FANTOMAS Suspended Animation (Ipecac) cd 17.98
Animated, yes. Suspended, no -- except for the listener's disbelief, perhaps. Sheer carnivalesque carnage here, folks, just like you expect from these guys. After the relatively calm, droned-out ambience of their epic Delerium Cordia album from last year, for this release Fantomas now take us back to the Naked City/Melt-Banana inspired short sharp shock style they delivered on their self-titled debut in '99. There's 30 (!!!) tracks here, each one a violently freaked out, spastic collision of metal, electronics, cartoon music and avant-garde composition that likey adds another unexpected sonic ingredient to the mix. Utterly dizzying and complex, executed by pros. Seriously, you couldn't think of four guys more well-suited to the task: Mike Patton, Dave Lombardo, Buzz Osbourne and Trevor Dunn (past and present members of such notable noise-makers as Mr. Bungle, Melvins, Slayer, and Faith No More, as we're sure you're aware). I mean, they could have added John Zorn or Eye Yamataka or Brian Chippendale to the line-up but it would hardly be necessary, these four already have this stuff DOWN. And the brief Osbourne/Patton vocal duet in track ten is a special thrill. We're at a loss to provide much more in the way of description, it's something you just need to experience for yourself, if you're up for it. Definitely if you're into the genre of music that is ALL genres rolled into one, the Attention Defecit Disorder frenzies of Suspended Animation will provide utmost entertainment. And for the moment, we have the version of this that, for some reason we don't know but won't question, comes in limited-edition packaging incorporating a spiral-bound April 2004 calendar designed and illustrated by hip Japanese artist Yoshitmo Nara. Pretty cool! Too bad April is just about over. But it's not like you were gonna use it as a dayplanner anyway, just admire it for the art.
MPEG Stream: "04/09/05 Saturday"
MPEG Stream: "04/13/05 Wednesday"
MPEG Stream: "04/21/05 Thursday"

FANTOMAS The Director's Cut (Ipecac) cd 17.98
Bay Area supergroup comprised of Mike Patton (Mr Bungle, Faith No More), Dave Lombardo (Slayer), Buzz Osbourne (Melvins), and Trevor Dunn (Mr Bungle, various avant jazz outfits). On this, their second album, they pay tribute to the film scores they've long fetishized. I admit it: I'm a soundtrack collector too; it's so *easy* to fetishize tangible artifacts from films you love so much. And these boys've got good taste: Henry Mancini (Experiment in Terror, Charade), Nino Rota (The Godfather), Bernard Herrmann (Cape Fear), John Barry (Vendetta), Ennio Morricone (Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion), Christopher Komeda (Rosemary's Baby), etc etc.
While the band manages to leave some of the flavor of each original piece intact, their objective seems to have been to sort of Bungle-ize each track (you know, lots of Patton screaming, overwhelming drama and sinister atmospheres), although a nod should definitely go to Lombardo, who uses lots of flavorful percussison -- woodblocks, chimes, bells, clicks, clocks and clacks -- that enhances the "period" tone of several of the pieces. It's a fine record (heck, it's the only worthy Morricone cover I've ever heard), just be aware that in order to get *into* this record, it's more important that you're into the signature Patton/Bungle manic sound than being familiar with the films or the soundtracks themselves.
RealAudio clip: "Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (Morricone)"
RealAudio clip: "Rosemary's Baby (Komeda)"

FANTOMAS / MELT BANANA split (Unhip) 3" square shaped cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This most definitely has to be the shortest cd we've ever reviewed. And also the smallest. A tiny little two inches by two inches, square shaped cd, clocking in at a whopping two minutes and forty three seconds. Pretty ideal actually for this particular two band, two song match up. Mike Patton and his Fantomas group give us a 44 second Melt-Banana-ish, burst of cartoonish, buzzy, chaotic, short attention span cinematic grind, a brief flurry of staccato downtuned guitar chug and blasts of bizarre vocalization. Melt-Banana go all out timewise with almost two whole minutes of that squeaky, grind pop madness that is so immediately and recognizably Melt Banana. A confusional swirl of MB's usual mind melting ultra complex brutality, with a more than usual bit of melody and harmony intertwined with MB's impossibly dense and serpentine song structures, all chirped indecipherable vocals and rapid fire punk splatter. Short but sweet! Comes in a cool little cardboard sleeve with a tiny full color card affixed to each side.
SUPER LIMITED!! We got a handful of these, not entirely sure we can get more, so once these are gone there's a god chance we'll never be able to get more.
MPEG Stream: "Animali In Calore Surriscaldati Con Ipertermia Genitale"
MPEG Stream: "Cat In Red"

FANTOMAS / MELT BANANA split (Unhip) 5" record 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This most definitely has to be the shortest piece of vinyl we've ever reviewed. And quite possibley the smallest. A tiny little 5" chunk of vinyl, heck 2 inches smaller than a 7"!!, and clocking in at a whopping two minutes and forty three seconds. Pretty ideal actually for this particular two band, two song match up. Mike Patton and his Fantomas group give us a 44 second Melt-Banana-ish, burst of cartoonish, buzzy, chaotic, short attention span cinematic grind, a brief flurry of staccato downtuned guitar chug and blasts of bizarre vocalization. Melt-Banana go all out timewise with almost two whole minutes of that squeaky, grind pop madness that is so immediately and recognizably Melt Banana. A confusional swirl of MB's usual mind melting ultra complex brutality, with a more than usual bit of melody and harmony intertwined with MB's impossibly dense and serpentine song structures, all chirped indecipherable vocals and rapid fire punk splatter. Short but sweet! Comes in a cool little cardboard sleeve with a tiny full color card affixed to each side.
SUPER LIMITED!! We got a tiny handful of the vinyl, not entirely sure we can get more, so once these are gone there's a god chance we'll never be able to get more.
MPEG Stream: "Animali In Calore Surriscaldati Con Ipertermia Genitale"
MPEG Stream: "Cat In Red"

FAR BLACK FURLONG s/t (ICR) cd 17.98
Far Black Furlong is a Welsh ensemble of mystical folk minstrels, whose work straddles the realms of apocalyptic British folk (i.e. Current 93, Comus, the Wicker Man soundtrack, etc.) and the nocturnal, loosely sewn psychedelia of Fursaxa and the Blithe Sons. Their sound would be expected as Far Black Furlong's Richard Moult has previously collaborated with David Tibet and with their preceding album of narcotic folk tunes landing on the exceptional Barl Fire cd-r imprint. With this album, they've received the nod from Colin Potter, who has released this through his exceptional ICR label alongside the likes of Nurse With Wound, Ora, Monos, Jonathan Coleclough, etc. Here, oboes, flutes, ducilmers, and drifting guitar picking spiral around field recordings of twittering finches and the ominous crash of the ocean. Much of the melodic ambience through instrumental arrangements are the product of Far Black Furlong performing in the Welsh forests and barley fields during the long summer nights. Beautiful, shimmering, atmospheric, and maudlin.
MPEG Stream: "Three"
MPEG Stream: "Four"
MPEG Stream: "Six"

FARFLUNG A Wound In Eternity (Meteor City) cd 14.98
It a bit weird we've never listed any records by LA space rockers Farflung. They've been plugging away for almost 12 years, and A Wound In Eternity is in fact record number 12. At least one or two of us here have some old FF records in our collection, regardless, it's finally time to right this very wrong.
Self proclaimed the heaviest and trippiest FF record yet, A Wound In Eternity is indeed both trippy and heavy, due possibly to the recent addition of various new members, their sound as always borrows heavily from Hawkwind, Monster Magnet, Kyuss, the usual heavies, but with their own distinct twist, and listening to this now, we're feeling a definite glam vibe, a bit of garagey-stomp, really catchy and hooky, but just the tone and the arrangement is sort of reminiscent of classic seventies glam, albeit super charged and a bit more drugged up and spaced out. Which is probably why we hear so much Monster Magnet in FF's sound, they have a similar over the top glamrock meets space metal crunch.
Chunky riffs, propulsive rhythms, dramatic vocals, all wound up into a set-the-controls-for-the-heart-of-the-sun stoner psych space rock blowout. The tracks often burn slow, sometimes pounding away, other times drifting lazily through space, but most of them culminate in huge drone-y psychedelic freakout outros, everything wrapped in swirls of FX, the guitars blossoming like supernovas, the drums growing more and more chaotic. A few tracks have a definite Circle vibe going on too, the group locked into super mesmerizing looped hypnorock grooves, but even then, the band eventually looses themselves from gravity, drifting into the stratosphere, only to burn out in a blaze of blinding, deafening distorted effects drenched buzz...
The lp version is ultra deluxe, and while they last, we have the super limited edition cd version, that comes in a fancy mini-lp style gatefold sleeve, and includes the same two bonus tracks that are on the lp.
MPEG Stream: "Unborn Planet"
MPEG Stream: "Endless Drifting Wreck"
MPEG Stream: "Possession"

FARFLUNG A Wound In Eternity (Meteor City) 2lp 22.00
It a bit weird we've never listed any records by LA space rockers Farflung. They've been plugging away for almost 12 years, and A Wound In Eternity is in fact record number 12. Several of us here have at least one or two old FF records in our collection, so it's finally time to right that very wrong.
Self proclaimed the heaviest and trippiest FF record yet, A Wound In Eternity is indeed both trippy and heavy, due possibly to the recent addition of various new members, their sound as always borrows heavily from Hawkwind, Monster Magnet, Kyuss, the usual heavies, but with their own distinct twist, and listening to this now, we're feeling a definite glam vibe, a bit of garagey-stomp, really catchy and hooky, but just the tone and the arrangement is sort of reminiscent of classic seventies glam, albeit super charged and a bit more drugged up and spaced out. Which is probably why we hear so much Monster Magnet in FF's sound, they have a similar over the top glamrock meets space metal crunch.
Chunky riffs, propulsive rhythms, dramatic vocals, all wound up into a set-the-controls-for-the-heart-of-the-sun stoner psych space rock blowout. The tracks often burn slow, sometimes pounding away, other times drifting lazily through space, but most of them culminate in huge drone-y psychedelic freakout outros, everything wrapped in swirls of FX, the guitars blossoming like supernovas, the drums growing more and more chaotic. A few tracks have a definite Circle vibe going on too, the group locked into super mesmerizing looped hypnorock grooves, but even then, the band eventually looses themselves from gravity, drifting into the stratosphere, only to burn out in a blaze of blinding, deafening distorted effects drenched buzz...
The lp version is super deluxe, and while they last, we have the super limited edition cd version, that comes in a super fancy mini-lp style gatefold sleeve, and includes the same two bonus tracks that are on the lp.
MPEG Stream: "Unborn Planet"
MPEG Stream: "Endless Drifting Wreck"
MPEG Stream: "Possession"

FARINA, GEOFF Already Told You (Southern) cd 8.98
The fellow from Karate has struck out on his own (yes, pun intended). Envision a two star hotel in the middle of nowhere with a cocktail lounge/restaurant whose vinyl banquettes are populated by senior citizens and families of four. There's no stage, no grand piano, just a gent named Geoff Farina sitting on a stool at a microphone with guitar in hand crooning gentle meandering ballads...
MPEG Stream: "Femmes Damnees"
MPEG Stream: "Already Told You"

FARINA, GEOFF Reverse Eclipse (Southern) cd 14.98
Leader of Karate releases a solo effort full of mournful musings and solo electric guitar.

FARM The Innermost Limits Of Pure Fun (EM Records) cd 22.00
Ah, yes it's summertime! Warm sunshine and trips to the beach! And what's more summery than surf music? Lo and behold, our favorite label for obscure and amazing reissues, Japan's EM Records, has a special new series of five, count 'em, five reissues devoted to lost "surf" music treasures. The first two, by Farm and Peter Martin & Finch, are out now, with the others to follow in short order. We're pretty sure all of 'em are awesome.
And if you're familiar with the eccentricity of this label, you'll know that this "EM Under Water" series isn't going to be about, y'know, "regular" surf music of the Jan & Dean or Ventures variety, nope. These first two releases are both soundtracks to rad '70s surfing movies, and are fully psychedelic, with tripped out grooves, synth experiments, and heavy rock jamming all part of the mix.
This one's really fantastic. The music for the legendary 1970 Australian surf documentary The Innermost Limits Of Pure Fun was done by a hippy band called Farm from Santa Barbara who themselves were part of the SoCal surf scene. Their lead guitarist, Denny Aaberg, even wrote a novel about his surfing days called Big Wednesday that was eventually made into movie starring Jan-Michael Vincent and Gary Busey! Other members later on played with such bands as the Surf Punks in the '80s and the Beach Boys in the '90s... and weirder still, The Captain from Captain and Tennille is on here somewhere too. But this is like none of that, needless to say. Farm's sound was more of a special surf/soundtrack/psych hybrid...
There's plenty of glorious mellow jazzy groovers on here, with organ that reminds us a bit of Bo Hansson's stuff, as well tracks like the heavy electric blues of "Zan Ho Zay" and the gorgeous folky acoustic guitar intricacy of "Innerspace". Mostly instrumental, but for two charming vocal cuts, "Crumple Car" and "The Eater", this is surf-psych at its peak for sure. A lot of the record was constructed around live jams, including the soundtrack's finale, the 13 minute improv "Coming Of The Dawn", a track Farm recorded in real-time response to a projection of the film's most awe-inspiring "inside the pipe" sequence. The filmmaker had rigged up a waterproof camera contraption that he was able to strap to his back and use to shoot while riding his board, one of the innovative techniques that made it a groundbreaking surf movie. This soundtrack had to help too!
This reish, done in the usual thorough EM style, is packaged in a nice gatefold sleeve with a thick, fully illustrated booklet in English and Japanese and other bits of ephemera tipped in, and includes a QuickTime video clip on the cd of an interview with the band. As well, both this and also the soundtrack to Drouyn include liner notes by Aussie surf music expert Stephen J. McPharland (author of Waltzing The Plank: The Illustrated Encyclopedia Of Australian Surf Music 1963-2003).
MPEG Stream: "Crystal Shingles"
MPEG Stream: "Animal"
MPEG Stream: "Snake Charmer"

FARMACIA Crucial Sky In The Land Of Premonitions At Lorenzo's Weekend (Psych-O-Path) cd 14.98
We all agree here at AQ that this is a really amazing disc. We also all agree that it's tough to describe! Which is maybe why we didn't manage to review it right when it first appeared a few months back. But now we'll try, since we like it so much and want you know about it. Simply put (which is impossible), Farmacia from Argentina straddle the line between minimal dance music and rhythmic noise. Crucial Sky In The Land Of Premonitions At Lorenzo's Weekend (there, doesn't that title tell you all you need to know? no? uh, yeah, you're right) is the work of a trio who are making their OWN original music first and foremost, not something we hear everyday. There's an experimental, home-brewed, kit-bashed approach here that possesses some of the charming weirdness of Argentine AQ faves Reynols without sounding like them... much more user-friendly, these guys! It's a sort of playful industrial/electro music, part Throbbing Gristle, part Aphex Twin, part Mouse On Mars, part Ratatat. One track even reminds us of Itavayla, or Trans Am. There's bopping abstract noises, wordless vocals, distortion and drone and disco-friendly beats. Surprisingly beautiful, beautifully surprising. The three members are credited with the use of plenty of analog synths, samplers, computers... an array of ethnic flutes... eggs, noises, and "atmospheric crucial voices"... y'know, the usual stuff. And the results are, as we said, tough to describe. But we figure it's got a wide appeal, to fans of Kraftwerk and Cluster back in the '70s... to fans of Lindstrom yesterday. Totally recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Doctor Krupa"
MPEG Stream: "Estas Tecnicas"
MPEG Stream: "Que Se Le Va A Hacer"

FARQUHAR, JW The Formal Female (Shadoks) cd 17.98
Woah. This is a weird one. A home-recorded psychedelic one-man-band "rock opera" from 1972, originally a rare privately pressed LP, now reissued on cd. Super freaky and moody and fuzzed out, with a messed-up "my woman done me wrong" vibe to it all. One JW Farquhar of Philadelphia sang and played all the instruments, though there are some other, presumably non-existent musicians credited on the sleeve... get a load of his supposed band, some of the best fake names ever: "Riffery Lowknut" on fender bass, "Slash Mullethead" on percussion, and "Callust Likfinker" on lead guitar! Steel Mammoth wishes they'd thought of those.
In the liner notes JW says that many of these songs "were written as an outcry against the materialistic nature of the woman during that time period". Maybe a little bit misogynistic? Well, apparently JW had just recently gone through a difficult divorce after having been married for 10 years, and was pretty down on women in general. Regardless of the merits of his bitter outlook, the bummed-out emotions expressed are certainly real. And feed into some genuinely twisted, trippy music.
The first two tracks, "The Formal Female" and "The Want Machine", are both multi-part suites, 11-12 minutes each. Groovy, laid back, lonely stuff, rife with FX and heavy doses of fuzz guitar (at one point, JW does to the traditional wedding march what Hendrix did to the "Star Spangled Banner"). "The Want Machine", with its funky guitar and guttural dialogue, almost sounds like the freakin' Jimmy Castor Bunch circa It's Just Begun, jivin' and acid-dosed (here, downer-dosed).
On "My Bundle Of Joy", JW's sad, melodic vocals are accompanied by what sounds like a primitive drum machine ticking away. It's really weird and lovely. Not sure what it reminds us of, maybe Vincent Gallo? Also, there's a good deal of woozy harmonica, or what could be Augustus Pablo style reggae melodica, all throughout the album. "Where Have You Been" and "Mansions" are equally odd and entrancing. Spacey, echoey, outsider rad dudeness! JW Farquhar is part George Brigman, part Dreamies, part Bobb Trimble, part Perry Leopold... like we said, a weird one. Not every Shadoks reissue is amazing, but sometimes when they find an obscure gem, like this, they really hit it out of the park, we're telling you. And as break-up records go, this one's unique.
MPEG Stream: "The Formal Female"
MPEG Stream: "The Want Machine"
MPEG Stream: "My Bundle Of Joy"

FARRAR, JAY Stone, Steel & Bright Lights (Artemis) cd 16.98
While his former Uncle Tupelo co-frontman Jeff Tweedy's country rock roots have sprouted into exploratory pop blossoms, Jay Farrar has nurtured and honed his own, keeping them closer to the country trellis both in his band Son Volt and goin' solo. We have been waitin' and waitin' for him to make an album as good as (if not better than) that of his old band's -- an album worthy of his remarkable voice -- but neither his previous albums, Terroir Blues and Sebastopol, nor his ThirdShiftGrottoSlack ep, have been quite able to capture that elusive magic. This being a live album filled mostly with songs from those three solo releases means we're probably not going to find our Farrar fix here. That said, some of the live renditions do outshine the album versions. And as always that voice is still so rough and gorgeous. Nineteen songs including two new ones and a closing double-whammy of Pink Floyd and Neil Young covers. Includes a bonus live dvd.
MPEG Stream: "Doesn't Have To Be This Way"
MPEG Stream: "6 String Belief"

FARRAR, JAY Terrior Blues (Act/Resist) cd 15.98
Even though Jay Farrar was the better songwriter in Uncle Tupelo, and had THE VOICE that defined their sound, all whiskey soaked and gravelly, he has been totally eclipsed post-Uncle Tupelo by his ex-band mate Jeff Tweedy and his band Wilco, who have been critical darlings since day one, and over the last year or two have managed to win over the public as well, selling tons of records and having the tale of their label swapping debacle and their subsequent artistic and commercial triumph told time and time again. And actually it makes a lot of sense, as Tweedy's songwriting really blossomed once he was on his own and out from under Farrar's formidable songwriting shadow. While Farrar's work in Son Volt and on his solo records has lacked the spark that made his work in UT so intense. And unfortunately that continues to be kinda true...
Now, the sound is there. It always has been. Drifting and plaintive and melancholy with that gruff gorgeous voice. Unfortunately, there are no songs. And that's the problem. If you can get it into your head that this is not a pop record of actual songs, but an extended assembly of sounds, then it may be more satisfying for you. Slippery slide guitars pick out warbly melodies, alongside thick rich acoustic guitars and warm reverberant cellos. And again, there's that voice. And this release boasts some interesting production as well as a six part suite of spacy, experimental instrumental interludes scattered throughout, but all that just doesn't quite make up for the lack of CATCHY songs. But like I said, it does *sound* SO GOOD. I just desperately want Farrar to knock one out of the park the way Tweedy did with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. I know it'll happen. And I'm willing to wait, 'cause I know it'll be worth it.
MPEG Stream: "California"
MPEG Stream: "No Rolling Back"
MPEG Stream: "Hard Is The Fall"

FARRAR, JAY ThirdShiftGrottoSlack (Artemis) cd ep 7.98
This five song EP from former Uncle Tupelo founder Jay Farrar is, well, okay. As in *just okay*, i.e. there's nothing that stands out as extraordinarily beautiful here -- none of the heartbreaking chord changes, the instantly hummable melodies, the abject naked emotion -- that made his previous quality work so memorable. Not even one great song to make the price of the disc worth it. It's a bummer; I mean he still plays a worthy, if slightly generic, brand of twangy Americana, but it isn't as vital or intense as before. So I say, if you're a fan, you'll probably want this, but if you're new to Farrar, Uncle Tupelo, or his post-Tupelo band Son Volt, then you should really start with any of the Uncle Tupelo records (Anodyne being my fave, but all are grrreat).
RealAudio clip: "Kind of Madness"

FARTICUS Gesneden Vlees (self-released) cd-r 5.98
We were gonna try, but we just can't do it... we can't... First release from this local band, and it's a doozy, heavy as fuck, chaotic and unhinged with a wild maniacal frontwoman, but, and it's a big BUT (pun most certainly intended)... Farticus? Maybe the worst band name ever. And that's coming from a store who has always championed Cream Abdul Babar!! Come on guys, you're dooming yourself to a life of local band-dom, of being perpetually a joke band, no matter how kick ass you are. And trust us, we know, we have spent time in bands with terrible names, embarrassing names, even scatological names, but somehow none quite as bad as Farticus. Plus, embracing the name, by having your logo be a shitting woman, all your song titles puerile and scatological and goofy, it definitely makes it hard to get to the music, but once you do, holy shit, these four songs are intense and brutal, tons of low end, the guitars chugging and churning, occasionally getting all twisted and warped, evoking prime era Butthole Surfers, the drums pounding and chaotic, and the vocals, shit, a wild banshee screech, sounding like a Riot Grrl all grown up ready to kick your ass. Reminds us a bit of classic SF weirdo rockers, Tragic Mulatto, in fact, if you can imagine the Buttholes, Tragic Mulatto, but with Unsane guitars, that's what this is all about.
Apparently the live shows are insane, the vocalist mobbed by men AND women, all grinding their faces into her pelvis, the band obviously are totally capable of destroying, so it's definitely worth it to try and make it past all the non musical stuff, the name, the song titles, the artwork on the cd, cuz once you strap on the headphones and close your eyes, this stuff will pummel you gloriously and utterly. At least in your iTunes you can change the band name and song titles and just enjoy the music. Reservedly recommended. If these guys revamped their aesthetic, and of course changed their name, they would be unstoppable.
MPEG Stream: "Vaginal Holocaust"
MPEG Stream: "My Fishy Cooter"

FAST FORWARD s/t (Vermiform) cd 10.98
Fucked up lo-fi DHR style disco terrorism from Los Angeles, recorded by some dude from Le Shok. Supposedly someone in this group moonlights in Death Drug, who also shares said ex-member of Le Shok. Like a messy, less tweakedly cute, American version of Japan's Polysics. Atari Teenage Riot goes lo-fi pinball goth? Lame KKK artwork by the usually amazing Matt Brinkman of Load/Fort Thunder/Non fame.

FAST, THE The Best Of The Fast: 1976 - 1984 (Munster) cd 14.98
So damn punk! So shamefully obscure! It's the fearless Zone brothers aka The Fast! Cup heard about this band (who've caused much discombobulated head-scratching around here) from her good friend and fountain of the most obscure bits of information, Nardwuar The Human Serviette. Although The Fast did release a few singles and one album (produced by Ric Ocasek, no less!), their music's pretty impossible to find. Up until now you might've been fortunate to catch a rare glimpse of this NY band on a Hyped To Death collection, but the fine folks at Munster have come to your rescue with this fantastic compilation of twenty three songs. This cd is the extensively detailed sonic documentation of their electrifying eight year evolution-meltdown through garage, power pop, mod, glam, goth, metal, new wave and electronic dance! And it comes with graphic documentation too! The cd's booklet bursts with band history detailing their early stage antic mayhem (gogo girls dressed as nuns, giant lollipops, cheap guitar destruction, Cheerio showers and a mysterious event called the pencil solo?!), a gamut of fabulous wardrobe changes (badass skintight vinyl suits, pencil thin moustaches, zebra striped spandex, suspenders, bandanas, and elaborate makeup including a big black heart over one eye reportedly predating Paul Stanley's star), not to mention some coifs that put the current crop of jet black angular 'dos to shame. Plus there's a bunch of candid photos of the band cavorting with members of Blondie, The Cramps, The New York Dolls, The Ramones and Suicide to boot. All this from the group that would eventually morph into the astounding ultra-leather boys Man2Man who are a whole other amazing story. Really, this brief review simply can't do the Brothers Zone justice. So if you think you need more, I can tell you that there was an obsessively thorough story in Roctober Magazine a while back (issue #25). Oh and lest I forget, The Fast's music is simply a super good time! So very very recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Boys Will Be Boys"
MPEG Stream: "Moontan"

FASTBACKS ...And His Orchestra (PopLlama) cd 13.98
Quite possibly the best example of the pure power pop brilliance that is the Fastbacks. Three early releases from Seattle pop greats Kurt Bloch, Kim Warnick and Lulu Gargiulo on one cd. Not only do you get '... And His Orchestra' (which is pretty much the bestest from start to finish), but also 'Everyday Is Saturday' (with their cover of "Midnight Confessions"), and '...Play Five Of Their Favorites' (with one of their best "In America"). Spanning the years '81 to '86 (yes, they've been around for two decades now!), these songs positively burst with joyful hooks and harmonies. A wonderful racket of Kurt's electric guitar and Kim and Lulu's unmistakable dueling vocals. Fast, furious fun even twenty years later.

FASTBACKS New Mansions in Sound (Sub Pop) cd 13.98
Contains an extra song not included on the cd version.

FASTBACKS New Mansions in Sound (Sub Pop) lp+7" 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Contains an extra song not included on the cd version.

FASTBACKS The Day That Didn't Exist (Spin Art) cd 14.98
After countless albums jam-packed full of ultra excellent power pop on such labels as Seattle's Popllama and SubPop, the Fastbacks are back with yet another catchy gem, this time on Spin Art Records. Still maintaining the high quality hooks'n'harmonies, and youthful exuberance they've held for well over a decade, Kurt, Kim, Lulu, and Mike will rock you. Yes, they will.

FATHER BEARD Tokens, Then Light (Yen Agat) cd-r 9.98
Everything about Father Beard is far away, which makes sense since it's the project of former Mirza members Brian Lucas and Mark Williams and they live far away -- from us and from each other. Brian lives in Thailand and Mark lives in Spain, but somehow, it seems like they managed to meet in an air cave high above their two countries and record an album of narcotic, whisper-quiet songs. Plodding bass keeps the music from drifting aimlessly in the ether, while street-sound field recordings lend a Sublime Frequency sense of mystery and foreignness. Imagine Spacemen 3 buzzing out of a broken radio in an un-airconditioned cab on a street crowded with tuk-tuks and bovine - but instead of being sweaty, dusty and stressed out, you're high on delay pedals, drifting down the Mekong and off the edge of the earth. Recommended listening for humid afternoons and early morning opium dens.
MPEG Stream: "Siamese Gift"
MPEG Stream: "Last Song"

FATHER YOD AND THE SPIRIT OF '76 Contraction (Swordfish) cd 17.98
First time on cd (outside of the God and Hair box set, that is) for this, the 2nd album from the Ya Ho Wha collective... we of course strongly urge the purchase of that whole set, but if you want to get this one separately, now you can. And it does include new liner notes from "family" members written for this reissue. Contraction dates from 1974 (like most of the Yod LPs, including their ultimate masterpieces Penetration and I'm Gonna Take You Home), and of course originals are hopelessly rare.
So...does groovy loungey hippy jams, doing the choo-choo train build up, but never really totally freaking out, with flutes and organ and guitar, and most significantly the wacked-out weird wisdom of Father Yod rappin' o'er top, sound good to you? Half-spoken, half sung, kinda drunken sounding. Here's a transcript of a portion of one of his raps here, to give you a bit of the flavor: "Let it all out and take it all back. But take it all back with consciousness. Desire, man. Desire's a trick. That's the trick. That'll bring old Saint Nick. Here he comes, see him there. All those goodies on his back. And he ain't got no prayer. He just wants to give to you, energy. The greatest gift of all, you'll soon see. That's it. Give it with a beat. Come on. Give it..." Hmm. The Father Yod-Santa Claus connection made explicit by the man himself!
One 24 minute, 41 second track. But you know what, that's quite a dose...
MPEG Stream: "Contraction [excerpt]"

FAUN FABLES A Table Forgotten (Drag City) cd 12.98

FAUN FABLES Early Song (Drag City) cd 14.98
Elves, dwarves, birdies, deer, bunnies and every other woodland creature gather 'round when Faun Fables (aka Dawn McCarthy with assistance from Sleepytime Gorilla Museum's Nils Frykdahl) sings her pagan-infused songs. And if you've been digging the recent burgeoning neo-folk movement (Jolie Holland, Joanna Newsom, Devendra Banhart, Vetiver to name a few), you'd do well to follow their lead. You might recall that we reviewed her Family Album cd earlier this year, and Drag City has kindly reissued two of her previous albums -- this one which was her (originally self-released) debut and her second, Mother Twilight. Overall her voice is a surprising meeting point of unlikely bedfellows Cat Power's Chan Marshall, Grace Slick and Beth Orton. Early Song even closes with a little bit of lonesome yodelling. Some folks may find her unrestrained vocal style a bit challenging (or trying) at times, but those who are into it will surely be very much so.
MPEG Stream: "Old Village Churchyard"
MPEG Stream: "Bliss"

FAUN FABLES Family Album (Drag City) cd 14.98
Enchanting! The mysterious Faun Fables is primarily the work of Ms Dawn McCarthy. On occasion however, she's joined by Mr. Nils Frykdahl of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. This is her third magical album of timeless, transportive music. Her songs truly seem spirited from another era. This earthy, dramatic Family Album is not unlike encountering a pagan festival or... the Wickerman film! With both solo and chorus performances of empassioned male and female vocals, as well as some lively flutes and strings.
MPEG Stream: "Eyes Of A Bird"
MPEG Stream: "Lucy Belle"

FAUN FABLES Mother Twilight (Drag City) cd 14.98
Elves, dwarves, birdies, deer, bunnies and every other woodland creature gather 'round when Faun Fables (aka Dawn McCarthy with assistance from Sleepytime Gorilla Museum's Nils Frykdahl) sings her pagan-infused songs. And if you've been digging the recent burgeoning neo-folk movement (Jolie Holland, Joanna Newsom, Devendra Banhart, Vetiver to name a few), you'd do well to follow their lead. You might recall that we reviewed her Family Album cd earlier this year, and Drag City has kindly reissued two of her earlier albums -- this one and her debut Early Song. Of the three, Mother Twilight is perhaps her darkest, most otherworldly and vocally complex album. It fully envelopes and transport the willing listener to her fantasy land. We previously likened Family Album to the Wickerman film soundtrack, and the comparison is just as fitting here. Overall her voice is a surprising meeting point of unlikely bedfellows Cat Power's Chan Marshall, Grace Slick and Beth Orton. Some folks may find her deeply emotive vocal style a bit challenging (or trying), but those who are into it will surely be very much so.
MPEG Stream: "Beautiful Blade"
MPEG Stream: "Mother Twilight"

FAUN FABLES The Transit Rider (Drag City) cd 14.98
Dawn McCarthy, the central force behind Faun Fables, takes a few more exploratory steps in expanding her neo-folk realm, and the results are an impressively composed and expansive album. Far less fey, timid woodland pixie and more self assured earth mother. If you've enjoyed her previous albums, The Transit Rider makes for a smooth transition with some intriguing developments, perhaps most notably in its being a concept album of the stage show she toured in 2002. The album's peak is definitely its fourth track "In Speed", and it's a perfect demonstration of her growth. The song's spiraling urgency stands in stark contrast to the album's slower more traditional folk numbers. On the latter, she could easily be mistaken for alternately the granddaughter of Vashti Bunyan or the kid sister of Chan Marshall. However on this song McCarthy's handwringing despair conjures much more stormy times (almost in a Jon Anderson Yes fashion) and is countered in an effectively foreboding manner by frequent FF collaborator Nils Frykdahl's deep Laibach or Swans-esque countenance. A set of particularly offbeat numbers come later in the album, the peculiarly stagey "The Questioning" and the subsequent spoken whispery "I No Longer Wish To" and then there's the very "The Cat Came Back"-ish eleventh tune "The Corwith Brothers". Although it stands solidly on its own merits, listening to this album certainly piques your curiosity with regards to the live theatrics. Hopefully they'll be dusting off their costumery for those of us who missed it a few years back!
MPEG Stream: "Transit Theme"
MPEG Stream: "In Speed"
MPEG Stream: "Dream On A Train"

FAUNTS High Expectations / Low Results (Friendly Fire) cd 15.98
There's just something about music that is slow and mysterious, foggy and indistinct, fuzzy and dreamlike that just gets us everytime. Any sort of music sounds better to us, once it's buried in record crackle, or wrapped in thick swirls of fuzzy distortion, or smeared with a gauzy ambient haze. But the music of Faunts is so perfectly suited to being goergeously obfuscated that it's hard to imagine this music any other way. High Expectations doesn't sound like some crystal clear recording that was later treated with all sort of foggy filters, no this record sounds like it was created like this, birthed from some mysterious ether, a ghostlike sonic wraith, dreamy droney slow motion rock drifting skyward like some disembodied slowcore spectre. Blissy and incandescent, with a candelit churchlike warmth, a glow suffusing the air all around. Like a druggier more fuzzy Low. Each track a lugubrious creep, romantic and melancholy, hushed vocals, brushed drums and swoonsome lapsteel. Occasionally the songs build to a ferocious climax, the sound like a wall of blown out shoegaze guitars, with big distorted drums, beneath squiggly white hot traces of incendiary psychedelic skree, before drifting back to earth, a slow simmer, fuzzy melodies drifitng over and around ethereal vocals and muted mood rock minimalism. Imagine a late night slowcore band, viewed through fogged up glass, thick with running rainwater, everything wavery and blisssfully unfocused, every once in a while the headlights of a passing car flare brilliantly, spinning wild prisms of color and white hot sparkles before fading back to a muted dusky drift.
High Expectations has lots of varied elements, even if they only surface briefly her and there, some jazzy shuffle, some jangly indie rock, some Flaming Lips-ish big beat drug pop, some epic Godspeed-ish even a bit of near-new wave, but those disparate elements all manage to get woven deftly and beautifully into Faunts' delicate and drowsy sonic world.
MPEG Stream: "High Expectations"
MPEG Stream: "Instantly Loved"

FAUNTS m4 (self-released) cd ep 11.98
Sounds as though Canadian indie rockers the Faunts got their instruments a wee bit intoxicated and the resulting music is itself quite intoxicating. Gauzy, highly processed guitars, shadowy drones and rounded pulses swirl and drift in and out of focus. A heady late night new wave, a lot more songy and a little less fuzzy and blissy than their full length, but it's still dark and delirious, wrapped in various degrees of instrumental haze and drone psych buzz, with bits of electronic skitter, and loping laid back down tempo groove mixed in here and there.
A great follow-up to their High Expectations / Low Results 2005 album!
MPEG Stream: "Sleepwalker"
MPEG Stream: "Meno Mony Falls"

FAUST (Polydor Japan) cd 24.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Import-only cd of the first Faust album from 1971. A landmark of krautrock, words cannot express, etc...

FAUST (Untitled) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

FAUST 71 Minutes of Faust (ReR Megacorp) cd 16.98
Recommended completes their reissues of all the early Faust material with "71 Minutes of Faust". Essentially the same as the previous reissue known as "71 Minutes of Faust" this compiles the posthumous Faust odds-n-ends LPs "Munic & Elsewhere" and "The Last LP". But of course, Faust is all about odds-n-ends. That's kinda their whole aesthetic. Not the first Faust disc to buy, but definitely worthy of purchase.
RealAudio clip: "Knochentanz"
RealAudio clip: "Psalter"

FAUST BBC Sessions + (ReR) cd 16.98
Probably if you're a rabid Faust fan (aren't you?) you've already got this, the disc of rarities that was previously only obtainable through purchase of the entire Faust box set. But in case you didn't get the box, the individual discs are now being released piecemeal for your snacking enjoyment, with this one being the disc that people are going to get the most excited about, for obvious reasons. The album starts off with a 22 minute track recorded at the BBC in 1973 of Faust performing a medley of "The Lurcher", "Krautrock" and "Do So". Though the disc is named the "BBC Sessions", the rest of the tracks here appear to all have been recorded at Faust's Wumme studio, and with the exception of "We Are the Hallo Men" which was originally released on Munic & Elsewhere (though Recommended still persists on claiming that it was originally on The Last LP) most of these cuts are previously unreleased. Included are some nice tape experiments like "(360)" which is a mix of various stereo (possibly binaural) recordings like the Faust boys playing ping pong, plus some alternate versions of songs from So Far and Munic & Elsewhere including "So Far" and "Meer". It's all totally worthwhile, classic krautrock from one of the best bands ever. If you're new to Faust, you'll want to start with one of their proper albums (or heck, just get the whole box) but folks who already have IV, So Far and the rest should definitely invest in the BBC Sessions.
RealAudio clip: "Party 9"
RealAudio clip: "(360)"

FAUST Freispiel (Klangbad) cd 17.98
Legendary krautrock band Faust's 30th anniversary is being celebrated with not free pinball and fireworks, but remixes... The remix cd ep that preceeded this was ok, if unneccessary. Here's the full remix album, with one of that Soft Cell guy's mixes from the ep, plus mixes from other mostly Euro electronica folks (Kreidler, Howie B., Surgeon, Funkstorung among them). Dead Voices On Air and, interestingly, The Residents also appear. All the tracks remixed come from Faust's recent (and quite good) Ravvivando album. Our verdict: still unneccessary, and not ok. But at least the remixers aren't violating classic old '70s Faust tracks, like with Can's "Sacrilege" remix project. And electronica fans will find this to be a fine electronica comp, like so many others. But Faust fans aren't going to see any improvement over the originals (not to be expected anyway) OR any other reason to listen to this...it's just uninteresting and predictable. Too bad, 'cause Faust are such an interesting band. If they HAD to do a remix album for their 30th, they should have picked artists with more of their eccentric artistic spirit. We'd be more keen on Reynols or Boredoms remixes, maybe Philip Jeck or Aphex Twin...oh well.

FAUST Impressions (Film Spector) dvd 21.00
Ahh, the German sense of humor. Once, while flying somewhere, my German neighbor told me a "German joke"... it turned out to be in actuality a philosophical puzzle, and not very funny. For some reason, German jokes and joking around has this heavy sillyness that I love. It's never actually all that "funny" per se, but so so endearing!
That said, this Faust dvd opens with some 8mm footage from the 70s. The band is in their hometown of Wumme, Germany and approached by a giant panda bear who read about the band in a newspaper while tanning on the beach. It's a very strange, probably very stoned interaction set to a Faust song. Not that funny really, but totally endearing. Cause it's Faust! One of the most abstract of core Krautrock bands.
But then that's it!!! I mean, as far as actual visual documentation from the band during the 1970s. The remaining classic Faust tracks on here are set to horrendous, freshman-year-art-student video collage made recently by Faust's Zappi Diermaier as interpretations of the songs' original themes. Every track and "film" is a nauseating combination and so incredibly confusing to us. Even more puzling is why Zappi decided to add additional accompaniment to some of the audio tracks.
Man. As extremely devout Faust fans, we have to say, "WTF?!" Is there no other footage of the band -- either playing concerts, or interviews, or any photos, or then even commentary?
There's also an audio cd included that has no Faust songs, but new tracks by Zappi that are from a dvd of his solo stuff coming out in the future. Writing all this down is making us feel like we need to cry or something. Wish there was more FAUST to SEE. We don't know what Zappi was thinking. Sure do hope that all the feedback (like this) from fans will inspire the band to get something together for an actual document-worthy dvd at some point in the future.
That little nugget of Faust and the polar bear, boy. That's something special. Can't imagine what we'd do with a whole dvd full of that sorta stuff! Meanwhile, all we can do is keep on sitting around listening to Faust IV over and over again.

FAUST IV (Caroline / Blue Plate) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Here's a top-ten essential krautrock record for sure. Indeed, it's even got a song entitled "Krautrock" on it! As crucial as Can's Tago Mago or Future Days, Amon Duul II's Yeti, or Neu! 1... Spacey (Andee thought we were listening to Spacemen 3) and weird and wacky and quite wonderful. Not in the Faust box, either.

FAUST IV (EMI) 2cd 16.98
We've been wanting to correct a glaring omission from our site for some time now. Well, its not so much an omission as it's an overdue update on a very old review; one that was made when our reviews served only as shelf-talkers in the store instead of entryways into the vast online catalog of our website. And now with an affordable reissue with a bonus disc of rare BBC radio sessions and alternate versions, the time is right to reappraise this mighty, weird, and awesome jewel of classic krautrock greatness that is Faust IV.
Essential as any krautrock album we can name, including Can's Tago Mago or Future Days, Amon Duul II's Yeti, or Neu! 1, Cluster, Kraftwerk etc. It's also the record that coined the term "krautrock" which is the title of the nearly 12 minute opening track, a thick pulsating rumble of motorik groove that out-Neu's Neu!. But things definitely get stranger after that with bizarre forays into reggae, pretty ballads, prog, pop and free jazz. Yet for all the weirdness, this is the record to get if you've never heard Faust before as it's their most accessible and structured. Not nearly as kaleidoscopic and avant as, So Far or Faust Tapes, and even with the genre-hopping, the songs all seem to belong together. "The Sad Skinhead" has got to be the most left-field excursion into reggae we've heard, complete with marimba passages and echoing vocals, while "Jennifer" has to be about the prettiest song ever made. Each song linked together by odd passages of detuned piano, far away screams and noisy stews of synth warbles and feedback stabs. "Giggly Smile" obviously influenced Battles recent debut Mirrors, as strange effected vocals accompany groovy prog excursions that abruptly shift tempos into one of our favorite rocking moments ever put to tape before suddenly ending, launching into the sublime folk groove of "Lauft... Heisst Das Es Lauft Oder Es Kommt Bald... Lauft". And it just keeps getting better and better.
The bonus disc features many alternate versions of the songs including a much longer version of "Just A Second (Starts Like That!)", plus rare BBC radio sessions of two songs "The Lurcher" and "Do So" and one previously unreleased piece, called appropriately "Piano Piece".
This is definitely one of those records, where we wish we could just invoke some physical force to reach out and grab you through the computer by the shoulders and just scream "Buy this already!!!!!!"
MPEG Stream: "Krautrock"
MPEG Stream: "Jennifer"
MPEG Stream: "Giggly Smile"
MPEG Stream: "The Lurcher"
MPEG Stream: "Piano Piece"

FAUST Kleine Welt (Live) (Ektro) cd 14.98
Forget for a second that this is a Faust album. What if it was just some unknown new band, some cd-r we got in the mail, some limited edition cassette release? Heck we've tried that thought experiment, and we'd be all over it! Telling you that it's a mysteriously murky, throbbing psychedelic freak-scene, fraught with krautrocky rhythms and tense textures. Sorta reminds us of a mix of Blues Control and Wooden Shjips... or White Hills and Expo '70... there's a druggy '60s garage vibe, industrial electronic atmosphere, blissful moodiness, and clockwork Circle-like propulsivity, all crammed into one crazy counter-intuitive whole, raw and live! Everything in the way of organ drones, harmonica blurt, echoing voices, shuffling drums, and serious dosage of searing psych-rock geetar found here were all taken from various European performances in 2006, later mixed and edited at fauststudio. We'd assume most of the tracks are pretty much unique to this disc...
Yeah, we'd be pretty into it if it was some new group! Does the fact it's a new disc by krautrock legends Faust, released by Circle's Ektro label, make it any cooler? It doesn't need to. Though if that's what it takes to get you to check it out, that's ok. Conversely, if you were like, oh just another umpteenth Faust reunion album, don't be like that. First off, Faust rule. Even today. Sure, this isn't the original line up. In fact, it's not even the ONLY current line up! Apparently, in the grand tradition of, uh, Saxon and others, there's now more than one version of Faust, each featuring different original band members, going around touring under the name. Weird. Not sure if this fractured factioning is an agreed-upon thing (to cover more ground?) or if they're in competition. Hopefully the former! It would be sad to hear that there's litigation pending.
So anyway, THIS Faust consists of Jan Wolbrandt on drums, Michael Stoll on bass (and flute), Lars Paukstat on percussion and vocals, Steven Wray Lobdell on guitar, and Hans Joachim Irmler on organ, keyboards and vocals. That's a good line up all right, they've got Lobdell in the band after all! Hence the dosage of searing psych-rock geetar previously mentioned...
Recommended, as one of the two very different and very cool live albums newly issued by Ektro that we're reviewing this list (the other one is by '80s strong-man metaller Thor, believe it or not!). Hmmm. Faust + Thor, does that sort of = Circle??
(And note, there's another new live Faust 2cd that we have in stock and hope to review soon, Od Serca Do Duszy, that's the work of the OTHER active Faust unit, featuring Jean-Herve Peron, Zappi Diermaier, and Amaury Cambuzat.)
MPEG Stream: "Foam Of War"
MPEG Stream: "Crawling Wax"
MPEG Stream: "Terrorize Me"

FAUST Live In Edinburgh (Klangbad) cd 15.98
Wow, two new Faust titles, both in handsome cardboard sleeves...Nosferatu is a soundtrack of sorts to the classic silent film, Live documents the explosive (literally) Faust performance at last year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The "pop" aspects of Faust past may have been abandoned by the reunited band, but the psych-guitar and industrial smasheroo quotient is way up. Both discs are fine nightmare soundscapes.

FAUST Nosferatu (Klangbad) cd 15.98

FAUST Od Serca Do Duszy (Lumberton Trading Company) 2cd 24.00
And here's the other new live album from the what is also in fact the *other* Faust (mentioned a couple of lists back when we reviewed Faust's Kleine Welt cd on the Ektro label). Od Serca Do Duszy was recorded in Krakow, Poland at the wonderfully named Loch Ness Club on November 15th, 2006, by a Faust "power trio" lineup consisting of Zappi Diermaier (drums, metals, tools), Jean-Herve Peron (voice, guitars, horns) and Amaury Cambuzat (guitars, keys, voice). Note that this is an entirely different lineup than the one responsible for Kleine Welt, also recorded on tour in 2006. We'd like to think that Faust has splintered into these two different touring groups (both featuring original '70s members as well as new blood from the band's initial reunion era in the '90s) in an amicable fashion, but we don't really know. Maybe they hate each other. But we also wonder if it's just 'cause their individual schedules didn't work out to all play together, or so they could cover more ground, or 'cause they had different interests in terms of what songs should go into the band's current set?
For Diermaier/Peron/Cambuzat, that means doing some of Faust's famous old songs like "A Bit Of A Pain" and "The Sad Skinhead" alongside newer stuff and full-on improv jams. We figure that if you were AT the show, you'd want to hear a few of those old favorites. But listening to this at home, it's probably the new material that will actually be most of interest... although hearing how they mutate and reinterpret their own "hits" is cool too.
Anyway, either way, this excellently-recorded, lengthy live set is one for Faust fans, and also those into the likes of Acid Mothers Temple, really anyone looking for experimental explorations of clattery murk, with feedbacky psychedelic guitar, quasi-industrial improv chaos, plodding drums, and noisy textures! The raucous Krakow crowd certainly is into it, stoking Faust into further frenzies, including shouted vocals (in French?) among them some yelling about "George Washington!" and "George Bush!"... it must have been a memorable night. Disc two begins with two tracks (20 minutes) of pure, heavy-duty improv, which the band follow with a fairly wild rendition of their classic "It's A Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl" to make even the old time fans happy... and then for their encore, for good measure, they launch into "Schempal Buddha", an urgent and repetitive number that fans will recognize from The Faust Tapes album.
MPEG Stream: "We Are Not Here..."
MPEG Stream: "Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl"

FAUST Patchwork 1971-2002 (Staubgold) cd 14.98
"We've always liked the idea of releasing records which lacked conventional 'finish' in terms of production...the music should sound like bootlegs, as if recorded by someone who passed a group rehearsing or jamming and then cut the recorded material wildly together." That's a quote from Faust mentor/manager Uwe Nettelbeck circa 1973, reprinted in the liner notes to this aptly-titled odds n' ends collection, a collage of pieces recorded by the idiosyncratic krautrock legends over the past thirty years. It helps explain the sounds here, as well as the aesthetic behind their classic "Faust Tapes" album (which this echoes) and much else of their output. The material presented here will fade from stuff recorded in the early days at their communal studio directly into things put down on tape by the reunited/retrofitted incarnation of Faust just last year -- sometimes within the very same track! Mostly this is early '70s stuff, but there's a few '80s derived recordings and material from the currently active Faust line-up. It's all pretty great. Unreleased archival alternate versions of familiar Faust favorites, forgotten experiments, live bits and pieces -- wild psych guitar/effect noise fests, Stoogesy jamming, droning electronics, sweet strumming folk, jazz freakouts -- all this is woven together in a truly kaleidoscopic krautrock "patchwork" indeed. Very Faust-ian. Uwe's quote describes this perfectly.
RealAudio clip: "Stretch Over All Times 1971/73, 2000/01"
RealAudio clip: "Psalter (slow version) 1980"
RealAudio clip: "Zerr:aus 1971"

FAUST Patchwork 1971-2002 (Staubgold) lp 13.98
"We've always liked the idea of releasing records which lacked conventional 'finish' in terms of production...the music should sound like bootlegs, as if recorded by someone who passed a group rehearsing or jamming and then cut the recorded material wildly together." That's a quote from Faust mentor/manager Uwe Nettelbeck circa 1973, reprinted in the liner notes to this aptly-titled odds n' ends collection, a collage of pieces recorded by the idiosyncratic krautrock legends over the past thirty years. It helps explain the sounds here, as well as the aesthetic behind their classic "Faust Tapes" album (which this echoes) and much else of their output. The material presented here will fade from stuff recorded in the early days at their communal studio directly into things put down on tape by the reunited/retrofitted incarnation of Faust just last year -- sometimes within the very same track! Mostly this is early '70s stuff, but there's a few '80s derived recordings and material from the currently active Faust line-up. It's all pretty great. Unreleased archival alternate versions of familiar Faust favorites, forgotten experiments, live bits and pieces -- wild psych guitar/effect noise fests, Stoogesy jamming, droning electronics, sweet strumming folk, jazz freakouts -- all this is woven together in a truly kaleidoscopic krautrock "patchwork" indeed. Very Faust-ian. Uwe's quote describes this perfectly.

FAUST Ravvivando (Klangbad) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
More so than Aphex Twin's score to a Bank of America commercial or Oval's contribution to one for Calvin Klein, Faust's appearance on a commercial for Nike has clearly been the oddest commodification of experimental music. Fortunately, the "success" of the venture has not gone to Faust's collective head... Their highly-anticipated new album Ravvivando succeeds where previous '90s ventures You Know Faust and Rien (which could be argued was more of a Jim O'Rourke album) perhaps did not. On this album, the hypnosis induced by the constant churning of percussive blasts and springy basslines is complemented by washed out drones dissolving to reveal their construction from swells of organ and guitar.
It should be noted that the resurrection of Faust about five years ago did bring a drastic change to their Krautrock mutations of pop, noise, carnival music, jazz, and general experimentation which characterized their seminal '70s records such as Faust IV or So Far. One cannot expect that a musical hibernation of 20 years would not affect the artistic process. But rather than making contextual comparisons to Faust's work from the '70s, we proclaim that Ravvivando is their best record of the '90s. So there. The new Faust is a great band, on their own merits.

FAUST Ravvivando Remix Maxi Single (Klangbad) cd ep 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Soft Cell remixes Faust?? That's right, the legendary, eccentric krautrockers Faust hit the dancefloor with the help of Soft Cell's David Ball (and one Ingo Vauk as well). The track "Wir Brauchen Dich #6", taken from Faust's last (and quite excellent) album "Ravvivando" from a few years back, gets strapped to some heavy Neu!-ish motorik beats on the three remixes on this ep, which apparently precedes a full-length Faust "Ravvivando Remixes" disc yet to come. The fourth track reprises the album original, which of course is still the best, but the others are interesting novelties for Faust fans (and, possibly, *really* "interesting" novelties for Soft Cell fans!).
RealAudio clip: "Wir Brauchen Dich #6 remix"

FAUST Rein (Table of the Elements) cd 15.98
Need we say any more than to announce that this is finally available?! Well, okay, here's the obi blurb: "These are the first studio recordings from German group Faust in over 20 years. An aggressive collision of electronic pastiche musique concret, power tools and group improvisation results in an extraordinary return by one of the seminal experimental ensembles of all time."

FAUST So Far (Polydor / Universal) cd 17.98
One of the BEST RECORDS EVER. That's right. And I don't think we're really going out on a limb with that claim. Certainly one of the best krautrock records ever (as are pretty much all the Faust albums, actually). This, Faust's second album, originally released in 1972, has been reissued numerous times over the years, for a while as an expensive Japanese import only, then in the crucial Wumme Years box set, and most recently by Collector's Choice as a two-on-one with Faust's self-titled debut. We still stock that for the budget-minded amongst you, but since this is such a classic, we figure some folks will want this newer, nicely digipacked reish all by its own. Unlike the two-fer, the cd booklet here includes all the full-color images (one illustration per song) that came as art prints with the original vinyl. And as well, there's new liner notes and vintage photos in there as well. Nice.
But let's get back to this best records ever business, for those that weren't already nodding in agreement. It's the missing link between The Velvet Underground and The Boredoms, we're telling you. Just listen to the mantric opener "It's A Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl" and tell us they weren't influenced by the VU... yet taking things way further into the trance-zone, pioneering the minimal post-rock sounds of many popular indie bands today... Circle ferinstance! And for sure the Boredoms. Also, without Faust, chances are, no This Heat. No Nurse With Wound. Yep they were pioneers all right. And still sound plenty fresh 'n weird today. So Far reigns in the sound collage craziness of their selt-titled debut, tightening up into actual song-form-iness, even getting into some pleasantly lyrical poppiness... but always ready to do something violently eccentric. "Daddy, take the banana!"
MPEG Stream: "It's A Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl"
MPEG Stream: "No Harm"

FAUST The Faust Tapes (ReR) cd 17.98
Faust's third album (or fourth if you count the Tony Conrad & Faust "Outside the Dream Syndicate" album), originally released in 1973, is now available for the first time on cd with the original artwork (excepting the box set) instead of the horrible cover that originally graced the previous Recommended reissue. Faust Tapes is a collection of Faust's more experimental forays, recorded between 1971 and 1973 at Wumme, with lots of short snippets of improvised noise and textures. There are a few composed "songs" on this album (some of their best, like "Flashback Caruso"!), but overall it's a lot more chaotic and random sounding than Faust's rock efforts such as "IV" and "So Far". Completely essential, however.
RealAudio clip: "Exercise - With Several Hands On A Piano"
RealAudio clip: "Flashback Caruso"
RealAudio clip: "Untitled"