Faust
Ravvivando

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What their label says...

Kreidler and To Rococo Rot, the new wave of German electronica, may be toasting the Krautrock legacy with sparse, austere readings of the genre, but it's good to know that there's still an old guard that aren't afraid to get their fingers dirty. With Ravvivando, veterans Faust are wading through atonal layer after atonal layer, powered by the same perverse vision that found them together, improvising in an air-raid shelter under Hamburg nearly 30 years ago. The formula is devilishly simple and maddeningly opaque; a harsh drumbeat stutters into motion and sinks low in the mix, crushed by a groan of distorted bass and the squeal of a... well, what the fuck is that, precisely? It could be an instrument, but those familiar with Faust's industrial stylings know that it's just as likely to be a powerdrill. Rhymeless and reasonless, Ravvivando's linear groove would become queasily circular, if it weren't for the playful Germanic nursery-rhymes of Dr Hansl that allow Faust their odd moment of self-mockery. Closing with T-Electronique, though, Ravvivando proves that it's more than a historical document. A primeval glacial pulse, it snatches the experimental baton back from the hands of Tortoise with assured ease. Good to see that the teachers have still got a few unexpected tricks up their sleeves. NME German band, Italian album title ("growing faster, moving, reviving"). Growth for Faust means shedding original member Jean-Hervé Péron (he engineered their early-'90s re-formation but fell out with keyboardist Joachim Irmler and drummer Werner "Zappi" Diermaier) and re-nurturing the musique concrete that shaped their four '70s classics. Namely huge bedrocks of looping, mutated riffing, driven by metronomic Diermaier and glued by Irmler's keyboard swathes and unsourceable back-up noise. Where Ravvivando differs from past Faust is its brutal energy (Ein Neuer Tag and Wir Brauchen Dich), and a reduced emphasis on tempo detours, expressive zaniness and bonkers vocal chanting, probably a reult of Péron's absence. It's as inspired, just not revolutionary any more, but if you're keen on something more gutsy and overwhelming than current post-rockers, Ravvivando is your next must-have purchase. Q MAGAZINE