25: Faust - So Far

So halfway through and this blog has crossed the 1000 hits mark. And the second album from Faust - a bit more coherent than the first, and certainly more defined. Whereas the first came in a see through sleeve, this is none more black with an additional set of images (one per track) also included with the original record. The images are of the "interesting" variety and I'm sure they mean something but they do almost remind me of the Bad Art sketch on Portlandia (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3k8qWTn4Rg).

But this is Faust right? Masters of ideas, trickers of Polydor, makers of merriment. And this record is brilliant - bursting with genius, skewing all over the place but, like the previous, always enjoyable. Listening to this now you can hear the influences spread forwards. Gorky's Zygotic Mynci must have listened to this a lot - in fact blend Faust with the Soft Machine and you totally have GZM.

It's a Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl is close to a song, all drums and the lyrics said over and over. The next track sounds like an outtake from Look Around You. Both songs in that they don't change much over the course. But is this Faust's downfall? That they are the hyperactive child of Krautrock, never sitting still. No Harm goes a little all over the place - it's timid for a bit, falls into a whizz, then a beautiful refrain (which, with the horns is utterly GZM) and all of sudden into a funky locked groove. It's weird that the record that they're best known for - that was a bit of a throw away, use up stuff on the cutting room floor, is also how their sound is defined. It's a bloody good job that they can get away with it and make it work or they'd be screwed.

The title track has no vocals and poodles along. Then Mamie Is Blue with some super heavy electronic crunches with withering vocals - they're always at their best, and their best is so far out from anything before or after it that it almost defies music itself. The next one's like good music hall, with comedy synths and bouncing drums. I've got my car and my TV, what should I care about you and your fun. They do their fun vocal cut ups with Me Lack Space - a poem where every second or so is missing. The lyrics are fantastical nonsense and then it goes back down to some French and music hall again. It sounds almost like the Beta Band - another group that could sometimes get away with aping music hall and getting away with it. Sleeping right, Thinking of the past, I wonder how long, Is this gonna last?

It's infuriatingly good, has no agenda whatsover and is just magical. The sounds of a group who are reinventing what they think music is and are totally comfortable with it. A crazy blend of sounds and styles that seems to have appeared organically. So whereas Can's jamming felt pretty regimented - like Irmin gets them all together and explains what's going to go down - this feels like Rudolf and Gunther are pissing about with a football outside so the rest of them play any old shit to pass the time, Uwe collects this all together and makes an album out of it. Utter genius.

24: Faust - Faust

So Faust. I have a bit of a frustrated history with this record. In 1996 I visited Sheffield proper for the first time, got talking to the guy in Record Collector about Krautrock. He proffered Carnival In Babylon and Faust, for purchase, and I ummed and urred about it but went for Carnival in the end. Then, later that year, my birthday was approaching and on the wall of the long gone Jack's (on Division Street) was Faust for a reasonable price. It was probably a boot but by the time my birthday came round and I was somewhat flush it had vanished.

Thus I had to wait for the rather excellent Faust Wumme Years box set to come out and hear the first album. I already had Faust Tapes and IV and thus had a pretty good handle on what they were all about. The story of Faust is well covered in the book and in the box set but basically it was a producer (Uwe Nettlebeck) wangle over Polydor to build a studio and let them jam for (seemingly) ever and then produce records out of it all.

That the Faust Tapes are completely unique is clear but this record, more so than So Far, is actually quite similar to the Tapes. Despite consisting of 3 tracks a lot of the motifs and styles that appear on the Faust Tapes emerge here. So there are cuts up, there are tons and tons of echo on random noises there is a seeming wandering nature but unlike, e.g. the Cosmic Jokers, these wanderings really work. So where the CJ were seemingly cherry picking from a relatively short session you get the feeling that Faust recorded mountains of material and they picked out the best stuff out for this record.

Like all great records it sounds of itself and you hear the past and the present embedded in the sound. The opener is called Why don't you eat carrots? and, like Faust Tapes, mixes German and English lyrics, opening with the beatles. The lyrics aren't far off MF DOOM or similar "I ask you sick sailing sailors blind" but it's all over the place.

Meadow Meal, however, is a complete triumph - marginal cut ups, overlapping lyrics and some moments of real movement. Utterly fantastic, bonkers. The final track continues the same theme - again mixing German and English lyrics to make something otherworldly. The most amazing thing about Faust though is that even when you feel that they're just pissing about it sounds amazing, totally coherent and clear. It's an incredible sound to pull out of what seems like utter chaos. And even though they not constantly wigging out there's enough variation and invention to keep you interested. And then in the last minute or so comes the thing that only Faust seemingly can do - an almost whispered refrain over a beautiful lamenting guitar. Each word being said by a different person, utter nonsense "I lift my skirt when Voltaire turns" it's completely mesmerising and utterly stunning.

So now I regret not being able to buy this in the times I had the opportunity. It's hard to get across just how good Faust are and it's not immediately obvious that they are. But it's pretty much a musical (and life) rarity - a group that are utterly bursting with ideas and invention, given the space to make them real, and delivering on each one. It's incredible. 

23: Cosmic Jokes / Sternmadchen - Gilles Zeitschiff

On paper this should have been awesome and perhaps it is. The Cosmic Jokers / Cosmic Couriers "ride" has been somewhat bumpy, the summary being that Planetin Sit In is good, Sci Fi Party is great but not really the Cosmic Jokers and that they work best with vocals - principally Gille.

So, what can go wrong? Gilles Zeitschiff should be 100% Gille, the idea is the same as Sci Fi Party - i.e. no new music but Gille muttering over a load of the Cosmic Couriers back catalogue. I listened to this record repeatedly over the past week whilst on holiday though mostly it sent me to sleep so I don't really think I've given it a fair listen. However it has significant promise and a significant defect. The promise is great: Gille relays the story of the Cosmic Jokers over the Cosmic music - it's (probably) an interesting story, with Timothy Leary and all the other freewheeling members of the Jokers playing their parts. The downside is Gille (now, realising it's pronounced Gill-a rather than Jile) is German and delivers her story entirely in German. My pigeon German can't keep up but my basic translation is: Timothy comes with his wife, and they go to the cinema (Tim gehe ins Kino). The rest of it is lost on me - but it seems that at several points they were surrounded by friends.

The record itself is standard Cosmic fare - all whirling synths and phased vocals but there's a bit more to the recycling than previously. The first track is all Gille, then it goes into Downtown from the 7 Up record. The third is a welcome change: A track from (the to be reviewed) Lord Krishna LP - sounding (typically) a million times better than the standard Cosmic Couriers fare. Then, more of 7Up, but with a bit of Gille going on about lots of friends again. Then that awful bloody Right Hand Lover track from 7Up and you start to feel this is basically 7Up but with a touch of Gille.

It finally finds it's feet on "Cosmic Couriers Bon Chance": Gille announces the title, then, finally, some English - I presume that this is Brian Bennett. And what a psychedelic nutter he is - all the cliches come out but it weirdly works: "So we dug that we should get deep into the vibes - cos' that's where it was happening", "So we said add some Sci-Fi to this German high-vibes and we've got ourselves a new reality". There's a weird sense of conviction about the whole thing, so all the nonsense about Sci-Fi/Psy-Fi that's in the book was not just a joke but they were serious about the whole thing.

More cosmic wibbles then Brians back with some interesting insights: "Tim saw the 7Up record as a Mandala. A mandala is not, it seems, an incoherent mess but a form of sacred art. It synths it's way onwards after this and then a lady (presuming Brian's partner) intones a bit in a posh English way and then it's all over.

The essential problem with this record, in comparison to Sci Fi Party, is that it focuses too much on the Ash Ra/CJ axis rather than the more interesting Tarot/Lord Krishna records which are far far better and more varied.

However, the legendary mrowster commented on previous CJ releases that this is drug music and I think he might be right. One holiday evening I walked back from the pub, a little tipsy, over muddy tracks and fields in the dark and the rain, listening to about half of this record and it suddenly started to make sense - rather than being dull and tedious it became fresh and frightening and, dare it be said, coherent. I was half tempted to stay out in the rain and listen further. So perhaps this is the take away message from the CJ debacle.

Listening to the woman at the end though makes me think again: "Timothy Leary is a Love God: TL stands for True Love. Tim radiates erotic energy". Keep it to yourself love.

22: Cosmic Jokers - Sci Fi Party

What do you do when the jokes have run out? Well it seems that the best thing to do is to take the joke to the next stage. The Cosmic Jokers joke ran out on album 2, album 3 was the cutting room floor and now there's this Cosmic Curiousity. Basically this is a compilation album of records on CC - from Cosmic Jokers past glories, through Wegmuller and Wallenstein and touching on a bit of Ash Ra Tempel too. So it's basically like all the other CJ records - a big mash up of cosmic jam sessions, hastily pasted together to form a horrifically incoherent whole. The stupid thing about this record is: it really works. I don't know why and I don't really want to know but I've had this on repeat for the past week. I don't think I'd buy it, but it has made me feel that I need to own the Planeten Sit In. The key thing is, once again, Gille. She is the cosmic key that opens the cosmic door to cosmic excellence.

The LP starts off with "Im Reich Der Magier" which is basically one of the tracks on the first CJ album. So far so so but half way through Gille and some other bloke start mumbling away about cosmic stuff and it's excellent. Gille mumbles on about Walter Wegmuller, pronounces Tarot to rhyme with carrot and then the track blends into Der Herrscher from the Tarot LP. In a moment of Cope like clarity I decided that this was the best segue to occur in music ever. It's magnificence cannot be understated - prior to it's occurence, Brian Barrit rambles on about a galaxy of phallons. Whereas on the CJ album proper that was a welcome relief, here it sounds crass and unnecessary. But Gille says "Cosmic Composer" and then "Mr. Tarot" and then the track plays. After the wandering tediousness of the past 4 weeks, this is like the ding bit in Mother Sky - utter clarity amongst the madness. The Tarot track is superb and then it follows up with the hilariously titled Cosmic Couriers meet South Philly Willy by Wallenstein which is, again, really really good.

And then it keeps going - all the best bits of those crappy records together, and it sounds wonderful. Gille mutters more and more and they do the best tracks from Planetin Sit It. Bizarrely it sounds like a complete album which is a feat that even the mighty Dieter couldn't manage with the last three records. It all comes to and end with Planeten Sit In again - the beautiful piano refrain from that record. Utterly bonkers that the CJ album that was least likely to succeed ends up being the best record they've done. Or not done. The nature of it makes it feel unessential but it's so good with it. Bonkers.

21: The Cosmic Jokers - Planeten Sit-In

The key word there is "Hobby". 3 records in and already the Cosmic Jokers have given up on the Joke. What Dieter does on this is beyond me and presumably this record is the cutting room floor personified as the Kaiser scrapes the bottom of the barrel for the last few shreds of Cosmic goodness. The next two LPs are "samplers" so perhaps that cosmic jam session was just a regular Jam session which Dieter dressed up and stretched out to 3 LPs.

Anyway, gone are the side long tracks and in their place are 13 vignettes of cosmic weirdness which gets over the "going nowhere" issues of the last two LPs but not far enough over. It still feels like a weird cosmic mess - lots of noodling and too much drugs no doubt. The titles are like some great Library LP which doesn't deliver: "Intergalactic Nightclub", "Loving Frequencies", "Electronic News". Despite having listened to this several times over the last week I can't recall anything about it, and it ends up being a fairly hollow experience.

The ultimate problem is simply this: Not enough Gille. After her quality warbling on Galactic Supermarket, I was looking forward to some more bonkers insightfulness. Alas, though being last on the bill on the sleeve, she has little to say on this. A great cosmic record but ultimately unfulfilling. Great cover though.

20: Cosmic Jokers - Galactic Supermarket

So - the Cosmic Jokers round 2. Still I'm confused: is this a remixed cosmic jam session or a deliberately recorded piece of music? Are the cosmic jokers really worthy of repeated listens? What is this music - it is not really like any other Kraut record but then maybe that's the point.

One thing is clear, however: This is way better than the first record. It feels less (though not completely less) meandering. It has vocals and, for once, the vocals really give it some direction. Again two tracks Kinder des Alles and Galactic Supermarket. Kinder des Alles is all synths and wibbles but the drumming keeps things moving and gives it all a sense of urgency that is actually appreciated. The second part of the first track is that massive church like synth a la Popol Vuh and Tangerine Dream.

But the key problem remains. This is clearly a cosmic jam session and even with added direction and vocals it can't disguise from the fact that they're all over the place - it all works and it's good but it's unsatisfying. And sometimes you can't get away with these types of things - if there's one vignette that really stands out that pushes it from okay to great then it works but there's nothing like that here.

Galactic Supermarket has less urgency but is pretty much more of the same. It has a bit more to say and veers off into a dub like space for some time. The last third is fantastic - Gilles is muttering with masses and masses of echo. "Galactic Supermarket presents Cosmic Raindrops". It's bonkers but it works and for a brief time I almost convinced myself that I need this record in my life. But I don't - it's good but it ain't that good.

19: The Cosmic Jokers - The Cosmic Jokers

This record was purchased (I think) as part of my pre-university krautrock stock up. I always had high hopes for the Cosmic Jokers, thinking them brilliantly conceived as the ultimate art rock joke. The krautrock super group - the Dieter Dierks organised mashed jam session gone crazy. The Jokers themselves gone cosmic, the cosmic gone jokers. How could this fail? A big messy kraut jam session blended down into 4 or 5 LPs and on Cosmic Couriers too. My teenage brain probably boggled at the potential in this record.

This was the time of Spalax so my Cosmic Jokers experience was broken up from two side long "jam sessions" into 5 littles slices of Cosmic Joy. Never having been a musician, I have no understanding how jam sessions come to pass and no comprehension of how or if Dieter took the cosmic jams and cut them up into something comprehensible. On the back of the sleeve there's a photo of the band and they're not pretty. It screamed possibility.

How, now then in 2012 - I've probably listened to this CD maybe 5 times. I just don't get it, it doesn't work, it's all over the place and feels probably more indulgent than it actually is. Unlike the great side long tracks which feel short, this feels like a lifetime. Like the Van Horne Pneumatic Transit it just goes on and on forever. The first side is somewhat frantic, drums and synths - not far from Ash Ra Tempel but with a bit more synth emphasis, and less of a groove. After 20 minutes or so Brian Barritt says "Galaxy of Fallons to Telepath 1". Bonkers.

The second side is more laid back - much more cosmic and less jokey. Maybe that's the critical problem with the Cosmic Jokers - it's not funny and the jokes on the listener. Given that this is the first of five - on of which is a "hilarious" compilation of the the other records. I don't know what I'm missing but I'm tired and this record does very little for me. I don't hate it, because all the ingredients are there and it's pretty far out but it comes and it goes and then it's gone, and it'll be another 7 years before I listen to it again. For the duration of listening to this whilst writing this, the rain was making a noise outside. I thought it was part of the record. It was not.