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Akron/Family & Angels of Light | Review
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www.airwavesback.com | Iainnothing else lately has been more consistently "holy shit this is good." Let's get straight to the point. If Akron/Family had released a full album the quality of their half of this split, it would be my album of the year. Unfortunately, they didn't. Before hearing their contribution here, it would seem silly to describe their self-titled album from earlier this year as "promising"; it appeared to be one of those rare occasions when a band hops onto the scene as a fully-formed entity, with all first album awkwardness and inconsistency something that they managed to deal with before their first album. But NOOOO.With their seven songs here, Akron/Family have not just refined their songwriting, but advanced it considerably. The skronky noise, for example, of 'Moment' and 'Dylan Part II' is a dramatic departure from the mellow, mildly psychedelic, idiosyncratic folk of their debut, but the two vastly different styles come together wonderfully, bringing to light new facets of the Family's songwriting. But I don't think that describing the sound of this side of the album does a good job of conveying its greatness. The best way I can put it is that it's more epiphanous (I don't......
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Akron/Family | Interview with Ryan Vanderhoof
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Now Magazine Toronto | Tim PerlichThe real Akron/Family finally stand upJan 5 / 06 Music Feature As the enigmatic Akron/Family grows more popular, several misconceptions have arisen about the members and their origins. Contrary to what some might believe, there are actually no familial connections within the group, nor have any of them lived in Akron, Ohio. They've never even played a gig in the famous rubber capital of the world, home to more than 400 polymer-related companies. "A lot of people think we must be from Akron," says guitarist Ryan Vanderhoof from his family home in upstate New York. "But Seth and Miles (multi-instrumentalists Seth Olinsky and Miles Seaton) formed the band in New York City when they were working at the same coffee shop. They needed a drummer, which is where Dana (percussionist Dana Janssen) came in, and I joined forces with them after we met at a show in Ithaca, where I was studying classical guitar. "Akron just seemed like a catchy name, and when we began corresponding with Michael Gira at Young God Records, he assumed we were called Akron/Family based on our e-mail address. When he saw us play and found out we were actually......
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Akron/Family & Angels of Light | Review
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Toronto Eye Weekly | Jason AndersonBeefheart-inspired skronk-funk Jan 12/06CD Review Understandably pleased with the reception of their tour together last spring, Angels of Light honcho Michael Gira went straight back into the studio with his newest charges. The most spirited posse of all the New Weird Americanos currently populating the underground, Akron/ Family contribute seven songs and back Gira on another five (including their show-stopping rendition of Bob Dylan's "I Pity the Poor Immigrant"). A/F's tracks boast a swagger that was scarcer on the band's 2005 debut. Again, there's plenty of magic to be found but the biggest epiphany arrives in the middle of "Moment," when the band's infectious blend of Beefheart-inspired skronk-funk and delicate Beatlesque pop suddenly subsides and the group's whooping and hollering take over. Their lusty singing adds buoyancy even to Gira's gauntest compositions -- that said, the tumultuous, guitar-strewn racket in "The Provider" makes for quite the freak scene. ...
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Angels of Light & Akron/Family | Review
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Toronto Eye Weekly | Jason Andersonshow-stopping rendition of Bob Dylan's "I Pity the Poor Immigrant"Jan 12/06CD Review Understandably pleased with the reception of their tour together last spring, Angels of Light honcho Michael Gira went straight back into the studio with his newest charges. The most spirited posse of all the New Weird Americanos currently populating the underground, Akron/ Family contribute seven songs and back Gira on another five (including their show-stopping rendition of Bob Dylan's "I Pity the Poor Immigrant"). A/F's tracks boast a swagger that was scarcer on the band's 2005 debut. Again, there's plenty of magic to be found but the biggest epiphany arrives in the middle of "Moment," when the band's infectious blend of Beefheart-inspired skronk-funk and delicate Beatlesque pop suddenly subsides and the group's whooping and hollering take over. Their lusty singing adds buoyancy even to Gira's gauntest compositions -- that said, the tumultuous, guitar-strewn racket in "The Provider" makes for quite the freak scene. ...
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Akron/Family | Interview
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Montreal Mirror | Johnson CumminsSeth Olinsky on Michael Gira, their marathon sets and the "hippie rock" tag Jan 12 / 06Long hauls and bong hauls This is an Akron/Family story, but an Akron/Family story can't be told without mentioning their boss, Michael Gira. He's the underground icon in charge of their label Young Gods Records, and a former member of Swans. That band started as a pulverizing noise-rock outfit whose repetitive dirges and bowel-emptying low end added up to some of the most assaultive music ever laid to tape. Swans would later on branch out to grandiose epics like Children of God, but more recently, Gira has gone a full 180 degrees with his Angels of Light project, concentrating on traditional elements with a heavy leaning on folk music. Above and beyond Angels of Light, the New York noise patriarch plays a heavy hand in the current freak-folk movement, having discovered Devendra Banhart and now proclaiming New York¹s Akron/Family to be the best "rock band" out there ‹their sound is nearly impossible to peg down, but their psychedelic tendencies rush to the front every step of the way, with prog, folk, improv, pop, Byrds/Beatles four-part harmonies, noise and much more all......