#24 Some more Faust. Literally genre-defining, this one

I made a post earlier today that had a Faust video attached to it, and it generated a couple of positive responses. I spent some time afterwards scanning youtube for more Faust videos and was actually surprised by the amount of content I found there. Faust is a band I've posted on before, so I won't go into details here. Suffice to say that they are one of the most enigmatic and boundary-breaking bands that came out of Germany during the 1970s. They put out music that still defies labels and conventions, which is ironic in one sense because they were the band that helped to bring about the genre label of "krautrock."

In 1973, Faust released Faust IV, which at the time polarized the small but dedicated group of fans. Considered too normal and accessible, it was written off by many as the group's attempt to "sell out". This is laughable once you listen to it, because even though the songs on this album are far more listenable than anything they had ever done before, it was far from radio-friendly.

The first song was called "krautrock," and this is the song that gave birth to the genre name. The song is basically nothing more than a 12 minute wall of sound--highly processed and distorted guitars playing the same riff on repeat, over and over again. A tambourine plays, and in the background subtle changes take place, but the droning, pulsating rhythm of the main riff just goes on and on and on. It is hypnotic in its effect, and the 12 minutes go by with amazing speed. Towards the end, the drums kick in as well. In any other band, this would be the point where the energy is taken up another level as the band totally rocks out, but Faust uses the drums in another way, to set up the ending, as everyone starts to fade out shortly after they come in. This was a song that was hard for me to "get" at first, but now is one of my all time favorites. What's really great, though, is that after this on the album, they go into a more or less straight-forward reggae number called "The Sad Skinhead." Only Faust.

This is a live version, recorded relatively recently (don't know exactly when. If it's mentioned in the video somewhere I didn't see it, but I'd guess sometime this decade). It's different than the original recording, but still rocks.