Faust vs Dälek Sleevenotes

Alap Momin (a.k.a. Still)

Staubgold, Mar 2004

I remember the first time I ever heard Faust. I must've been about 20 and I was getting really into the whole Krautrock thing. I was at someone's house and we were talking about Can and Kraftwerk and Neu. I was familiar with those bands and had been hearing the name Faust for a while. The first thing I heard from them was The Last LP from 1971-75. I remember thinking it was insane. I was already a huge fan of My Bloody Valentine and the Velvet Underground as well as a slew of other ambient and noise bands, but this was unlike anything I had ever heard in my life, and it was years ahead of most of the bands I was into at the time. From that moment on I was sold. I went out and bought whatever Faust I could get my hands on. Rien, Faust IV, and You Know Faust soon became staples for me. Then in 2001 I got Ravvivando. It was unbelievable that these guys had started making records more than 30 years ago, but weather you picked up one of there albums from 1971 or 2001 it would still knock you on your ass. Most bands will at some point in there musical career put out at least one record or more in many cases that don't have the feel or fire of there earlier days, but somehow Faust managed to stay on track without repeating themselves. This is a quality I haven't seen in ANY other band before or since EVER. When we were asked to collaborate with the almost mythical legends I thought, it couldn't possibly be THE Faust. Its gotta be some other band with the same name. Why in the world would Faust ever want to work with some hiphop group from New Jersey?? It seemed totally ridiculous. But it ended up happening, and more importantly working. The fact is Dälek could never make the music we do if Faust hadn't been there to show us a different way of looking at music. I think we would've made decent records, but not nearly to the sonic excesses that we got from biting Faust.

Much respect to Jochen, Zappi, and past and present members of Faust. Thanks for letting Dälek be a small part of the legend.

ref: Dälek