Outside the Dream Syndicate
Release Year: 1973
Label: Caroline
Released between The Faust Tapes and Faust IV, Outside The Dream Syndicate is a rhythmically steady, minimalist yet exploratory collaboration by Faust with Tony Conrad. His history involves New York art scenes, filmmaking, composing, and The Theater of Eternal Music/Dream Syndicate collective with John Cale and others. Though performing, this was his first and only release for decades. Release in England was unsuccessful.
Manager Uwe Nettlebeck had Conrad come to Faust’s smoky “microcosm,” a repurposed schoolhouse in Wümme, Germany, working for three days. Thick marijuana smoke and a group understanding of rhythm and slow development created a wonderful result. Drums and bass hold a hypnotic steady pace (remarkably hard for two 26-minute songs). Keyboard and guitar phase in and out with subtlety. Conrad’s strings float, stretch, and scratch laterally like a staff the music lies on. As changes flow like the minute hand on a ticking clock, the album envelops a trance-like moving atmosphere in a disciplined rhythmic frame.
If you've heard this album and/or want to share more commentary about it, feel free to discuss further in the comments section. As with all of these weekly discussion posts, we encourage you to give it a listen if you're unfamiliar with it!