Faust

First available as part of the box set 1971-1974, Momentaufnahme II gathers non-album material recorded by German art rock legends Faust during their original run. Mixing raw fragments with studio experiments and freewheeling jams, both Momentaufnahme volumes are closer in spirit to the logic-defying collage of The Faust Tapes than the band's other albums from the time period, offering a peek behind the curtain at the group's creative process while functioning as stand-alone artistic statements. "Gegensprechanlage" laces a broken jazz-rock groove with brittle, fizzling electronics that eventually take over the track, though the rhythm faintly bleeds through in the background. "Tête-à-Tête im Schredder" starts out as heavy and abrasive psych-rock, then shifts reality with proto-dub studio trickery.

Born in Prague in 1979, the composer, conductor and chorus master Ondrej Adámek, who studied in his Czech hometown and in Paris, has already won numerous prestigious awards for his orchestral, chamber, vocal and electro-acoustic music. In his musical language, which also repeatedly incorporates elements of distant cultures, he creates unusual musical narratives. He seeks the authenticity of his interpretations by combining voices and movements, gestures and theatricality, phonetic and semantic aspects, and his own specially developed musical instruments.

Tony Conrad is an American multimedia and experimental artist. He is musically known in the 60's for his abrasive violin drones and collaboration in the American "Dream Syndicate". In 1972 he visited the krautrock band Faust at Wumme and recorded a first album with them called "Outside The Dream Syndicate". The album is a vast catalogue of shimmering drones for violin, accompanied by percussive minimalist pulses and moving bass guitar lines. The result is tripped out, engaging the listener in strange rituals (almost buzzing "raga" dreamy sounds). This intriguing album is now a true classic of contemporary music and progressive rock. This one captures the essence of minimalism music and the energy of rock. To be honest, this album looks like more to Tony Conrad's explorations in experimentation sounds and insistent droning performances than Faust's hybrid rocking universe.

From Biber’s famous ‘Guardian Angel’ Passacaglia to Guillemain’s ‘Amusements’ and sonatas and fantasias by Matteis (father and son), Pisendel and Vilsmayr, Isabelle Faust offers us a panorama of European music for unaccompanied violin from the second half of the Baroque era. Dreamy or virtuosic, these pieces bear witness to the diversity of inspirations from Italy, France, England and the German-speaking countries - and to their marvellous intermingling echoes.

Here's a promising setup: start with the legendary, inimitable Krautrock outfit Faust and get the equally idiosyncratic Nurse With Wound to produce and mix. Faust was among the most adventurous and creative German bands of the 70s, and after disappearing for a decade and a half, they reunited in the 90s and made several startlingly good albums. Today, drummer Werner 'Zappi' Diermaier and bassist Jean-Hervé Peron are the only original members, joined by Amaury Cambuzat from the band Ulan Bator. Nurse With Wound, formed three decades ago, is the brainchild of Steven Stapleton, now augmented with Colin Potter; NWW recordings are notoriously varied, often sprawling, haunting, and strange, with a love of musique concrète and disquieting sounds…

Isabelle Faust and Alexander Melnikov present the third volume in their complete set of sonatas on period instruments. Their playing, showing “great elegance and utter rigour,” is distinguished by “a tender and delicate expressiveness served by exceptionally subtle nuances” (Classica).

Isabelle Faust plays Bartok like a wonder-struck explorer confronting new terrains. She wrestles triumphantly with the First Violin Sonata's knotty solo writing, reduces her tone to a whisper for the more mysterious passages, employs a wide range of tonal colours and trans forms the finale's opening bars into a fearless war dance. This is cerebral music with a heart of fire and will brook no interpretative compromises: you either take it on its own terms, or opt for something milder.