FAUST IV

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.