Faust IV

Faust IV is fine, but I think Faust Five is the best in the Faust and the Furious franchise.

I'm an advocate for weirdness in music. The easiest thing in the world is to listen to conventional mainstream music that is pleasant enough, but boring and not conducive to thought or real feeling. Some of the best musicians know what's pretty and conventional, but push against those boundaries in ways that are surprising, amusing, and occasionally unsettling. Faust IV by Faust does all these things. On this album, the band dabbles with a variety of styles, sounds, noises, textures. The band uses dissonance as just another tool in their box. They utilize twisty, distorted guitar and keyboards, tin pan alley style piano, random instruments as needed, and a lot of other beeps, blips and noise. They're both reminiscent of the previous decade's psychedelia and forward looking to ambient and electronic genres yet to come. The vocal style is both detached and whimsical at the same time. Lyrics are minimal and occasionally surreal. They are probably intended as ironic and mostly for texture and effect. But if you read the actual lyrics there are some oddly violent moments. The song lengths might seem daunting, but most of these songs are progressive in structure, by which I mean they wander and ramble from one style into the next. So a 7+ minute song like "Giggy Smile" actually feels like three shorter compositions. It's a great method, allowing the band to experiment with a lot of techniques, instrumentation and dissonance, without it ever being too tiring on the ear. Fave Songs: The Sad Skinhead, Giggy Smile, Krautrock, Jennifer

Krautrock. I was so excited to learn about this genre. That is, until I listened to it. Part way through the first track I  labelled this electronica for boring people and decided their following  must be from Frankfurt rather than Berlin. I liked Track 2 and became hopeful. Alas, track 3 reminded me that hope is the lowest form of consciousness. The only other song I liked was the last one. Oh well. Happy Easter Skinheads --

That's amazing album. Don't think i could ever found it without tgis list! Pure jewel

Alot of werid shiut but pretty awesome

What fascinating noise. Never heard of these guys before and this was amazing.

Made my cat freak out

I started out interested, but then every track seemed to be a repetitive drag. When I would find a track I liked, it would devolve into some extremely annoying sounds.

4.6 - It starts off inauspiciously - just a couple of shaggy guitars, one in the foreground and one way in the back, a little playful organ and some tambourine. That goes on for about 12 minutes, trance-like. Not unpleasant but not impressive. "The Sad Skinhead" sounds like a Beatles-Zappa jam written and played spontaneously in someone's dressing room between sets. From there, the album launches into a swirly stratosphere. "Jennifer" has this bouncy bass-line that somehow grounds and elevates the entire arrangement before the song turns into a calm ocean of smeared colors. "Giggy Smile" is another extended jam with lots of staccato, which ends abruptly breaking the fifth wall as you hear the musicians conversing in German. "Lauft..." descends into some crazy machine-like click-clacks midway through before turning into an ambient Moog drone. "It's a Bit of a Pain" channels Brian Eno, taking a pretty acoustic ballad and blitzing it with electronic gurgles and guitar squeals.

I'm generally obsessed with all things Krautrock, but I've always found Faust a little harder to get into than the other major groups in this most loosely defined genre. And I think that's partially by design. They were intentionally making music that was difficult to pin down or put in any sort of box. Granted, most Krautrock bands were doing the same thing to a certain extent, trying to find something beyond UK/US influenced rock imitations, finding their own sound, etc. But Faust took it one step further. They were more like a conceptual practical joke of sorts. Something akin to what The Sex Pistols became. A mythic stunt that was pulled off for as long as they could get away with it. There was a certain amount of emperor's new clothes going on, especially at first, but there was also some unbridled experimentation that was truly inspiring. Although I'm not completely sold on some of the albums that preceded this one, as they are a little too chaotic and unfiltered, even for me, this album is easily their finest, and most cohesive, achievement. And right before they imploded too - or the label execs finally got that the joke was on them, and they weren't laughing anymore, and pulled the plug. It's almost as if Faust knew they needed to get their act together or else the gravy train was gonna stop, but it was too late. They shaped up as much as they could, but they were still just a bunch of weirdos and couldn't help themselves. On this album they have much more in common with other major krautrock bands of the era by aligning more to hypnotic and repetitive grooves, and also incorporating more electronic elements. Both things that strongly attract me to the sound. Listen to this and remember that this was considered "selling out" compared to their earlier material! Ha! To me this is where they finally hit their stride, and found a healthy balance between their experimental quests and a rhythmic/melodic accessibility.

Never listened to any krautrock before, but I might just have to start adding some to my frequent listening library.

Pretty good.

Long and weird, but it was a good listen.

Well that was way more fun than expected! Will definitely revisit later. I don’t even know where to place it, other than in my playlists

While the album linked to in Spotify has the year 2006, which is entirely believable, this is actually an album released in 1973. Remarkably experimental even by today's standard in 2022, it is a sincere case of a band sounding way before their time. Elements of Gorillaz, Radiohead, and the quirkiness of Beck are triggered comparisons, lending even more surprise that this was from the 70s. Overall, the album is actually really nice. Musically, the guitars are out front, melody and rhythm lack the repellent sounds and chaotic disarray of trance, or psychedelic compositions. Faust sounds like they are having fun, and their ability to groove is worthy of note.

Four stars  An album which still holds its own many years after it was released, as bizarre (and wonderful) as it is, and an essential listen for anyone interested in experimental or groundbreaking music from the seventies. The only problem is that, contrary to other important names in that genre and era (Can obviously comes to mind here), it's not always an easy listen when you're going through this record in one take. One can even argue that some tracks are just weird just for the sake of being weird. That being said, it would be unfair to dismiss the *whole* of Faust IV, since there are also many moments on it that are mesmerizing, groovy, fun, mysterious, and even strangely addictive after several listens. The variety of surprising textures and arrangements displayed is a huge plus, navigating between rock, jazz, proto-techno and proto-punk still sounding as fresh and original as it did in 1973, as many other reviewers here pointed out ("proto" means part of the record is oddly prophetic of sounds to come). If only for this, it's a worthwhile listen, even if you'll never come back to it again. There's not much I can add that I feel could be relevant and interesting. Faust IV is for anyone who has even a remote interest in krautrock. Heck, it even seems they invented the term themselves with the name of the first track. A sure sign it's an essential listen. Number of albums left to review or just listen to: 966 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 14 (including this one) Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 7 Albums from the list I will *not* include in mine (as I think many others are more important): 11  Albums I might not be able to judge (some might end up on my final list but it's because I recognize how culturally important they are): 2

Most pieces are in the mold of guitar-ambient, executed by Krautrock experts. Touches of the rural and the weird and plain old songwriting keep things fresh. Not many words here, but plenty of material to sit with.

I was pretty surprised at how much I enjoyed this album. Krautrock is a genre I have never actually heard of, let alone listened to. The production is somewhat lo-fi but also very listenable. The instrumentation is drone like and hypnotising. The vocals are purposefully rough, which is a good thing for the purpose of this album, give the album its unique vibe. It is a really good album, I will be listening to it again for sure. FAVORITE SONGS: - Giggy Smile - Jennifer - Lauft...Heisst Das Lauft Oder Es Kommit Bald..Lauft (that was a mission to type out) - It's A But Of A Pain 4/5

This album felt like two brothers fighting over the radio on a road trip. That intro song blew me away. Give or take every instrumental I was here for and songs with vocals weren't bad but weren't hitting me the same way. I'll revisit select songs.

Decent album. I listened to Faust - I before and I liked this more than that. 3/5

This was fine while I was listening to it, but I can’t say that any of the songs really stuck with me. Wouldn’t mind listening again in the future though.

What a fascinating funky piece of music. I was expecting something along the lines of Rammstein. Not sure what I exactly got here. A couple earworm type songs. Not much else.

At first, I thought it was a Feist album, maybe I'd mis-remembered her name. Then I noticed that the first 12 minute song (described as a "drone-based instrumental") was called Krautrock and realized it wasn't our great Canadian folk-chick. I'd give it a higher mark if they stuck to their drone-based roots without the frequent forays into industrial noises, distortion, and cricket chirps. And the grating guitar solo in "A bit of a pain" is way more than a "bit" of a pain.

I love the phrase "krautrock", because it calls to mind the delicious image of a bunch of beefy Bavarian bros with gorgeous hair and mustaches jamming at a backyard BBQ where the beer and wurst are abundant and the tunes are rad as hell. The awkward nerdy reality a krautrock isn't half as sexy as my fantasy. But I suppose I can make do with it.

Nr. 176/1001 Krautrock 2/5 (3x) The Sad Skinhead 3/5 Jennifer 2/5 (2x) Just A Second 2/5 Picnic on a Frozen River 2/5 Giggy Smile 3/5 Lauft... 2/5 It's A Bit of a Pain 2/5 Average: 2,18 Not as abrasive as I thought it would be. Still not really my thing.

first of the the first song was 11 minutes long ... too long ... also it was just a lot of noise

I gave it a chance... But kinda fucking sucks

Irritating, abrasive noise. Offers me nothing.

Ich Ben ein Berliner! Just trrbl...

This album actually gave me anxiety and stress, I was more calm after the songs were over. To me this was a lot of noise and not a ton of musicality.

Just a lot of noise for most songs... especially the first which never led to anything. Even the tracks that are "songs" stretch on for too long. Nothing exciting or very enjoyable.

Repetitive garbage

Mid

The worst thing I can say about an album is, "I think I could have done that".

Oh look. Another album where somehow 5 good ideas translated into an hour and 15 minutes of noise... Cool.

Makes me think of the ending to that series, Heimat. The village of old loses its charm to modernist architecture, there are those Vietnamese kids, and the bastard son gets money from his clueless adoptive father to make shit electronic music

I hated this. It felt like the album was actively trying to get me to stop listening to it.

Pure shite, unless you're full on out of your scone tripping on acid.

Awful, awful, awful. Easily up there as one of the worst things Germans did in the 20th century.

Didn't enjoy this one, which is disappointing as the last krautrock album (NEU) was great. This was just a bunch of noise. The best of the bunch was 'The Sad Skinhead', as it was a bit more 'normal'/palatable in style.

I really thought I would like this. I'm a fan of noise punk, so it wasn't to do with the chaos and experimental nature - something about the rhythm and vibe here stressed me out!

Just no. I don’t know what I was expecting but probably just something better. Kind of boring kind of weird- unexciting.

So unbelievably boring

p297. 1973. 1 star. A double album of tedious hippy German electronica with +10 minute tracks? Fuck no.

Painful

Did not like this at all. Songs were too long, and not even good to boot.

This was… noise. Did I need to be on drugs to enjoy this? It wasn’t good.

Not my jam. I’ve gone on the record many times saying I don’t like extra long songs, and generally speaking, lyrics are what sell me on a song. So… this album didn’t do much for me personally.

An unpleasant listen

I can't get enough of this one, so good!

Good stuff!

This had many interesting styles and constructs. I would have enjoyed discovering it earlier in life!

No los conocía siquiera pero vaya discazo, me encanta, se pueden escuchar sus referencias, y se puede escuchar claramente su influencia en mucha de la música que escucho hoy en día. Un sonido, un estilo y una producción particular, pero no dejan atrás del todo lo melódico. Un disco interesante y también entretenido.

Краут шо Надо

Not my first time hearing it and I freaking love this record

Progressive German Synth Rock . Impressive and want to hear more of Faust .

classic

Muito detalhado, inspirador.

It seems to be the album that modern arthouse rock albums are based off of. And it is considerably better than its imitators

After "Neu! '75" another classic German experimental rock album from the early 70s on the list - this is my favourite Faust album - it is experimental but also very accessible and listenable at the same time (i would have been quite a bit surprised if it had not been included in the list).

No notes

This album immediately engaged me and I loved it. So diverse and special.

Krautrock ya. Bloody all over the place in a good way. Giggy Smile was especially great, especially the way it stops dead into the next track - the talking actually scared the shit out of me. Some pretty out there sounds all over it.

banger, perfekt blandning av konstiga grejer och trevligt att lyssna på

Albums like this are why I decided to listen to the 1001 Albums project. I wouldn't have found this on my own, but I'm glad I did. It was weird, forward-thinking, and constantly entertaining. I can imagine artists like Talking Heads, Brian Eno, and Devo listening to this incessantly.

Wow. I had heard some Faust but didn't really know what they were all about.

Jawohl! Gerade aus!

That opening track! Good lord. That's on my chill playlist immediately.

Genial.

Probably the most accessible Faust's LP. Brian Eno perhaps got inspiration from this to create Ambient. Fav Track: Krautrock

Dit vind ik heerlijk. Een soort van kale, desolate maar toch enigszins hoopvolle, dromerige, soms warme, oude rock. Geen ijskoude ruimtetaferelen zoals bij die Tangerine Dream van laatst. Met vlagen wat manisch, maar dat maakt het ook wel weer spannend. "Jennifer" is bijvoorbeeld een prachtige track. Bizar genoeg kende ik 'The Sad Skinhead' en 'Lauft... Heisst Das Es Lauft Oder Es Kommt Bald..Lauft' en 'Giggy Smile' al. Ik heb alleen geen idee waarvan en dat vind ik moeilijk te verkroppen. 5 sterren. Leuk!

I love how timeless this feels, it swings between noodling to almost delving into pop ballads and seems wholly comfortable with itself. Foreshadows alot like Radio Head and Ledgendary Pink Dots yet feels outside of genre. Its a great album.

I've never heard of this album before today. This is excellent. Thanks for the recommendation.

I've only gotten into Kraut rock in the last few years. I really dig it. The motorik beats and the droning is something that appeals to me. Faust is excellent.

Faust do seem to be on the weirder side of krautrock, most of this isn't what I'd consider 'traditional' krautrock, whatever that means, being as it is one of the most interesting, experimental and diverse genres in all of music. It's an incredible mine for early electronica and simply for ideas in general just thrown out there. The fantastic, signature, driving motorik beat is mostly absent here for example. I've only listened to their debut before and that was a mix of banging stuff (as in literally banging stuff together) mixed in with the sound of objects floating in water (although I might be confusing it with a track on Neu!'s debut). Much more of an emphasis on weird noises than on this album. I read later that Faust IV is considered a more accessible set from the band, which definitely appears to be true. Does raise a little wry smile seeing the people in the reviews dismissing the entirety of krautrock on the strengths of this one album. But hey ho. They don't seem to be a band who stick with one idea. Which is incredible and I applaud it. I can mostly skip the second track, but I love the development going on in 1 and 3 and elsewhere. Most of the time now I want to listen to stuff where I have no idea what's going to happen next. I know the second CD was different versions of the same songs, but I left it on, because they were very different!

nice

Loved it since I came across it in the 80s. Wildly experimental Krautrock pioneers. This is my personal favourite.

Mesmerizing 11-minute drone rock opener, but the best section is Picnic on a Frozen River with its driving bass and weird, swirling melodies followed by the charming Giggy Smile. Great ambient sounds on Lauft, I could listen to a whole album of just this. 50 years old and still sounds futuristic.

That's how the experimental music should sound like! Very good sound.

Not sure I understand what I'm getting here, but I think I like it. And I think it works as an album. Might try to look up earlier albums if I remember.

Absolutely KILLER. More of these discoveries, please.

A second listen of this album in the right mood and headspace opened my eyes to the hypnotic soundscapes that Faust creates. On a few songs you can feel the comfort of the main riffs while the accompanying cacophony rises and falls, which I thought was an interesting and effective way to convey an abstract concept through instrumentation alone.

Great forward thinking kraut rock that is way ahead of the curve of what Bowie and eno would do later on in the decade.

Krautrock is such a fascinating genre and this album is one of the classics. This album is rock heavy as opposed to other more electronic based Krautrock records though there is plenty of synth based sounds here. The songs are exploratory and take time to develop which is something I really enjoy. There are moments here which almost sound like jazz-rock fusion to me (Giggy Smile), and others more purely experimental that are more noise based. I haven't listed to other albums by Faust, but apparently this is one of their most accessible.

Das Krautrock. Wide variety of songs

This is what I live for, or, this is the realm of musical sounds that brought me to a higher realm of living life. I love krautrock! I began as a prog rock kid, and then after listening to Kraftwerk, and later Can, I just dove head first into as much krautrock as I could access. This is better listening to me than punk, or new wave. No question, this earns 5+ stars from me.

Very first album on this list where I was really pleasantly surprised. Apparently I didn’t know what krautrock was. Glad I do now. I immediately thought of Miles Davis and In a Silent Way, and on further research saw that Miles was a big influencer of these German artists. I also found myself thinking of King Gizzard. Great album. I’ll put this one on in the background again and again.

I wouldn’t blame anyone for hearing the name krautrock and immediately passing it off as something silly. Because it’s a silly name, and definitely warrants that reaction. I’ve only brought the genre up once in a conversation with someone before, and they laughed at the name. But all things considered, I have very little experience with it. Dots and Loops by Stereolab is one of my favorite albums ever, but that is less based in krautrock and more inspired by its central ideas. Really, Faust IV is the most defining album of the genre. And its titular opening track is sort of what pushed the genre to have its namesake. Just by putting that song on, it is made clear that this album is weird. I could see the experimental mixture of hypnotic rock music and avant garde electronics being off putting to most. If I had heard this maybe 6 months ago I might not have liked it very much. But I can’t help how creative that weirdness sounds, and how revolutionary this feels. This is experimental in all of the ways that experimental music is meant to be. And for a record released in the early 70s, this was pushing boundaries on a whole other level. This feels like the 20th century equivalent to Velocity : Design : Comfort by Sweet Trip. Two albums that could come out today, and still be praised for how futuristic and unique they are. This is one of those one of a kind records that makes me want to hear every other piece of krautrock ever made, just in case something manages to blow me away as much as this did. There were many moments of sheer joy, where all I could was smile and just laugh at how ridiculously good this is. This is valuable not only as an album, but as a listening experience for people who aren’t well versed in this kind of sound. Rating: 9/10

This is a very strange listen… but I was fascinated. I enjoyed the wild ride. Bravo!

Very compelling. I'm almost overwhelmed. A+

Ambient tech rock Oddly charming noise music Whimsical clanging

I'm very familiar with their first album becuase it's one of the most insane and weird albums i've ever heard, and an easy 10/10 for me. Clearly I've been sleeping on this one though, despite hearing it a couple times in the past. The huge opening track is amazing, sucks you in with it's repetition. Then the rest follows suit, some wild stuff going on.

One of the quintessential Krautrock albums, and not a bad introduction to the genre for the uninitiated. It sits somewhere between the structured arrangements of someone like Cluster and the more jam oriented Amon Düül. Rightfully a classic.

I went into this one not expecting to enjoy it, however it was such a vibe! Need to check out the deluxe edition now as I just did the regular. Kept pulling me back in with a surprising beat or switch up mid song and kept my attention start to finish.

Incredible, so many good tracks and the instrumental weirdness is awesome

Outstanding soundtrack for today's run through dappled woodland trails

weird, but i kinda liked it

Buenos elementos electrónicos

de muy buen gusto el faust

Agradable. Música musical, melódica, de ascensor. Un poco chill out