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Faust, "Schiphorst 2008"
This live album was recorded at Faust’s own Avant Garde Festival at Schiphorst and is intended as a fundraiser for this year’s event. Although not the sharpest recording, the band is on form on this recording and give a powerful performance. A heavy mix of improvised jamming and fan favourites, this is an enjoyable and exciting live document. Also included is a live cut from Nurse With Wound at the same festival, icing on an already sweet cake.
Playing for a home crowd has a dramatic effect on how Faust play, there is a far looser feel to this performance compared to other recent live albums like ...In Autumn and Od Serca Do Duszy. At first, it feels so loose that I was not sure if I even was enjoying the music (the first couple of pieces are slow burners) but with repeated listens, the happiness the band exude becomes infectious. Much of the first disc is composed of new (or improvised) songs ranging in styles from spacious abstractions like “Firework Lovesong for Lilli-Sau” to stomping rockers like “Es Ist Mir Kalt.” “Lass Mich” (featured on the Nurse With Wound collaborative album Disconnected) makes for a joyously ramshackle performance, at times it feels like the song is going to fall apart under its own momentum but somehow Faust keep it together.
The second disc contains all the usual crowd pleasers; “Krautrock,” “Giggy Smile” (that guitar riff is still timeless) and “Schempal Buddha” (a.k.a. “J’ai Mal aux Dents”) are all blasted out with atomic force. A rousing version of “It’s a Rainy Day (Sunshine Girl)” finishes off Faust’s set; a beaming smile on a cheery face. The final track of the album is given over to Nurse With Wound with Jean-Hervé Péron singing alongside Steven Stapleton on a version of “Rock’n Roll Station.” Stapleton’s love of Faust comes through with him altering the lyrics to include loads of Faust references while Peron gets lost in the beats.
Schiphorst 2008 is a good live album but I am not sure if it will find welcoming ears outside of hardcore Faust (and NWW) fans as the recording quality is not exactly stellar. The mix makes the best of the bootleg quality recording but the end result is flatter than I would like. A little oomph in the low end is definitely needed. That being said, the actual performance captured transcends the actual recording quality, listening to this album makes me wish I was there as Faust sound like they are having great fun and to hear it live would be awesome.
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