German Experimental Rockers Return To The Chapel
By Dave Pehling
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- One of the pioneering bands of the early '70s "krautrock" movement, experimental German outfit Faust returns to the Chapel in San Francisco Wednesday for a night of exploratory sounds.
Like their iconic Cologne-based predecessors in Can, Faust would mix elements of avant-garde minimalism, free improvisation, psychedelic rock and outright noise during it's initial outburst of unbridled creativity. Formed in 1971 in the rural German town of Wümme, Faust coalesced around former music journalist and producer Uwe Nettelbeck.
Taking their advance after signing to Polydor to convert an abandoned schoolhouse into a studio, founding principle members Hans Joachim Irmler, Jean Hervé Péron and Werner "Zappi" Diermaier crafted a chaotic and unhinged sound that leaned heavily on cut-and-paste sonic collage. The stark packaging of their eponymous debut -- a clear vinyl record in a clear plastic sleeve imprinted with an x-ray of a fist -- was as uncompromising as the music.
Faust's subsequent recordings -- the somewhat more accessible Faust So Far and Outside the Dream Syndicate, their 1973 collaborative effort with NYC minimalist composer Tony Conrad -- continued to mine a unique vein of experimental music that predated both ambient and industrial styles. The band would also sign to Richard Branson's then fledgling Virgin Records, which put out The Faust Tapes album for the price of a 7-inch single and helped establish a cult following for the band in the U.K.
But following the release of the group's Faust IV (another commercial disappointment that would later be hailed as one of the great krautrock albums of the decade), Faust lost it's deal with Virgin and disbanded in 1975 as Nettlebeck turned his attention to writing and editing for his magazine Die Republik.
Faust essentially disappeared for the better part of the next decade and a half, playing only a few concerts during the 1980s before officially reforming with Péron and Diermaier leading the band in the early '90s. Faust would tour the U.S. for the first time in 1994, augmented by American psych guitar wizard Steven Wray Lobdell and additional players. Two years later, Irmler would return to the fold for another tour of the States. The band has periodically released new studio albums and toured ever since with a rotating cast of musicians supporting Diermaier and Péron.
In 2014, the group released the album j US t (pronounced "just us"), a collection of pulsing, propulsive noise-rock songs recorded at Péron's rehearsal studio in Northern Germany. The group would embark on its first U.S. tour in a number of years to promote the album in 2016, a journey that would lead to the recording of Faust's latest effort, Fresh Air. A collaborative effort that mixes live and studio recordings tracked during the tour and featuring such guests as Barbara Manning (former SF resident and leader of '90s indie-rock favorites SF Seals), founder of famed German industrial group Die Krupps Jürgen Engler and violist Ysanne Spevack. The group comes back to San Francisco Wednesday night to perform songs from the new effort, sharing the stage with international all female dada-punk trio Ernsthafte Angelegenheiten.
Faust
Wednesday, July 25, 8 p.m. $25
The Chapel
