Faust, Fresh Air- A Review (2017)

Faust, Fresh Air- A Review (2017)

By: Ghost Writer

Rock n Roll Animal

German krautrock band Faust is without a doubt one of my favorite bands ever, rebellious and at the same time full of wild invention and ambition, Julian Cope, the musician, writer and music critic who wrote the seminal Krautrocksampler, used to say that they were one of the most enigmatic bands in rock history, a band that refuses to go away, that is continuously going thru changes and one that continues to create really challenging music without resting on their past glories, Faust recently recorded Fresh Air continues Faust battle to keep creating startling sounds after more than 4 decades since its inception, as a risky project that wanted to challenge traditional music and battle along avant-garde avatars like CAN, Neu! and Kraftwerk who were taking German music into exciting and experimental uncharted territories by combining the cerebral rock music of the Velvet Underground and Frank Zappa with modern composers like John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Edgar Varese.

Now Faust are definitely back on Fresh Air and their music is still hypnotic, extravagant, abstract and free from, they are still able to create weird music but with a menacing and moving rock twist, you can check that out on the self-titled opener track which starts with a spoken section and a distant viola slowly filling up the space, as the words fade away we are on the same abrasive universe of experimental figures like Tony Conrad and John Cale, but not for a long time, as thunderous drums suddenly start and glorious tension starts to build up, the band's hypnotic powers ate quickly put on full display, insistent and marching on, exploding right on our ears with furious energy, while on Birds of Texas the effect is contrary as the band backs off from aggressiveness and lets a sparse piece breaths and swells slowly, there's and undeniable return to the 70s sound of the psychedelic La Poulie with a great circular exercise of drums and bass and the band's freewheeling theme, which right at the end receives an electrical wash that immediately brings back the magic of the early Faust that made them so powerful, so addictive and yes, so enigmatic.

Lights Flicker nearly at the end helps set the place on fire with motorik drums, a mechanical beat so characteristic of krautrock, blaring wah guitars and ear piercing saxophone, the band recapturing an almost hallucinating proto punk vibe close to that of The Stooges (rock n roll greatest band ever?) circa the legendary Fun House album, the band going right to the jugular with such a fiery, deafening and defying performance that serves as the prelude to the tour de force they present as their grand finale named simply Fish, an epic piece that builds again tension in a masterful way, and that serves as the perfect declaration and conclusion to an amazing record that might lack a little bit of cohesion but one that keeps showing Faust as a fearless experimental band capable of making great noise and satisfying music despite more than 4 decades on the road.