Founded in the early 1970s, Faust (the name translates from German as "fist") was first promoted by Virgin Records' Richard Branson to UK audiences with a specially discounted LP that sold for what was then the price of a single 45 rpm record. Although Virgin dumped the band in 1975, Faust persevered, using construction tools, synthesizers and found percussion along with the drums and guitars, inspiring countless emulations that in the '80s and '90s became the relatively well-known genres of ambient, techno and industrial rock. As members of a unique German rock legacy that includes Kraftwerk, Can and Tangerine Dream, Faust is now regarded as the edgiest torchbearer of the 20th-century music known as Krautrock.

Exactly where and how Krautrock began remains a subject of debate. Some say the German youth of the '70s, in an attempt to forge an original regional voice, embraced the wilder moments of the Beatles' "I Am the Walrus" while completely discarding the more traditional pop of "I Wanna Hold Your Hand."

On their most recent studio recording, Derbe Respect, Alder (Staubgold, 2004), Faust continues such reflections in collaboration with an outspoken New Jersey avant-rapper crew known as Dälek. In rhymes and rhythms that crash together like massive swells of postmodern European and American nightmares meeting in the middle of the icy Atlantic, Faust prods Dälek's experimental hip-hop. It's hard to believe this is the same band that in 1973, after three debut CDs that made Frank Zappa's experimental '60s rock sound like Abba, sided with former Lamonte Young and John Cale associate Tony Conrad to trip the minimalist light fantastic on Outside the Dream Syndicate. But stylistic diversity is one of the band's many masks.

With disco and New Age music dominating the electronic music scenes from the late '70s through the '80s, Faust mostly hibernated. Re-emerging in the '90s, the band's integrity paid off, with over a decade now of solid touring, remixes and CD releases. Next month at the London Institute of Art, Faust will combine a film debut of its legendary 1996 London concert with an official launch of Andy Wilson's new biographical book on the band entitled Stretch Out Time.

Opening for Faust at the Stimul festival's grand finale will be Norway's Supersilent and Finland's Pan Sonic. The latter group takes electronics on a dub, reggae and sometimes nearly rockabilly romp, while Supersilent has a more orchestrated, meditative sound. Both Pan Sonic and Supersilent reflect subsequent generations of continental European musicians who sound far less extreme today than they did 30 years ago.