Formed 1969 in Hamburg, Germany and considered the inventors of "Kraut Rock", iconoclasts extraordinaire Faust are key figures in 20th Century music. In the early 70's, along with Can and Kraftwerk, they re-invented pop music as a specifically European art-form. In their own studio they were able to revolutionize the whole process of musical production; they improvised with industrial noise, generated bizarre hypnotic grooves, indulged in shockingly willful studio-based collages, and dabbled with every conceivable musical genre, sometimes simultaneously. Every now and then they found time for a burst of satirical pop or waves of delicate ambience. Amongst those Faust have strongly influenced we must count Brian Eno, Joy Division, Cabaret Voltaire, Test Department, Neubauten, My Bloody Valentine, Julian Cope, Sonic Youth and a host of Industrial and Techno bands. The music has lost none of its immediacy or relevance—it sounds as if it was recorded last week, not last decade.
The touring members of this 2009 US Faust tour are original members Jean-Herve Peron and Werner "Zappi" Diermaier, along with James Johnston (Gallon Drunk, Lydia Lunch, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds) and visual/video artist, painter, and musician Geraldine Swayne.
Faust has performed and collaborated with Nurse with Wound, Ulan Bator, Henry Cow, Tony Conrad, Pascal Comelade and Jim O'Rourke among many others.
—adapted from Chris Cutler, Recommended Records, 1996
"There is no group more mythical than Faust." —Julian Cope
"Faust are essential, not just as a history lesson, but as a living legacy and as a reproach to an underachieving age." —Melody Maker
"A radical mix of Musique Concrete, Stockhausen, the Velvet Underground, and moments of almost pastoral beauty." —NME
"Faust were first!" —Time Out
"Anyone who's loved the last half-decade's re-invention of the guitar, (Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine et al.), will instantly recognize Faust as a prime ancestor of 'our' music." —Melody Maker
