LITMUS - "PLANETFALL" [CD - Rise Above Records] "Planetfall" is the second album from UK based Litmus [there were a couple private released cassettes before that], and while it's stylistically right in line with their 2004 debut, the band are tighter and the album flows seamlessly from one track to the next. That is, while each track is a stand-alone song, they're all stitched together so that one leads right to the next, making for a genuine ALBUM experience. Anyway, this is a real fasten-your-seatbelts adventure. Heavy... hard driving... punky, metallic SPACE ROCK. Yes, Space Rockers... strange visitors from another planet with powers far beyond those of mortal men. Hawkwind on steroids and blasting into space with a wild eyed damn-the-torpedoes attitude. There are a dozen tracks [a full 76 minutes] and rather than step through them all, suffice it to say that this is some of the hottest and heaviest rock 'n rolling space rock you could hope for, and played by a skilled unit that has clearly been working hard to hone their craft. I will, however, dwell for a moment on the two lengthy tracks, "Under the Sign" and "Expanding Universe." "Under the Sign" begins with metallic riffs, wildly dancing and screaming space synths, and vocals. But at 15 minutes you know there's going to be some serious jamming and indeed there is. In fact, they get right into the instrumental stretch-out bits pretty quickly and it's the most overtly Hawkwind sounding part of album. The total space rock jam bliss goes on for a while until the last minutes when they return to the song and wind things down with some cool sludgy metal riffage, only to rocket back into rock 'n rolling space for the song's last moments. "Expanding Universe" is easier paced, yet still quite heavy, combining chunky metal guitar riffs, UFO synths and proggy mellotron. But of course the band transition quite a bit throughout this 17 minute track. It's not as in-yer-face as most of the album, but I loved the buildup segments that culminate in molten rocking. Oi... listening to this album from start to finish just drains me. It's THAT powerful. Though the last track, "Planetfall/Seti", is a mercifully peaceful touchdown after such a blistering set. I've kept it in my car CD player a lot lately and blasting it while running around on my lunch hour pumps me up for the afternoon at my day job. HIGHEST recommendation! Jerry Kranitz >> READ ON Listen the on demand webcast of Litmus live at the 10th Roadburn Festival.		LITMUS Martin: "Over dinner on the first day we watched a DVD of UK TV series The Mighty Boosh. The episode where psychedelic musicians Rudi and Spider go searching for "The New Sound" gave us the most useful quote of the week, when Rudi responds to one of Spider’s less mystical suggestions with: "I think it is perhaps something to be saved for your solo project. I guess you had to be there, but it's a useful reminder that while we were totally focussed on making the best album we could, musicians should be careful not to take themselves too seriously..." Words | Martin After the fantastic response to our first album, "You Are Here", we felt like we’d have to seriously raise our game for the new one, "Planetfall." With the involvement of Rise Above Records this became not only a possibility but a necessity. We spent a week at Foel Studios in rural Wales laying down the basic tracks, and really benefited from the isolation –without any other distractions we were able to focus better than we ever have done in the past. It was winter, and for about half of the time we were completely snowed in - cut off from the outside world with only a van-load of alcohol and a mysterious snowman [who may or may not have been called Frosty Jack] for company. I’ve been asked about films and albums that influenced us while we were making the album, but we didn’t have much time for that kind of thing in Wales since we were in the studio for many hours every day. We’re all interested in films, Marek in particular [he’s actually studied screenwriting], and there is definitely a cinematic element to the Litmus sound, but after a long day of recording we were looking for entertainment rather than inspiration. Over dinner on the first day we watched the Metallica documentary, "Some Kind Of Monster", which probably influenced us not to be complete arseholes while trying to record an album. We also watched a DVD of UK TV series The Mighty Boosh. The episode where psychedelic musicians Rudi and Spider go searching for "The New Sound" gave us the most useful quote of the week, when Rudi responds to one of Spider’s less mystical suggestions with: "I think it is perhaps something to be saved for your solo project." I guess you had to be there, but again, a useful reminder that while we were totally focussed on making the best album we could, musicians should be careful not to take themselves too seriously... As for music, I remember listening to The Damned several mornings at breakfast time while we were at Foel, which might explain some of those fast tempos on Planetfall. The basic songs were all written before we got to the studio, and with everyone in the band contributing the range of influences will have been pretty wide, from the [perhaps] more obvious [early Hawkwind, early Pink Floyd, Motorhead, Gong, Here & Now, Inner City Unit, Monster Magnet, Julian Cope] to the less so [Fu Manchu, Bauhaus, Ministry, Matmos, Misfits / Danzig, Killing Joke, ZZ Top, The Who, Cream, Slayer, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath]. The cold weather that week also probably accounts for the character of some of the playing –I think we played faster than usual to get warm and then just kept on jamming to stay warm. It was the jamming that really stood out for me on these sessions –it’s not an aspect of Litmus that we’d captured properly before. Here we were able to set up together in one room, turn up really loud [gig volume levels] and just feed off of each other’s playing –no click track and no headphones. Foel is run by Dave Anderson [ex-Hawkwind/ Amon Duul] and both he and engineer Lawrence were extremely laid-back and easy to work with, something that is incredibly important to us –there’s no point doing this if we’re not going to enjoy it. After completing some overdubs back in London we went to Fortress Studios for a week to mix the album with Gareth Parton [Firebird, Go! Team, Piano Magic], and again this was a great experience. Gareth managed to pull together some undeniably chaotic material into a coherent album while still retaining enough of the random elements that characterise the Litmus sound. The results were impressive,and needed only a final polish from Tim Turan at Turan Audio, who spent a day mastering the album. PLANETFALL> Here’s a quick rundown on the individual tracks: Destroy The Mothership After the opening atmospherics we wanted something that would be a real statement of intent. Planetfall is a harder-edged album than You Are Here and this kicks things off in full-on punk-rock style. It also features a brief but devastating solo from Simon. The Tempest Another hard rocker, but with a contrasting and more melodic end section – the long, arching vocal lines were the hardest thing on the CD to sing. Lost Stations This one drops the tempo a little, allowing space for some sweeping melodic Mellotron lines, and ends with the longest guitar solo on the album. Under The Sign We’d been playing the song live for over a year so we were comfortable enough with it for most of the middle section to be completely improvised in the studio. Stretching to over a quarter of an hour, this one really brings together everything that Litmus is about, with heavy riffing, vocal harmonies, extended repetition and freeform jamming. Planetfall The title track has a really relaxed feel, not least because we recorded it in the middle of the night when we were all completely drunk. Psychic Projection A straight-ahead spacerocker. I love the intro – we played a much slower version of the song’s main riff and then reversed the recording. Singularity Very dark, almost gothic in character. The chaotic double-time drum blasts at the end are probably quite unusual for a spacerock band. Helios Some welcome respite from the sonic battering, this is mostly pulsing electronica, overlaid with Mellotron harmonies, glissando guitar and echoing lead guitar. Some of the ambient sounds were created by placing a microphone inside the Mellotron to record the tape movements and motor noise. Expanding Universe [Twinstar Part 2] Another long one! Twinstar was a song from our first demo tape that we still play sometimes –its musical and lyrical material are both referenced and inverted here. The drones and Mellotron flutes give the song a slightly 1960s flavour, before a chugging metal riff brings in extended repetition building to an explosive guitar solo. The Machine Age More punky up-tempo stuff here, with some great synth noises. Far Beyond Faster still, and with another jammed out middle section, the pace of this one made it a real challenge to record. There was no way we were going to do a load of takes, so we just ate some hot chilli peppers, had a drink and went for it. We knew that the first proper take was "the one", and I think it captures a sense of spontaneity [not to mention desperation]. The song ends with a big chorus and rock’n’roll guitar – probably the only two minutes on the album that are genuinely upbeat. Planetfall / SETI A kind of coda, with an instrumental reprise of the title track fading into electronic signals and ambience. After nearly an hour and a quarter this concludes the album on an ambiguous and slightly mysterious note. BACK TO TOP