Faithless: Songs and Collaborations
London band who built euphoric dance music that moves your chest, not just your feet, led by Maxi Jazz's voice.
Put "Insomnia" on right now. That rolling bassline, the "deeper and deeper" chant building and building, Maxi Jazz's voice carrying the whole thing like he's singing directly into your sternum. This is what Faithless were about. A London band who took electronic music, trip-hop, house, dub, all of it, and made something that doesn't just make you move. It makes you feel.
Faithless formed in 1995 around producer Rollo Armstrong and multi-instrumentalist Sister Bliss. Maxi Jazz's voice and his rap delivery gave the tracks their soul. Together they built something that appeals to festival crowds on a summer afternoon and keeps people awake at 2am on headphones. That's rarer than it sounds. Mixmag readers voted them the fourth greatest dance band ever. Once you spend time with the records, that ranking makes complete sense.
The legacy and what came after
Maxi Jazz died peacefully in his sleep on 23 December 2022, aged 65. He was irreplaceable. But Faithless as a project didn't end there. Rollo Armstrong and Sister Bliss have kept the band going with new vocalists Amelia Fox and Nathan Ball. They've toured in 2024 and released the album Champion Sound in 2025. The sound they built still has somewhere to go, and the band is still moving.
What made them matter
Start with "Insomnia" and "God Is a DJ". Those two tracks sum up what Faithless do. "Insomnia" was certified triple platinum by the BPI in 2023 and voted the fifth greatest dance record of all time by Mixmag readers in 2013. It's not hard to hear why. From there, "We Come 1" from 2001 and "One Step Too Far" (with Dido on vocals) from 2002 show a band still finding new gears years into their career. Sister Bliss and Dido's vocal on that last one gives them one of their most emotionally direct moments without losing the pulse underneath.
There's more to discover, and we've mapped it all out in our guide to the best Faithless songs. The collaborations, what they were doing with other artists, and how to actually start listening are all there too, at best Faithless collaborations and where to start with Faithless.