FARFLUNG - 25000 Feet Per Second

When Dave Schmidt aka Sulatron Records reissues a twenty-seven years old album on vinyl for the first time, you can rightfully assume that it's a matter of the heart. So here it comes: graced by a great Victorian era science-fiction style cover artwork Farflung's "25000 Feet Per Second" is again determined to  propel us through space.

FARFLUNG - 25000 Feet per Second (1995/2022)

Is it kraut/space/psychedelic rock (whatever definition you prefer)? Of course it is. Next question!

So what makes this Californian band special? I'd say that at least the six shorter tracks of the original release are very much of their time, with a wild garage punkish attitude also cultivated in a different manner in England by The Heads. But one of the first bands popping into my mind while listening to this strangely enough was White Zombie (in their 90s heyday, when Rob Zombie was still cool, of course). And I just cannot shake this comparison off. They were of course a whole different genre, but something about the groove, repetition and the "blabbering" vocal delivery - even though applied to a much more hawkwindian context - really shows a connection in the zeitgeist of the post grunge-explosion era.

And this certain "La Sexorcisto" mid-tempo energy even carries through the quarter-hourly longtrack "Landing On Cydonia", which otherwise is the odd one out of the record with its even trippier Berlin school electronica elements, as well as the re-issue bonus track "The Way The Sky Is", which stylistically somehow sits between "Cydonia" and the rest of the album.

Please keep in mind that the Bandcamp link below isn't the remastered version, which sounds a good amount thicker! From today's perspective "25000 Feet Per Second" cannot earn many points for originality, but it still holds up as a very strong and enjoyable genre highlight. Also considering that the band has already recorded a new record about to be released this year, I have no doubt that the 500 copies on clear vinyl will find their new owners rather sooner than later. As they should!

Classic.