Ah yes. Krautrock. Along with their contemporaries Can, Neu!, and to a lesser extent Kraftwerk, Faust took an approach to rock'n'roll that was completely fresh. How often does that happen? The surprising thing is that this is quite accessible, though I gather that their earlier albums were more out there, in particular The Faust Tapes, which was released alongside Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells and some Gong album about teapots as Virgin Records' inaugural releases, became notorious for being sold at the price of a single, and marked The Enemy by such gormless twats as Jim Kerr of Simple Minds (remember them?). As much from an English friends recommendation whilst we were getting absolutely smashed on longnecks and then proceeded to mosh to Sultans of Ping FC's "Where's My Jumper", much to the hilarity of everyone else. Oh, and an excerpt on a mixtape Paul Gough of Pimmon sent me a couple of years back.

But yeah. Obviously, they've had an influence on other bands I like; perhaps the most obvious case, Stereolab in their dronier moments like "Jenny Ondioline" certainly echo "Krautrock". "Just A Second (Starts Like That!)" sounds very much like early Hunters & Collectors. The most curious thing is that though it's certainly progressive, it doesn't seem to have that patina of earnest artiface that plagues the likes of Tortoise, and on the opposite end of the scale, pseudo-chic Carnaby Street Syndrome outfits like St Etienne. I mean, I would hardly see Tortoise yanking out a reggae tune like "The Sad Skinhead" in the middle of a set? If they did, all the chinrubbers would either rub their chins more ironically or else take the opportunity to take a piss or hit on that boho chique over there.

I should probably go order in the Wümme Years, I suppose.