01.24.07
Farewell, Uwe Nettelbeck
Another loss of a music great. Uwe Nettelbeck — the “founder and mentor” of the amazing and legendary avant-prog krautrock group Faust — died on January 17, 2007. There’s a little more information at faust-pages.com, but I’ve not yet learned the cause of death. Historically, the group’s members (past and present) are extremely private, so this is not too surprising. From what I can gather, he had been ailing.
Without Uwe, there would not have been Faust, and their landmark albums would never have been released. Indeed, thanks to this radical leftist journalist turned avant impresario Faust is the only “rock band” (let alone ultra-freaky experimental group) to ever be released on Deutsche Gramophone, the preeminent classical music label in Germany if not all of Europe. To learn more about Herr Nettelbeck and his impact, visit some of the links provided below.
I remember vividly the first time I heard Faust, in the Chicago apartment of a friend (a truly impressive record collector) during a small acid party, aptly enough. It was every bit as transformative a musico-artistic experience for me as seeing Sun Ra for the first time at Biddy Mulligan’s, and all the more impressive to me since it was just as powerful and astonishing and utterly radical when I heard that clear-vinyl-xray-hand album when the walls weren’t melting (at least not due to any chemical assistance). My very ideas of what music and even sound is and can be were completely and unalterably, well, transformed. I was truly never the same again as an artist, a listener or, really, as a person. And of course, I was by no means the only one to be so profoundly affected by that remarkable coalescence of talent, vision, and The Times that was Faust.
My deep and sincere condolences to all of Uwe’s family, friends, and compatriots. And my deep, eternal gratitude to him for everything he did to mutate our ears and minds more than 30 years ago. By the same token, profound thanks are due to Chris Cutler and Recommended Records for keeping the Faust vision alive for all these years.
- Uwe’s last Faust project: download the lost Faust album V (1975) at the WFMU Blog or at the Mended Records blog (via the infernal RapidShare)
- “Faust and Foremost: Interview with Uwe Nettelbeck” by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, March 1973
- “Faust: Deconstructing the nuts, bolts and girders of rock — or simply having a smashing time?” by Andy Gill, Mojo Magazine, April 1997
- “The WГјmme Years 1970-73″ by Ed Pinsent, The Sound Projector, August 2001
- Numerous articles, reviews, and writings re: Faust, 1972 - present, at faust-pages.com
- Faust on MySpace
