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Mi and L'au | Review
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tinymixtapes.com/ |rice dream girl Finnish folk, so hot right meowTuesday, January 17, 2006Mi and L'au Tour North America, MeowWith Valentine's Day approaching, I offer you a Young God Records love story: Mi was a Finnish girl and L'au was French boy, and they met on the streets of Paris and fell in love. Then, they moved to a little cabin deep in the woods of Finland to record an album, finished up the album in Brooklyn with the help of M. Gira [TMT Review], and then stuck around the states to tour, which is what they're doing now. Mi is a mothers-lock-your-Finnish folk-fan-sons-inside siren, with long blonde hair and a sad and gorgeous singing voice; and L'au is not only a gentle soul, but specifically the gentle soul that Devendra Banhart wrote "Gentle Soul" about. When you see him, you can say to yourself, oh, now I know the guy Devendra was talking about. That's kind of cool. Personally, though, I would be more curious about meeting Siobahn, who that beard was for. Another good thing about Mi and L'au is that any conversation about them is a great opportunity to play the Cat Game from Super Troopers. Like, your......
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Akron/Family & Angels of Light | Review
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tinymixtapes.com/ | leahYear end best of 50 list #21In the '60s, it was cool to be a respectable musician and look like you were having fun doing it, but for the past 15 years music fans have been witness to good artists who fashionably downplayed excitement about their craft‹live and in the studio‹and projected disaffected aloofness and irony. Akron/Family and Angels of Light are artists who broke through that mold and reintroduced us to candor. This split LP featured those crazy freak folksters doing what they do best‹wildly harmonizing beneath walls of noise and catchy, synched guitar and drums. Flawed as they were, thanks to live recordings and unintrusive production, these songs were truly enrapturing on the whole for both their realistically human qualities and their unbridled ecstasy. When bands are this excited about what they do (and do so well), the fervor catches on. Tiny Mix Tapers were smitten: we grabbed ahold of this record and let it show us a little bit of freak-folk heaven....
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Akron/Family & Angels of Light | Review
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tinymixtapes.com/ | leah Year end best of 50 list #21In the '60s, it was cool to be a respectable musician and look like you were having fun doing it, but for the past 15 years music fans have been witness to good artists who fashionably downplayed excitement about their craft‹live and in the studio‹and projected disaffected aloofness and irony. Akron/Family and Angels of Light are artists who broke through that mold and reintroduced us to candor. This split LP featured those crazy freak folksters doing what they do best‹wildly harmonizing beneath walls of noise and catchy, synched guitar and drums. Flawed as they were, thanks to live recordings and unintrusive production, these songs were truly enrapturing on the whole for both their realistically human qualities and their unbridled ecstasy. When bands are this excited about what they do (and do so well), the fervor catches on. Tiny Mix Tapers were smitten: we grabbed ahold of this record and let it show us a little bit of freak-folk heaven....
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Akron/Family | Review
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by grigsbyYear end best of 50 list # Five12/05Did you see the picture TMT ran of one member of Akron/Family with leaves in his beard [TMT News]? That kind of ridiculousness can be a deal-breaker. But I suppose the endorsement of Michael Gira counts for a lot. Well, that and the fact that their debut record was one of the very best of the year. Things began gently enough with "Before and Again," a song that didn't really let on that it was something special until a subtle string swell underneath the titular lyric gave the song unexpected poignancy. This dramatic finish, though, was merely a teaser for the bombast in songs like "Shoes," which exploded into a four part-harmony at its conclusion, and "Suchness," with a blissed-out dream pop ending. Though these big finishes may have seemed jarring when weighed against the acoustic instrumentation that preceded them, Akron/Family's songs were strong enough to impress after the surprise wore off. Both subtle and wildly dynamic through its course, the band has shown a firm grasp on pop craftmanship and virtuosity. Not only has Akron/Family give, deference the traditions they draw from (an assortment of country/folk/blues/etc.), they have shown the joy......
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Mi and L'au | Review
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The Providence Phoenix - RI | Jim Macnie one of the most graceful and alluring actsJan13/06 A Finnish model meets a French guitarist in Paris. They get romantic and decamp to her homeland, a place known for its splendid isolation. They opt for the most splendid part of that isolation, heading off to a rural cabin to articulate the sounds of silence. They achieve their goal; on their self-titled disc on Young God, Mi & L'au prove to be one of the most graceful and alluring acts in the freak folk scene. Their dreamy tunes are defined by the genuflections to nuance that top the singers' agenda. Waxing delicate usually comes with a host of travails ‹ it's a short walk from dreamy to dozing. But Mi & L'au's songs grip you as they whisper their way through some truly low-key dramas. And they arrive with an indie badge of honor: L'au is the "gentle soul" in the Devendra Banhart song of the same name. Fans of Joanna Newsom, Diana Darby, and Lisa Germano should investigate immediately......