Send "Faust " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 Of all the Krautrock pioneers, Faust have made the most unpredictable, contrarian, and sometimes just confounding music. Their biography is pretty complicated too. Disbanded in 1975, they reunited in the 1990s, only to split into two groups-- both called Faust-- a decade later. One, a rotating collective lead by founder Hans Joachim Irmler, released an album last year called Faust Is Last that was thought to be a swan song but never officially confirmed as one. The other, centered on founders Jean Hervé Peron (bass) and Werner Diermaier (drums), has also shuffled members but since 2007 has been a quartet with guitarist James Johnston and singer/keyboardist Geraldine Swayne.Given that confusing history, the most surprising thing about Something Dirty, this lineup's first studio album, is how solid it is. Not to say it's predictable-- looping jams shift into subdued mediations, thick noises fall to near-silence, and loose sprawl morphs into accessible tunes. But there's a distinct cohesion to these songs and the way they move together. Nothing feels wilfully obscure or defiantly abrupt; each pause or shift in momentum serves a purpose. Something Dirty plays like a well-paced movie, with tonal arcs that dissolve into each other, cut back and forth, and build repetition into crescendo. It's often the kind of abstract mood-soundtrack that comrades Popol Vuh once mastered for the films of Werner Herzog-- but with Faust's sound-stories, pictures aren't really necessary. If Something Dirty has a weakness, it's that Faust set their own bar too high. The first three tracks-- a grimy rocker, a Pink Floyd-ish psych-out, and a soaring symphonic jam-- are so well-crafted and timed, it's hard to imagine the band holding to that standard for another 30 minutes. But it's fascinating to watch them try. They revisit peaks more than a few times, winding through Swayne-led torch songs, ambient noise-scapes, and a pair of stunning guitar destructions called "Dampfauslass 1" and "Dampfauslass 2". All those moves show up in closer "La Sole Dorée", which melts Swayne's echoes into crunchy feedback, ending with a hard-cut to silence. That sudden stop is the only moment on Something Dirty that could be called a gimmick, but it feels oddly right. A fade-out would be too easy-- better to bluntly suggest that there's more music beyond that final frame, and encourage the rumor that this version of Faust is far from finished....full text |
| Americannoise |
| Picture yourself touring a steel plant in full force. Machines are grinding, sparks are flying and metal is clanging as it pounds against metal in rhythmic intervals. Yet, there seems to be a cadence to all of the commotion—an aural flow is definitely distinct and, in a way, even appealing. This, in one of many nutshells, is the sound of Faust. One of Germany’s pioneering Krautrock artists (Can, Kraftwerk and Amon Duul among the others), they enter yet another decade with the release of Something Dirty, a melange of industrial rhythms, barely-present melodies (in the cases where melodies exist at all), spacey guitar waves and robotic drum beats. This has been their sound from the get-go. Ever since 1971’s self-titled debut, Faust has been a leader in producing fragmented collages of synth and guitar pastiches, deep bass kicks, and wispy musical stripes of greyish sound washes. Somehow, Faust makes this all work, and Something Dirty is no exception. The album presents 13 tracks that vary widely, yet which combine to sew together one hearty quilt of messy but pleasing experimental rock. There are no conceptual themes to ponder, here—no toe-tapping dance grooves (a la New Order) and no cheery choruses or hooky beats. Just some weird, yet admirable musical landscapes to venture into. Album opener “Tell The Bitch To Go” starts things off with a hard, raunchy and corrosive feel, with a truly bold industrial undertone that’s steely, cold, and—if sound had color—silvery. This is a great track to kick off the album since it prepares and then transports the listener into the uncanny realm of Faust’s music....full text |
| Drownedinsound |
| Who are Faust? Explaining the genesis of these krautrock legends would take up reams of pages at this point in time, but here’s the most pertinent part in regard to their recent history: there are now two bands named Faust, both containing members from the original lineup of the group, who operate entirely separately. In 2010 the 'other' Faust release a record titled Faust is Last, which featured founding member Jochen Irmler. This album, titled Something Dirty, is a version of Faust put together by original members Jean-Hervé Péron and Zappi W. Diermaier, who have recruited erstwhile Bad Seed and Gallon Drunk member James Johnston and his wife, Geraldine Swayne. At some point these two bands will no doubt come together and the universe will implode, leaving behind a copy of The Faust Tapes spinning away in perpetuity. There are subtle musical ties to previous incarnations of Faust here, little traces of the scratchy pop of ‘It’s a Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl’ from So Far, or the wayward experimentation of ‘Meadow Meal’ from Faust. But Faust has never been a band that reaches back into its history to flinch ideas, and there’s no wholesale trading off past glories here—this is yet another chapter unfolding for a group that remains permanently in flux. It begins with the surprisingly straightforward ‘Tell the Bitch to Go Home’, which is built around great slabs of industrial organ noise and a compellingly dynamic groove. It’s not hard to hear Johnston’s influence in those stabs of organ, but there’s a more sinister undertow as well, principally through a great surge of noxious samples constantly bubbling just beneath the surface and threatening to overwhelm the track....full text |
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