On paper, the pairing of German krautrock godfathers Faust with NewJersey Hip Hop trio Dälek sounds like a soundclash of epic porportionsthat has as much potential to work as it does to fail spectacularly.Through a brief studio collaboration while Dälek were on tour inEurope, the unlikely became a reality and the result is the eight-trackalbum Derbe Respect, Alder.The mutual respect and admiration from both sides is on full displayhere, as Dälek let Faust jam sloppily over pieces of tracks that wouldbe much tighter on a Dälek record proper. Meanwhile, Faust step backand react, allowing Dälek to infuse the tracks with their signaturetake on abrasive hip hop. Dälek (The MC) flows in an open verse styleover cavernous drones and the sounds of giants battling. Looped beatsmake an appearance and then give way to uncompromising live drummingand bass that takes the funk and mechanizes, becoming less of aninvitation to dance and more of a directive. To their credit, all ofthe performers try to make it work and take what could have been aconfluence of meandering noise and shape it into loose, jammy songs.That none of this is scripted or pre-planed is obvious from the start.In fact, the recording often sounds like a straight mix of a livesession even though parts and takes have been reconstructed somewhatafter the fact. Lo-Fi is the aesthetic of choice rendering the soundquality and mix frustrtating at times. Though these are finished albumtracks, some of the songs are so raw that they more closely resembledemos. This is the sound of two sets of performers learning from eachother and making some noise in the process that is both dense andmacabre, but not entirely unexepected given the creators' respectivebackcatalogs. I find myself appreciating the record more than likingit; I understand the journey and the purpose of it all but it's notalways a trip that I want to take. A straight-up Faust or Dälek recordwould probably find heavier rotation in my player, but being aspectator through Derber Respect, Alder certainly has itsrewards. There's a certain amount of faith required for a project likethis to work, and it calls on listeners to meet the record halfway, toaccept the technical shortcomings and take them with the music as areflection of the experience of creation. The final result is a tenuousbridge between drastically different styles and methodologies thatdemonstrates the power of abandoning preconceptions and going where thecloudy haze of inspiration takes you.Read More
