly distorted and bare-bones type of music that only serves the purpose of being loud and messy rather than nice and expertly made. This is sort of my whole stance on harsh noise in general, it feels noisy and messy without a purpose. It is just weird for the sake of being weird, nothing more and nothing less.

Though the song afterward, Car and TV, experiment a bit more on the side of established music genres. This song is very Canterbury-like, especially with the tone of the organ found here and the bass guitar. It is to the point where I feel almost like I am hearing the result of if you combined the more eccentric folk of Gryphon and the fun and almost pop-like feeling of Caravan, sprinkled in some of Faust's signature weirdness, and you got yourself a very fun track that does deliver in many ways. I love how joyful it is throughout the track's run. It never relaxes and it results in probably the most fun song the group has made in their career. Some really good stuff.

On the contrary, we get into weird territory with two very short tracks, that being Picnic On A Frozen River and Me Lack Space. To me, these two songs feel like filler. These are the most filler songs the band has made to where it feels like a waste of space on the record. I do admit that Me Lack Space is interested in trying to mesh their early sound collage style into this record, but I think it is just a waste of space.

Despite the few hiccups, the album ends with a high in Put On Your Socks. It gives you that fun 50s-styled swing music that was popular among ragtime musicians. It harkens to that very fun style of music that makes you want to dance, and while Faust would never advance this more bebop style of music, it is a great showcase of them trying new styles to find out what can stick. For me, this is a great ending for this album, and it makes the journey all the more worthwhile.

Where the debut was the band's prototype stage, So Far is the band's searching stage. It is where they find what they really wanna do and what captures their audience's attention. This album is highly accessible not only in some of the songs but in the band accessing new ways of sound that were pretty unknown in the underground Krautrock scene. While I wouldn't say it holds a candle to their first album, I cannot say it wasn't a worthwhile experience when I listened to this. Some pretty good stuff for the most part.

If you broke into my house and told me one band that was a huge factor in the development of experimental, post- rock, electronic, minimalistic, shoegaze, psychedelic, and generally bizarre music; I'd first tell you to get out of my house, and two, I would have to say, Faust. Krautrock is a genre that has influenced the shape of modern music in many ways, whether it be Can's more jammy and illustrious visage or Amon Düül II's great deal of advancing improvisational music. However with Faust, many genres from post-rock, to industrial music, to even shoegaze can be traced with their albums and music, to where I can say that they pretty much are the sole creators of those musical movements. Faust has become the best Krautrock band in my opinion due to the mysteriously mystical aura that they provide in their music. Even with their last great works, they can still manage to hold their own for me with their highly adaptable experimental brand of rock music that was extremely ahead of their time. For me, once you start a Faust album, you can never put it down no matter if you like the music or not. So since their first two albums are now on streaming, I figured to review them, just for fun.

First impressions can make or break a band, and this stays true even with Faust's reputation among the Krautrock community. So how Faust went on to create their first effort, their self-titled album, they were signed to Polydor. Polydor wanted a German group that could rival the likes of The Rolling Stones and The Kinks, so it must've been a pretty weird ordeal to experience the music of Faust via demo tapes and recordings of people washing the dishes. Plus when their debut did release, the cover was transparent, and so was the vinyl, which most likely made a market out of the advent of colored records and interesting uses of album covers. So how does their debut stack up to some of their more critically acclaimed works such as Faust IV or Ravvivando? Well, I can safely say that this album is pretty good, but a prototype for the Faust we know today.

As such, their first song has made quite an interesting impression on me. Why Don't You Eat Carrot is an interesting example of a more Rock-In Opposition type of music, utilizing Avant Garde aspects such as heavy amounts of distortion, jazz, and ambiance. The main standout for this track is the use of sound collage, which is a practice similar to that of most collage art, where the artist takes scraps of something (in this case sound recordings the band took) and works them into the music or remix them to be more bizarre. This could be where the seeds were sown for the practice of sampling, chopping, and skewing, which would be highly influential in more experimental hip-hop artists like Viper, Death Grips, and especially Dälek, who has been a big fan of Faust and collaborated with them on their Derbe Respect Alder album. You can see their work paying off due to their experimental repertoire bleeding into scenes of subcultures that benefit from these styles. I cannot deny that I do like this song, I think it is a weird and fun movement that showcases the band's experimentation, but I do admit it is not their best effort. At this point, the band's sound was still in its infancy, and with that many aspects feel less refined than most. It is a fate many bands go through in their early years, so I can forgive the band for their part in it.

For what it is, though, you can hear remnants of that Faust sound, especially in Meadow Meal, which I wholeheartedly believe to be the best song off this album. It carries the same hammer and chisel that Why Don't You Eat Carrots did, but while that song made the rough draft, Meadow Meal would create the fine details that'd be implemented in future songs such as Jennifer or Du weißt schon. You can still tell that this is in the band's baby years, yet I can still see what they wanted to create. They had clear ideas, and while the executions are rough, the spirit is still there. This song is charming for me due to how rough yet so clear and focused it is. I can say for a fact that this is the band's first truly great song.

In some releases, the last song has varying levels of length. Since I am reviewing the version on Spotify, I'll be focusing on that one due to its availability to most people. The album closes off with the 16-minute epic, Miss Fortune. This is one of the few epics they have made, and closing the album off with one is quite the bold move for a band especially this early in their career, though Can do a similar thing with their first release of Monster Movie, so I cannot deny it isn't too far fetched. While the first two songs revolutionized the ways of sound and music, I think Miss Fortune does allow itself to breathe newer air into the psychedelic music of the era, which was already beginning to phase from the more pop routes of albums as Sgt Peppers and Their Satanic Majesties Request. We get elements that would later become the more jammy side of psychedelic rock and even the more melancholic side of shoegaze. All of it wrapped in with a ton of collaging, and ethereal poetry about a lady going through misfortune after misfortune, sinking deeper into depression at the very end. For me, while not their best epic, not by a long shot, still feels truly like Faust. I may think some things could've been tweaked to be less loose, but I cannot deny the appeal of early Faust, especially when I have decided to revisit their music a lot more closely than ever before.

Not my favorite Faust record, but with the seeds sown we can see aspects that modern music would employ. Faust will always be ahead of their time, creating music that is so bizarre it works in their favor. They aren't just groundbreaking, they are ground-shaping, and I love them for it. I think any of their albums must be listened to, and this is no different. While it is imperfect, and pretty flawed all around, I cannot deny the way this album can shape me and inspire others to experiment with music more closely than ever before.

Long lost masterpiece from Faust? Well not exactly. Their record company Bureau B markets this as 'for the first time ever this lost 'last' album recordings'. But that's not true, parts of it has been released in 'Munic and Elsewhere', in'Abzu' and at least according some netsite in 'BBC Sessions+'. Anyway the story goes after their unsuccess in UK they went to record next album into Giorgio Moroder's Musicland Studio. After ten days recording sessions Richard Branson of the Virgin wasn't satisfied of the recordings and refused to pay their expensive staying in the Arabella High Rise building during the recordings. So that was the end of Faust career in the seventies. It seems Virgin released as promo cassette of 'Faust V' of those recordings, but as far as I know, this album isn't same as that cassette. If that cassette really exists, it's extremely rare, because I haven't seen it for sale anywhere.

Album starter 'Morning Land' is same piece as 'Munic / Yesterday' in 'Munic and Elsewhere', but I believe it's different take. It has same hypnotic groove in it with repeated vocals. Hard to say which version is better. Next 'Crapolino' is a electronic soundcollage with mystic speaken voices. Faust in it's greatest! Next 'Knochentanz' is same as 'Munic / Other' in 'Munic and Elsewhere'. It can be even the same version, but at least the mix is different and I like more 'Munic and Elsewhere' version, because there are lot more elements. This version sounds more like some kind of raw mix. 'Fernlight' is again unheard piece to me. It sounds a lot Eno-era Bowie to me with very Fripp like guitar sound. 'Juggernaut' is very punky instrumental piece, it has something same as 'Giggy Smile' in 'Faust IV' but it's much rawer. 'Schön Rund' is the most interesting piece in this album. It's piano parts reminds a little 'Meer' in 'Munic and Elsewhere', but these are totally different pieces. After calm start piece`s intensity rises, but changes again quite serene. The end is really free-jazzy! The last 'Prend Ton Temps' is the least interesting one. It has just drums and symbal beats, shoutings and some electro noise.

Because this 'Munic' sessions were the end of the seventies Faust, Bureau B decided to name this album as 'Punkt' that means 'full stop' in German. But I believe this will not mean, this will be a last release of these sessions. I believe Faust was very productive in those 10 days, so there may come even boxset of those recordings. It's easy to understand when listening 'Munic and Elsewhere' and this recording why Virgin records rejected them. Sales of 'Faust IV' weren't high, so this even more experimental material wouldn't have make bands situation any better. Anyway as big Faust-fan I am glad of this album, although it hasn't got totally new material to me. I believe it has the best of those Munic-sessions.

One of Germany's earliest kosmische pioneers of Krautrock, noise rock and industrial experimentalism, FAUST is still going strong some 50 years after this bizarre musical entity formed in Wümme in 1971. While many Kraut acts have come and gone and traded in lysergic escapist soundscapes for more commercial pop rock throughout the decades, FAUST has steadfastly never strayed from its mission to produce some of the most bizarre and genre defying sounds in all of the world of electronic and rock music.

While the band took a breather in the 1980s, starting with 1994's "Rien," FAUST has cranked out several albums including more than a half a dozen in the 21st century alone. Hot off the press in early 2022, FAUST returns with its 14th studio album titled DAUMENBRUCH which translates as "Thumb Fracture" and features cover art that is sort of the reverse polarity image of the band's self-titled debut from 1971 with an eerie x-ray of a hand only it appears that this particular hand is giving the middle finger. Ha!

To be more accurate, this is not the classic FAUST of so many decades ago as only percussionist Zappi W. Diermaier and keyboardist Gunther Wüsthoff appear from the original lineup but somehow throughout all the decades, whoever is at the helm, the FAUST brand has stayed true to its experimental spirit. DAUMENBRUCH is more of a collaborative effort of various members from other German bands. Along for the ride are bassist / guitarist Dirk Dresselhaus from Schneider TM; percussionist Andrew Unrah and guitarist Joceh Arbeit from Einstürzende Neubauten; guitars and samples by Use Bastlansen from Stadtischflex and percussionist Elke Drapatz with Sonja Kosche who plays self made instruments, the harp and a ventilator!

Like FAUST's entire back catalogue, DAUMENBRUCH offers another slice of surreality into bizarre industrial koschmische soundscapes that mix and meld electronica with tribal percussionist, drones and lysergic hypnotic grooves that parade on for large chunks of time until your consciousness has become one with some ethereal reality. Clocking in at nearly 57 minutes, DAUMENBRUCH features only three lengthy tracks with the shortest just missing the 15-minute mark. While similar to previous works, DAUMENBRUCH offers a chilled out ambient sort of industrial journey with lengthy percussive jamming sessions accompanied by spaced out sound effects. The album sounds more like something from Bohren & Der Club of Gore at times than early Faust or the bands from which these musicians came from.

This was one of those remote recordings meaning each member laid down the parts at home and sent them to Dresselhaus and Diermaster who mixed it all together with the advantages of excellent modern production. The results equate to a meditative stream of consciousness sort of album that transcends much of what the modern world has become and remains in that ethereal zone that FAUST has never left since it began so long ago. Like many of the most koschmische farthest out trips of the 70s Krautrock scene, so too does DAUMENBRUCH engage in lengthy repetitive grooves that slowly build, add new layers of sound and find some sort of crescendo, not too dissimilar to what post-rock has become but yet the entire thing feels more like some schizoid Art Zoyd album rather than anything German.

The three tracks are entirely instrumental with no vocals to be found. "Weisse Schokolade" opens as the lengthiest just missing the 23-minute mark followed by "Default Mood" with is just shy of the 15-mark. "Border River" offers another near 19 minutes of psychedelic splendor and enthusiastic experimentalism which offers the excellent chemistry of this band of space trippers going for the lysergic jugular. While the rock aspects are absent on the first track, "Default Mood" climaxes with a strange mix of thumping rock bass, angry guitar sounds and a music box! The closing "Border River" is perhaps the most traditionally Kraut flavored with thumping bass, percussive loops and freaky electronic sounds accompanied by self-made instruments offering a taste of true musical escapism.

DAUMENBRUCH demonstrates clearly that after a half century FAUST is in no danger of losing its touch in crafting some of the most authentically koschmische music of the entire Krautrock scene and proves that it has what it takes to keep the candle burning while so many contemporaries have fallen. While this latest release certainly will not eclipse the band's earliest works as the wow factor for such experimentalism has since long expired, for those who still crave those mind-altering musical experiments that only FAUST can conjure up, DAUMENBRUCH is a testament to the band's mad genius and longevity. Add to that the creativity to continue to exist in the world of Krautrock for so many decades and still deliver something that sounds rather unique without cannibalizing its previous works. One of the boldest experimental pioneers is still a force to be reckoned with.

I'd give this a 3.5 but i'll round up to celebrate one of Germany's greatest Kraut bands

This album is more same kind of compilation of unreleased Faust recordings from seventies as 'Munic and Elsewhere' than really their last album from those days when they disbanded. In the album cover is said this is recorded in 1971, but not sure about that. Also some parts of this were early released in two e.p:s. Really don't understand album name, had the record company then some information Faust will not reunite ever? 'The Faust Party' would have been better name. The same record company also released same year 'Seventy One Minutes Of...' that has this album and 'Munich and Elsewhere' in CD. But unlike 'M & E', this album has lots of material heard in different versions in two Faust seventies albums.

'Party 2' starts the album and it's different version of 'J`al Mal Aux Dents' that is part of excellent 'The Faust Tapes'. 'Party 8' is short, calm but very cheerful instrumental piece played by keyboards. 'Psalter' sounds to me to be exactly same as 'L'uft...Heisst Das Es L'uft Oder Es Kommt Bald...L'uft' in 'Faust IV', there is even that clock ticking in the end. 'Party 7' is unheard, aggressive collage track not to be taken too seriously. 'Party 5' is the last track in a-side and is the least interesting one. It has only drums and percussions with some sound experimentations.

B-side starts with 'Party 1' that is the greatest track in this album. It has something common with 'No Harm' from 'So Far'-album, but is still totally different piece. Hard to believe this very electro track is really recorded in 1971. 'Party 3' has at first helicopter-like electro noise, but then starts instrumental version of 'Giggy Smile'. 'Party 6' is short experimental human talking piece. Last 'Party 4' is again unheard collage piece with many different, but awesome atmospheres.

As a huge Faust-fan really like to give this four stars just because this mostly includes just so great music. But when I am honest, this really isn't 'excellent addition to any progrock music collection' just because this includes so little material you can't find anywhere else in any form. But this is anyway really good, although it's essential only Faust-fans. So it's three.

It is really interesting I have made first review from this really great album! Well, one reason can be that this has released only as vinyl in the eighties and as fas as I know, it isn´t as streaming in the net. Anyway this was the first release from Faust after their "disappearance" in the seventies. There is mystery in that, no-one seems to know what happened, did they just get bored to poor sales of "Faust IV" or were there conflicts between members? Band members didn´t do anything else in this "hiatus"period before reunion in the nineties, somewhere I read they made few concerts as Faust in the eighties. Also Wikipedia claims there exists "Faust V"-cassette, that Virgin records had released in 1975, but there is no information about that in discogs. Anyway in this album there are unreleased recordings made before and after "Faust IV".

I believe first piece, "Munic/Yesterday" is one of those Faust recorded after "Faust IV". You can hear it immediately they were going into new direction. This long piece is really electro sounding and hypnotic. It´s somewhere middle of Can and Kraftwerk, specially repeated vocal parts reminds Can. Electro direction continues in "Don´t Take Roots", but it also has very distorted guitars. Also it´s same kind of collage piece as the ones in their first album and the whole "The Faust Tapes", so I believe it is earlier recording. First side ends into "Meer" that is really serene, but absolutely awesome sounding piece.

Second side starts with "Munic/Other" that really has lots of common with the first sides Munic-piece. First you hear some horn playing, then starts very fast rhythm. All the way this piece is as great as the other in A-side, really I can imagine it played in some experimental rave parties. "Baby" is the most ordinary song in this album, but in the middle song structure breaks and there comes strong rhythm and some distorted and feedbacked guitars. But in the end song goes back into it´s structure. As some other early Faust-songs this reminds a lot the Velvet Underground. Last piece "We Are the Hallo Men" is some kind of early "lazy rap", there is good drumbeat in it and in the back there are some samples, for example from Rolling Stones mellotron parts from "2000 Light Years Home".

There has been speculations about some albums in the pop history that never materialized would they have been the most ultimate masterpieces, I think the famous example is the Beach Boys Smile-project. From this album I can say next album after Faust IV would have been great! You could also wonder, would their later material have sounded same kind if they had continued in the seventies, but we never knew it. Anyway this album is just so balanced and full blooded Faust masterpiece, that I have to give it five stars!