YOU KNOW FAUST

This album is very good. Quite excellent, in fact. And it's Faust !! When I first heard some of their earlier material, I swore off this band (like Neu!) - I certainly didn't want noise at that point in time - I loved what Can were doing, but there is a limit. Curiosity got the better of me when I selected this title in a stack of new vinyl I purchased on one of my sprees. All I can say is what a surprise this turned out to be ! Classic Krautrock (of the highest order) and, at least to me, sounds like it could've been composed in the 70's, and recorded in the 90's. Very clean production (when it's clean), very distorted (when it's Krauty). Lots of tracks on the album, from glorious, rumbling drones, to musique concrete, chaotic little links, and even some hazy and (ocassional) poignant melodies. The big track 'Na Sowas' 14min31, is quite relentless and noisy during its first half, then after a quiet interlude, morphs into a fuzzy drone - it doesn't seem to annoy these ears like the early stuff I remember. Jean-Herve Peron really is a good Bassist, Hans- Joachim Irmler plays some vintage sounding organs and synths, and Zappi Diermaier is a machine on the drum-kit. Some trumpet and tuba can be heard but I couldn't say who plays it. Very much in-line with the early work of Can and Kraftwerk. 4 Stars.

"You Know FaUSt" was released in 1997 and it carries on their seventies tradition of making a lot of freaking noise while at the same time showing they know how to compose somewhat normal music. Experimental is the word though when it comes to this band and certainly innovative is another word that comes to mind. These guys have been a huge influence in the world of music.

"Hurricane" begins with yelling before we get this heavy beat with clashing cymbals. It stops after 3 minutes then kicks in again quickly. "Tenne Laufen" is a brief sample of someone running and other noises. "C Pluus" has what sounds like a faint heart-beat then a more prominant beat takes over with bass and organ. Guitar and horns after 2 1/2 minutes. Nice. The abrasive guitar after 4 minutes comes and goes. "Irons" sounds like iron pipes banging into one another. "Cendre" has this acoustic guitar that builds. Beautiful stuff. "Sixty Sixty" has strummed guitar and spoken words then percussion joins in. Cool sound. "Winds" is another short piece with banging sounds and a disturbing atmosphere. "Liebeswahen" opens with percussion and cymbals as the guitar joins in then experimental sounds. Insanity 2 1/2 minutes in ! Keyboards too. Nasty !

"Elektron" has this high pitched noise that pretty much blew out my left ear-drum. It does stop but the pain continues. Pulsating sounds take over to end it. "Ella" has these abrasive riffs then a cool sounding beat takes over a minute in. "Men From The Moon" sounds like a music box at first then the vocals join in with a beat. This is almost Kevin Ayers-like. Horns then operatic vocals too. "Der Pfad" is keys and a beat before the horns come blasting in. "Noizes From Pythagoras" is again short with atmosphere and what sounds like a typewriter. "Na Sowas" opens with drums and noise. It does settle back as we get some yelling thrown in at times. A calm before 5 minutes. A beat with vocals starts to rise up. A deep noise before 9 minutes as the beat with vocals stops. "L'oiseau" has a beautiful atmosphere as the keys join in. "Huttonfreak" is a short vocal expression piece. "Teutonen Tango" is spoken words at first then a beat with noise joins in. Vocals are yelling at times. There's two of them as well.

Well if you know FAUST you'll know what to expect. Another challenging and innovative recording.

With Faust now being back in action after their 1994 release of Rien, the stage was set for more avant-garde rock affairs. 1997 was a particularly big time to be a Faust fan, as that year they released two studio albums and a live album, something you might not fully expect from a legacy group like Faust. These three releases include Faust Wakes Nosferatu, Edinburgh 1997, and the record I will be reviewing today, You Know FaUSt. Sadly, though, one of these three banquets of krautrock supremacy aren't as good as their companies, and if you see the rating for this review then you might know what that album is.

You Know FaUSt is in many similarities with its predecessor of Rien, being a mix of more industrial rock workings mixed with krautrock, however it plays a more Faust Tapes swing of things, as opposed to Rien's more debut feel. I say this as less of an optimistic point of light, as I find this album to be very dissatisfactory.

Starters, there are a lot of filler tracks that muddies up this album. Whilst Faust Tapes were forgivable in that regard as it was practically a compilation of demos and tracks Faust made, I find You Know FaUSt to be very much less forgiving in that department since now these short snippets of noise are here as a deliberate choice from the band, and not by some company. I have said this before, but I dislike the more musique concrète side of Faust, unless the musique concrète is utilized within a song without muddying it up too much, like what they did on the first LP. I personally prefer the actual krautrock stuff, the interesting jams, and the psychedelic affairs; the stuff that makes Faust such a strong krautrock band for me. Whilst you do certainly get such, you are more likely to encounter these short winded experiments before you get into the real meat and potatoes this album may hold.

Speaking of such, the meat and potatoes here are pretty weak. If you do not count the short experiments, you get 10 whole tracks to go through, and each of them are certainly good but a bit?by numbers, which is very odd for Faust. While they may be a bit newer in scope as they now have a more industrial, and sometimes more shoegaze type feel, they feel just like stuff they have been doing for a long time now, to where I feel like they are a bit washed up. For example, the big jam on here, Na Sowas, is a pretty good track, but it feels kind of like a carbon copy of Listen To The Fish rather than an actual original song. A loud krautrock jam that dips into droning ambience, but without really the style and grace that Listen To The Fish gave.

Additionally some of the faults of the tracks may be due to the mixing, as the mixes on these tracks are a bit too loud and noisy. The 90s marked the start of records in rock being a lot noisier, and not in a noise rock kind of way. This loudness war, as people dubbed it, only really peaked in the early 2000s with groups like Rush getting a bit of a short end of the stick in regards to the volume of the mixes. Faust here definitely got that short stick too, as each song feels like they should not be so noisy. I mean, listen to Teutentango for example, it is just very poorly mixed and so noisy that I can barely think. Each song here feels like they shouldn't be so loud, but they simply just are for no real reason other than loud?rocking albums were pretty hot at the time with nu metal and grunge being at an all time high. There is a remedy to this though, and it is Cendre, which is a pretty great track on here. You never quite hear an acoustic song on a Faust album, so having one, even here, is a nice change of pace. Plus I think it's a pretty song.

Honestly if this album was just a tad worse I might be willing to give it a 1.5 or lower, but even with noise complaints most of the actual songs are pretty good. The title certainly doesn't lie, I do know Faust with this record, and that is the problem. I do not want to know Faust when I listen to an album of theirs. I want to hear something new that they've been cooking up, and not repeats of stuff they know how to cook up. I don't want to know Faust, I want to experience Faust, and You Know FaUSt doesn't give me the true Faust experience I am looking for. Certainly, Faust must've felt the same way, as later records prove they themselves don't want to know Faust. I definitely advise skipping this one if you are interested in Faust's 90s catalog, as their other works that decade are a lot better.

Best tracks: Cendre, Liebeswehen 2, Hurricane

Worst tracks: Irons, Elektron 2, L'Oiseau