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Akron/Family | Review
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Cokemachineglow.com | Clayton Purdom "The Rider (Dolphin Song)" is a fucking monster, the type of elephantine soul shredder that only -- exclusively -- Akron/Family can musterMeek Warrior (Young God; 2006) September 29, 2006 This is one of those reviews where the critic heaves back and forth, flailing between optimism and deceit, pragmatism and writer's block, words and disappointment. This is one of those reviews where I hope for a better future at the end, because, well, I kinda have to. "Favorite" isn't a word I use too often in reviews, but bear with me: Akron/Family became my favorite band last year because of the way that their sprawling self-titled debut and mathematically incisive EP managed to outright stun the listener. Like, holy-shit-drop-your-coffee-and-rewind-that-fucker good. The band achieved this in as many different ways as there were songs, if not because of the sublime undertow of "Italy" then for the shimmering dissolution of "Future Myth." The records were constructed through directly contrasting ideas, one taut, one blissfully endless; this duality alone makes each a shocking listen even today. But there's exactly one thing about Meek Warrior, the prolific foursome's new EP, that is surprising: it's the first time the band has ever sounded bored. Bored bands......
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Akron/ Family | Review
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www.contactmusic.com | Mike Rea A fantastic follow-up to 2005's self-titled discMeek WarriorRating 8/10Imagine, if you will, that the musicians of O Brother Where Art Thou? decided to embrace modern rock and the hedonistic Spanish street rhythms of Springsteen's The Wild, The Innocent. If that sounds like your kind of gig, you'll absolutely love Meek Warrior, an album whose hypnotic music is reminiscent of Beirut's Orkestar, but with American folk as its base, rather than Russian folk. On one hand, the album should be a complete mess - its styles are literally all over the place, but like a Magic Eye painting, something emerges in a minute or two, and that thing is rather wonderful. An organic, breathing thing, this is clearly a band who enjoy playing live-the interplay of acoustic guitars and vocal harmonies as attractive as the Beach Boys of Barbara Ann. Although there are only seven tracks, with one mis-step (No Space In This Realm), you'll leave disoriented but wanting more. A fantastic follow-up to 2005's self-titled disc, this is clearly a band who are happy in their own furrow....
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Akron/Family | Review
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Erasing Clouds | dave heatonopens with the band in a full-on rage of a jam, propelled by drums and exploding guitars.Sept '06 Meek Warrior "Gone / gone / gone beyond / gone completely beyond" Akron/Family sing together as a campfire folk ditty (sort of) on Meek Warrior's second track "Gone Beyond." And those words are an apt description of the album, somehow. On their debut self-titled album, on the split album they did with Angels of Light, and through their un-ending touring, the group has consistently shown that they're capable of anything,and of surprise, most of all. They sing beautifully together, spaced-out mystical choruses. And they play their ample instruments in a free-wheeling manner, like they're always off exploring some other planet. But this album goes beyond all that, takes it to the next level. They're calling it their "special album", presumably cause they see it as a one-off, quickly recorded kind of thing. Or maybe it's cause they work with other musicians, with free-jazz drummer Hamid Drake in particular. In any case, saying the music itself is special is just a start. It's over-the-wall, off-the-cliff, on-another-plane-of-existence special. The first track "Blessing Force" opens with the band in a full-on rage......
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Akron/Family | Review
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Dusted.com | Emerson DameronThey are fluent in the vocabularies of rock, folk, soul and jazz, and can ask for directions in punk and metal.Album: Meek WarriorLabel: Young God Review date: Sep. 15, 2006 If rock is a school, the four members of Akron/Family are its most dramatic, most academically gifted spaz-outs. They are fluent in the vocabularies of rock, folk, soul and jazz, and can ask for directions in punk and metal. And, as they prove on "Lightning Bolt of Compassion," they don't even have to sing their lyrics in English. Let it never be said that they haven't been fortunate. Few acts meet the world with instant nerd cred bestowed upon them by Swans legend and Young God Records bwana Michael Gira. Few debuts get the sort of attention, on the sort of scale, that A/F's self-titled 2005 disc did that is, sincere admiration and curiosity with a minimum of calculated hype. But Akron/Family does work hard, touring constantly, showing uncommon discipline in the studio, and serving as their mentor's backup band. (Gira must be an unbelievably demanding producer, to say nothing of what he's like as a bandleader.) Akron/Family has the sort of energy that less insanely committed musicians......
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Akron/Family | Review
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LA Alternative Weekly | Bernardo Rondeau Meek Warrior is a brief but vivid collage of psychedelic inventionSept 23/06 Meek Warrior (Young God) The music on Akron/Family's second proper album-or third, if you count their "split" disc with Young God honcho Michael Gira's Angels of Light project-is ridiculously ecstatic. Its seven tracks map a rugged topography where volcanic streams of freeform electricity burst forth from jangling folk serenity; brass ripostes tear through the clattering chatter of chiming guitars and everyone always sings. Far bolder than the young quartet's remarkably eclectic, self-titled 2005 debut, Meek Warrior is a brief but vivid collage of psychedelic invention. Punched-in practically mid build-up, opener "Blessing Force" is a nearly 10 minute journey through the record's various climates. Drums pulse and rumble in a fierce lockstep as riffs and noodles lock into serpentine grooves but pause as a maelstrom of voices-mumbling, murmuring and shouting-and spastic handclaps launch the track into rock god orbit before crumbling gently but suddenly into a shimmering acoustic trawl that happens upon a raucous wilderness of rampant noise and fluttering sax scrawls. Less prog bombast than run on sentence, its constant morphs seem to evince a band so ripe with ideas and sounds that it......