Faust

The '70s musical phenomena known as Krautrock was represented by two camps: artsy, sharp dressed Motoriks like Can and Neu! and wild-haired, commune-living noise deconstructors like Amon Düül II and Ash Ra Temple. Forty years after their first release, Wümme, Germany's Faust manage to merge both the angled and the fangled with their 12 LP, Something Dirty. Featuring founding members Jean-Hervé Péron and Werner "Zappi," Diermaier, and joined by Gallon Drunk's James Johnston and infamous artist/filmmaker Geraldine Swayne, Faust keep things traditionally Krautrock on tracks like the droning/drowning "Herbststimmung" and the unbridled drum and feedback mantras of both parts of "Dampfauslass." The addition of Swayne's powder-puff vocals on "Lost the Signal" and "Invisible Mending," along with the spoken word diatribes of "Thoughts of the Dead" and "Je Bouffe," gives Faust, for better or worse, a new musical dimension. Krautrock may be a relic of days past, but with Something Dirty, their alumni are still working, listening and absorbing.