PYRAMIDS
S/T
(Hydra Head)

FARFLUNG
A Wound in Eternity
(MeteorCity)

GOZU
S/T
(Self-Released)

LITMUS
Planetfall
(Rise Above)

ANOTHER KIND OF
DEATH
Sleepless Every Night
(Underhill)

EAK/CRUSHING SUN
Bipolar 

(Major Label Industries)

TETSUO
David Keenan is My Dick 

(At War With False Noise)

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For all those who have never heard the music of Hawkwind here is the next best thing. And that’s not a condescending statement by any means. It was during the mid 90’s that five fellas from Red Banks, NJ took the Hawkwind torch and ran with it for a good while until they hit the big time MTV style.  Then, their music instantly acquired a rather bland taste; songs got standard short, hooks abound, shit got flashy, big budget videos were filmed, you name it.  But as is the case with every middle age musician that makes it through that network, the band was quickly abandoned by all their passing fans that fledging fame guaranteed. It was quite sad actually. That band used to rock hard; they used to jam for a good eight minutes and were prone to overload their music with space-like psychedelic sounds. For all those who at the time had never heard of Hawkwind either, their sound was very refreshing. The band was called Monster Magnet and judging by their last three-to-four albums there doesn’t seem to be a return to form on the sight.

Enter British quartet Litmus. These lads are taking the torch now and are not so much running with it as much as circling around the perimeter of wherever that joint is being passed. Their space rock is sonically loyal to the extravagant excesses of Hawkwind. Songwriting-wise, it definitely lacks a lot of the awesome dynamics of early Monster Magnet (especially from Spine of God to Dopes to Infinity) but their music is missing nothing in matters of decadent space sounds.

And it’s just that the music in Planetfall (Litmus’ second effort following 2004’s You Are Here) is pretty linear as far as tempo is concerned. From the start songs kick off at one speed and, with the exception of a few counted occasions like the end of the fifteen minute long “Under the Sign”,  there is no variation from there. It’s just a matter of layering the music with gorgeous space guitars, psychedelic tripped out sounds and almighty vocals that seem to come from some supreme being hovering over us. Planetfall is the type of album that deserves repeated listens because it’s got so much music built into it. It’s excessive in every way you can imagine, but to the band’s credit, it isn’t bloated.

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