Faust

Julian Cope asserted in Krautrocksampler that Faust represents the single most mythical ensemble of its kind, underscoring in that volume the German outfit’s decisive sway upon the emergence of ambient and industrial sonic palettes. During their formative years in the early 1970s the band issued multiple recordings that thoroughly overturned conventional notions of studio practice, folding tape-editing methods and Dada-inflected playfulness into expansive psychedelic explorations. Their catalog quickly attracted a devoted following, above all 1973’s Faust IV, an unusually approachable collection that slowly achieved canonical standing. The collective dissolved in 1975, yet several originators reassembled in 1990. Faust sustained live work and fresh output for decades, underscoring their enduring imprint on industrial, techno, noise-rock, and hip-hop circles, most plainly illustrated by the 2004 partnership with Dälek on Derbe Respect, Alder. Two distinct configurations, each anchored by founding personnel, later operated concurrently, the most active being the one built around Jean Hervé Péron and Werner Diermaier, which toured extensively and delivered titles such as 2017’s Fresh Air. A separate configuration anchored by Diermaier and early participant Gunther Wüsthoff unveiled the studio album Daumenbruch in 2022.

One-time music journalist Uwe Nettelbeck assembled Faust in Wumme, Germany, in 1971 alongside core members Hans Joachim Irmler, Jean Hervé Péron, Werner “Zappi” Diermaier, Rudolf Sosna, Gunther Wüsthoff, and Arnulf Meifert. After receiving an advance from their label, Nettelbeck transformed a disused schoolhouse into a recording facility, where the musicians spent their initial months largely secluded while refining their distinctive noisy approach, occasionally joined by guests including minimalist composer Tony Conrad and members of Slapp Happy.

Released on clear vinyl inside a transparent jacket, the self-titled debut LP appeared on Polydor in 1971. Despite dismal commercial returns, the record—a dense collage of spliced musical shards—secured the group a loyal cult audience. The lavishly presented Faust So Far arrived in 1972, earning a deal with Virgin that issued 1973’s The Faust Tapes, a listener-compiled assortment of home recordings priced like a single, a tactic that generated substantial press attention. Following the Tony Conrad collaboration Outside the Dream Syndicate, Faust delivered 1973’s Faust IV, a commercial disappointment that cost them their Virgin contract and blocked release of their intended fifth album.

Once Nettelbeck shifted attention elsewhere, Faust split in 1975 and the musicians dispersed across Germany. More than a decade later, after performing together in assorted groupings, the band officially reconvened around Irmler, Péron, and Diermaier for several European concerts at the start of the 1990s. They made their inaugural U.S. live appearance in 1993 supporting Conrad, then undertook additional American shows. After two live documents, the Jim O’Rourke-produced Rien surfaced in 1994 and You Know FaUSt followed in 1996.

Péron departed in 1997. Ravvivando emerged in 1999 featuring Diermaier, Irmler, Steven Wray Lobdell, Lars Paukstat, Michael Stoll, and Amaury Cambuzat of Ulan Bator. The set drew near-universal praise, leading to further festival bookings and tours. Faust continued issuing material with this roster until 2004, when Péron returned for Trial & Error, a DVD issued in 2007 by the Funfundvierzig label. Diermaier suggested forming a “new” Faust with Péron; together with Cambuzat and Olivier Manchion they debuted at the Art-Errorist Avantgarde Festival in Schiphorst, Germany, unveiling Collectif Met(z), a compilation of live, fresh, and archival pieces. This lineup produced numerous CD-Rs and DVD-Rs while maintaining near-constant road work. From their 2005 U.K. tour they issued In Autumn, though it surfaced only in 2007. The same configuration also incorporated ex-Henry Cow saxophonist/flutist Geoff Leigh, vocalist Lucianne Lassalle, poet Zoë Skoulding, and members of the Welsh group Ectogram.

Former associate Uwe Nettelbeck passed away on January 17, 2007. In April the trio of Diermaier, Péron, and Cambuzat performed at France’s Rock in Opposition Festival and captured the studio album Disconnected. C’est Com…Com…Compliqué, the second album from this trio, appeared on Bureau B in 2009, although Cambuzat had already exited by 2007, replaced by guitarist James Johnson (Gallon Drunk, Bad Seeds) and former filmmaker turned keyboardist/percussionist/vocalist Geraldine Swayne. With the 2010 release of Faust Is Last by Irmler, Paukstat, Lobdell, Stoll, and Jan Fride, Faust effectively operated as two separate entities sharing the name. Continuing that pattern, Something Dirty appeared on Bureau B from the Diermaier-Péron quartet.

In 2014 Diermaier and Péron released jUSt (or Just Us), a set of occasionally skeletal song frameworks intended as foundations for other musicians to expand. The duo toured the United States in 2016 with a rotating roster of guests that included Barbara Manning, Jürgen Engler (Die Krupps), and saxophonist Ulrich Krieger (Art Zoyd). Faust’s 2017 album Fresh Air drew selections from those performances. In 2020 the band contributed two tracks to a split LP with Kommissar Hjuler und Frau as part of the FLUXUS +/- series on Psych.KG; each copy carried unique artwork and the release circulated under multiple titles.

The following year Bureau B issued the box set 1971-1974, containing the band’s first four studio albums plus three LPs of previously unheard material, among them a full-length recorded at Giorgio Moroder’s Munich studio. In 2022 Bureau B issued that album separately as Punkt. Immediately after the 1974 Moroder sessions the members pursued separate projects and never completed or released the newly taped material. Punkt closed the band’s initial chapter, its appearance nearly fifty years later functioning as their unofficial fifth album.

Throughout the 2020s Faust persisted in multiple configurations. Diermaier rejoined Gunther Wüsthoff, collaborating further with Dirk Dresselhaus (Schneider TM), Einstürzende Neubauten’s Jochen Arbeit and N.U. Unruh, and additional players. This lineup delivered Daumenbruch on Eroto Tox Decodings in early 2022. The Péron-Diermaier configuration partnered with Keiji Haino for This Is the Right Path, issued by Old Heaven Books later that year. In 2023 Momentaufnahme I and II, two discs of unreleased recordings first featured in the 1971-1974 box set, appeared as standalone volumes.