If you’re wondering what might motivate three of thinky-thinky metal’s most luminous outfits – Steve Von Till’s Harvestman, Minsk and U.S. Christmas – to come together and put out a three-way split of 11 Hawkwind covers, the answer seems blindingly obvious: They all really like Hawkwind. Duh.

And with good reason, since that British band, who last year celebrated their 40th anniversary, are more or less the foundation on which multiple generations of space rock have been built and have had an unprecedented, unequaled influence on sonic psychedelia. Hell, I can’t even get through a space rock review without mentioning Hawkwind at least once. Why would Harvestman, Minsk and U.S. Christmas want to tribute to Hawkwind? Maybe the more appropriate question is “What took so long?”

What makes Neurot’s Hawkwind Triad unique, at least in a “Hey, we did something different” kind of way, is that the 11 tracks – divided four, four and three to U.S. Christmas, Harvestman and Minsk, respectively – aren’t divided by band. The Hawkwind Triad opens with U.S. Christmas, then follows with Harvestman, then Minsk, and so on, with no band ever having two tracks in a row (and Minsk bowing out after track seven) until the end of the album. The idea is that it should flow like a record instead of a three-way split, and it works in some spots better than others. But since they’re presenting the tracks in such a way as to mesh the three groups, I thought it might be fun to break them back up for a band-by-band review (the “prick” impulse strikes again). Observe:

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…As if anyone could forget about Hawkwind.

I’m sorry, what was I talking about?

Oh, right, the new Hawkwind Triad that Neurot is putting out, with Steve Von Till‘s Harvestman project, Minsk and U.S. Christmas on it. Nifty. Here’s the PR wire summation:

To see official release this May via Neurot Recordings, the Hawkwind Triad album is a fitting tribute to the British band that somehow seems to simultaneously remain unknown to the majority of the world’s rock listeners, while also standing as one of the most influential psychedelic bands of all time.

The Triad is unique, as it is an album of covers by three separate artists that essentially flows like an album. Each band — Harvestman (Steve Von Till of Neurosis’ psych guitar based project), Minsk, and U.S. Christmas — have approached these 11 iconic songs with respect, but each have also recognized the need for the songs to be reinterpreted in a new space and time. The result is a full-length psychedelic feast that not only captures the feel of Hawkwind’s individual songs, but also has the feel of their classic albums. Even the artwork by Boston artist Thomas Saraceno appropriately provides trippy surrealist scenes fitting to many albums from the ‘70s. Most of all, the Triad was done out of pure veneration for a band than laid a solid foundation for every heavy, weirdo band that exists now — as well as for those who will freak out in the future.

Hawkwind Triad tracklist:
U.S. Christmas – “Master of the Universe”
Harvestman – “D Rider”
Minsk – “7×7″
Harvestman – “Down Through The Night”
Minsk – “Assault and Battery/The Golden Void”
U.S. Christmas – “Psychedelic Warlords”
Minsk – “Children of the Sun”
U.S. Christmas – “Orgone Accumulator”
Harvestman – “The Watcher”
U.S. Christmas – “You Shouldn’t Do That”
Harvestman – “Magnu”

August 2nd at Public Assembly. We’ll see if I’m cool enough to get in the door. Congrats to the recently-reviewed Stats for getting on such a killer bill.

If you’ve ever heard a Minsk album, then you know the Chicago post-metal four-piece don’t do anything without it being packed tight. They slam more sounds into their songs than ever on their third full-length (second for Relapse), With Echoes in the Movement of Stone, offering a more varied take on the rich and darkly psychedelic crushing ambience that has become their signature sound over the course of these last several years and albums The Ritual Fires of Abandonment (2007) and Out of a Center Which is Neither Dead Nor Alive (2005).

Change can be felt particularly in the vocals of guitarist Christopher Bennett, who works more than isolated shouting into his arsenal on songs like opener “Three Moons” and later cut “Crescent Mirror.” Timothy Mead‘s keyboard work is also higher in the mix, lending a progressive dynamism to “The Shore of Transcendence,” which at 9:59 and with a plethora of mood and tempo changes, is practically an album in itself. Bassist/vocalist Sanford Parker, who has produced all three of Minsk‘s LPs (as well as records for Pelican when they were good, Yakuza, Nachtmystium and half of the Windy City), outdoes himself in both performance and in capturing the nuances in these songs. The building of tension has never been more confidently accomplished by the band as it is here.

Drummer Tony Wyioming is a big part of that accomplishment, taking his heralded tribal rhythms to new levels of complexity, speed and precision. In “The Shore of Transcendence,” beneath the chanting multi-part vocal harmonies, he makes his home jumping from tom to tom stopping only to crash a cymbal or five and propel the song forward. With Echoes in the Movement of Stone shows more emotional diversity than anything Minsk has done before, as the rumbling, feedbacking undercurrent of “Almira’s Premonition” demonstrates. Less visceral than past outings, but with more depth, the album is a crucial moment for the band and genre alike, definitively stating there’s more to this sound than just pulling a “lather, rinse, repeat” on Isis‘ Oceanic or Through Silver in Blood by Neurosis.

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