PRESS
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Akron/Family | Review
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Mojo Magazine UK | Phil Alexander The return of the new incredible string band Sept/OctoberMeek Warrior (Young God)4 of 5 starsFew have chosen to travel the rocky path that runs between the outskirts of folk and the darkened edges of improv jazz, the journey being too perilous for all but the most robust souls. Brooklyn based Akron/Family are among that small band of fearless adventurers, abetted this second time around by Chicago free-jazz drummer extraordinaire Hamid Drake. Recording seven tracks in two days while suffering from sleep deprivation, the result is a feverish set that borders on near delirium. Nine minute-plus opener Blessin Force sets the tone, swooping from percussive tribalism into happy clappng and on to honking skonkery. Other highlights include Zeppesque Gone Beyond, the brass-noise onslaught of The Rider (Dolphin Song) and the a cappella mantra Love and Space, all of which ensure that Meek Warrior's beauteous power will echo far beyond those pesky end of year lists....
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Larkin Grimm | Interview
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Dream Magazine | George Parsons Heartbreak. Violence. Obsession. Regret. Self-annihilation. Big, big transcendent love.When I first contacted Larkin Grimm by email to do this interview she agreed and fired back her own mini-interview to me, which we’ll reprint at the beginning of this interview. At the time of this writing (September 2006), she’s just released her second full length album on Secret Eye; The Last Tree is a very different sort record than her first, and perhaps an even better introduction than her excellent debut Harpoon (2005, also Secret Eye), though both are clearly the work of an uncompromising artist with a singularly hallucinatorily vision that isn’t afraid of the dark in herself, or elsewhere. Larkin was born in a Memphis, Tennessee commune, and was raised in Dahlonega, Georgia in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains; she’s since transplanted herself to Providence, Rhode Island. L.G.: Where are you in the world? G.P.: Nevada City California. We were called simply Nevada until the state stole our name and we tacked on the “City” Northern California high desert pine trees red clay, granite boulders. L.G.: What was your most powerful dream in recent memory? G.P.: Being at a huge party and trying......
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Akron/Family | Review
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cokemachineglow.com | Matt Stephens the end result is unexpectedly satisfyingAugust 28/06Akron/Family: 'Love and Space'Meek Warrior (Young God; 2006)When I saw Akron perform last February, they opened with "Love and Space," entering from the behind the audience and singing the song (arranged as it is here, with nothing more than a four-part vocal harmony and a lone acoustic guitar) right in the middle of a pack of bemused but supportive fans. I remember assuming it to be some rustic gospel standard. While it's no great surprise to hear a band this obsessed with folk and roots music attempting a kind of devotional song, it is surprising how straightforward and unfussy it sounds, and furthermore, how much that works to its benefit.They didn't even need to trouble with multiple verses: 'Love and Space' is basically just a mantra, with the narrator (I'm still not nearly enough of a fan boy to be able to pick out who is singing when) begging the man upstairs to turn his heart into some sort of love mirror. A little airy-fairy, no doubt, but the end result is unexpectedly satisfying the harmonies are spot-on, melodically, but have a timidity that's largely alien to this kind of......
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Lisa Germano | Review
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kevchino.com Sound means as much to understanding this work as light would to that of art painted on canvasAugust 06In The Maybe World Young God Records 2006 Album 8 out of 10 One constant that has run through all of Lisa Germano's independent work has been the aspect of experience and its twin confessional. The talent Germano displays with the pen is as much a treat to witness as are her musical aspirations on the violin and piano. On her latest release, 'In The Maybe World,' these two realizations combine to a soberingly successful effect as a result of the somber instrumentation and understated delivery. For all the sparseness that exists in Lisa Germano's work, there is also an abundance of worldly realization inhabiting that same space. From the onset, 'In The Maybe World' establishes for the listener the methods by which he should view this aural landscape. Sound means as much to understanding this work as light would to that of art painted on canvas. It's the very reason why Germano's vocals are so effective. She never over-sings a song because she is barely singing to begin with. Rather, she makes you believe her words belong naturally to melody. Moreover, a very conscious......
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Lisa Germano | Review
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Dusted.com | Jon Dale In the Maybe World feels like an (unintentional, perhaps) sequel or response to Geek the GirlAlbum: In the Maybe WorldReview date: Aug. 6, 2006 Lisa Germano is best known for her series of 1990s recordings on English independent label 4AD. Starting with Happiness, her records for the label often felt like the re-living of distressing relationships and their fall-out: in the case of Geek the Girl, still Germano's finest hour, the pathology of the stalker and the stalked. The brinkmanship of Geek the Girl suggested terrain not often traversed by song: this was closer to abreaction, and the 12 miniatures collected on the album were fragile and eviscerated. Its candor was disquieting, with Germano refusing the listener any easy escape. In the Maybe World feels like an (unintentional, perhaps sequel or response to Geek the Girl, turning down the intensity while sharing a twilit mood.Indeed, disquiet is the word that best sums up Germano's body of work. Her songs are structurally simple, taking on the form of lullaby, nursery rhyme or folk tune. All these archetypes resonate because they deal in states of transition: being willed to sleep, the constantly shifting terrain of childhood, or moments that......