The Faust – The Lurcher
The Faust – Do So
The Faust – Party 9
The Faust – Meer
Today would have been Matthew Africa’s 53rd Birthday and every year around this time, here on Melting Pot, we pay tribute to Matthew, who was a singular influence on my musical sensibilities. This record is actually another one from Matthew’s personal collection, bought almost exactly a decade ago during a sale, the proceeds of which went to those he left behind. When I bought this LP it was sealed, but I have a memory of Matthew playing this on his KALX show while I was there, which is over twenty years ago at this point. It’s those drums on “The Lurcher,” recorded during a session at the BBC, that are particularly unforgettable. It does have a bit of lurch to it, and the slight offbeat nature of it really gets kicked up a notch when the saxophone comes in.
“Do So” may be short, but after the heaviness (in all the variety of meanings that word suggests) of “The Lurcher” closing out that first side with such a whismy little tune feels a bit odd, but Faust has always seemed like a bit of an odd bunch, even amongst the Krautrockers of this time. I’m not a big enough fan to know what the situation is with the other four tracks on the 2nd side. They aren’t from any conventionally released album, but do show up on a more recent collection of music recorded from 1970-1973. I suspect this mysterious LP, where I don’t know who put it out or when they put it out, was their first appearance on wax. “Party 9” is a pretty lovely weird number, but “Meer” is an extraordinary piece of meditative, slightly melancholy, musical goodness. Such extraordinary range with The Faust, as is the case with so many other German bands of this period.
Matthew & I shared an affinity for this type of music, but we rarely spoke about it. I wish I had a chance to have the kind of listening sessions I often have these days with friends, where we just bring a bunch of records, sometimes on a theme, generally not, and just try to melt each other’s faces off with the wild stuff we’ve found. It would have been nice to have seen him look at a record for the first time and say “No, I’ve never seen this before…” though that happened so rarely when he was around, it’s much more likely he would have said, “Oh yeah, I got that…in fact, I got an extra sealed copy you want that instead of this one you got?” MKA always seemed to have doubles or triples of whatever dope record you could think of. I’m eternally thankful for his friendship and the effect he had on me, and thankful that I get to share another record in his memory this year. In sharing those sounds, Matthew Africa lives forever. Peace & Bright Moments