Faust REDCAT rider includes 'sacrificial piano,' cement mixer

Faust REDCAT rider includes ‘sacrificial piano,’ cement mixer

By Randall Roberts

Oct. 18, 2012 12 AM PT

Los Angeles Times Music Critic

When groundbreaking art-rock group Faust arrives at REDCAT on Friday night for two performances, it’ll be armed with a fascinating arsenal of “instruments,” according to an email REDCAT published Wednesday night.

The group rose up in Germany in the early 1970s among other so-called krautrock bands that helped set the path for avant-garde rock and electronic dance music, including Kraftwerk, Can, Neu!, Amon Duul and Tangerine Dream. In the decades since, Faust has continued to explore, as evidenced by the items its members have requested from REDCAT. A portion of the note is published below:

“Dear Faust fans,

We’re getting ready for Friday and our tech director just showed us his “Faust Procurement Checklist.” There’s a couple firsts for us on here, so we wanted to give you a sneak peak at what you have to look forward to:

Faust Procurement Checklist

1 Cement Mixer, 1 Demolition Hammer, 2 Angle Grinders, 3 Large Canvasses, 55 Gallon Drum, 2 four-by-eight Sheets of Styrofoam, 2 Sledge Hammers & One Sacrificial Piano.”

If that’s not enough, the group has also issued another request. REDCAT is looking for “a 12” (or smaller) gas-powered chainsaw for the night. If you can loan us one, we will set aside a pair of tickets for you to stay for the 11 p.m. performance and watch Faust ‘play’ your chain saw!”

Listen to Randall Roberts’ Spotify playlist, Faust for Beginners

Anyone who knows Faust won’t be surprised at the requests. The group’s dynamic, rhythm-based experiments helped define an aural cut-and-paste aesthetic when the term meant employing a razor and editing tape. During its now-mythical 1973 tour (as described in Julian Cope’s essential 1995 book “Krautrocksampler”), two members performed on pinball machines hooked into synthesizers.

In the decades since, the sound that Faust forged has become a key ingredient of techno and house music.

The group’s two performances Friday will include founding members Werner “Zappi” Diermaier and Jean-Hervé Péron, and they’ll be joined by Geraldine Swayne and Amaury Cambuzat. The 8 p.m. show is sold out, but a few tickets remain for a recently added 11 p.m. gig.

If you can’t make it, stay tuned: A review of the show will follow. Until then, try this beautiful early song as well as this Spotify playlist to further inform yourself if you’re not familiar with this uniquely influential band.

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