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Angles of Light & Akron/Family | Review
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thecommunion.co.uk | ellen indefinable but in a magnificent wayNovember '05 A kind of bizarre split album this is, with Akron/Family doing half the album on their own, and half with Michael Gira, AKA Angels of Light. Conceptual indeed. And the result, is on the whole, indefinable but in a magnificent way. It’s very much rock music of a proportion most bands are scared of and most listeners need more of. It's twelve tracks which cover so much territory you kind of forget where the first song began (for the record, it’s quite a bleak, (almost doomy?) blues number). Then there’s the noise intro of ‘Moment’, which promptly descends into a singalong, uplifting country rock anthem (go with me on this) before reverting back to some noise. It’s hard to describe an album which, when you try to define it, starts to sound crass when put simply into words. Surely that’s an achievement? Oh, and they cover Bob Dylan in a way that he is surely happy with. Or he would be if he hasn’t heard it already. If I could’ve listened to this a few more goes before review deadlines were looming, it may have got a higher score, although......
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Akron/Family + Angels Of Light | Review
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www.vanityproject.co.uk odd art-folk offeringsNovember 18/05 No writer listed Akron/Family + Angels Of Light Akron/Family + Angels Of Light (Young God) Angels Of Light Sing Other People (Young God) I have always admired Michael Gira's attitude to songwriting, he has never compromised, and always recorded exactly what he wants to, this is best described in his own words: "After making more records than I care to remember I've realized that I have no control over the process of writing, and when I'm lucky, I embrace that fact, stop fighting, and let the creature that hovers behind my head take over. He's my best friend. He appears less often than I'd like, but when he shows himself he makes the best decisions, so why struggle?..." On 'Sing With Other People' Gira has shown this by stripping his music back to its barest roots. Many tracks are entirely acoustic. When electric instruments are used, they're used sparsely, there are no drums and very little percussion. Gone are the trademark layers of repeated chants and crashes (apart from 'Michaels White Hands'), and I have the horrible feeling that Gira may have cheered up a little. This is now the fourth outing for......
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Akron/family and Mi and L'au | Live Review
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Dallas Observer | Noah W. Bailey quite possibly the most original new band to make its mark on 2005Article Published Jan 19, 2006After sending freak-folk king Devendra Banhart off to the greener pastures of V2 Recordings, Michael Gira's Young God Records continued to show its impeccable taste with the signing of Akron/Family, quite possibly the most original new band to make its mark on 2005. Like a backwoods Animal Collective with better songs, Akron/Family employs guitars, banjos, organs, computers and bric-a-brac to create a unique sound that conjures everyone from the Band to Will Oldham to Spiritualized, often in the space of a single song. Their newest release, a split LP with Gira's Angels of Light (released just a few months after Akron/Family's excellent self-titled debut), contains perhaps their finest moments yet, including the tribal vocals and noise-rock of "Moment" and the absolutely scorching "Raising the Sparks," which has surely torn the roof off many a club in the past 12 months. Label mates Mi and L'au open the show along with Okkervil River side project Shearwater, who'll bring their own brand of pristine chamber-folk....
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Akron/Family & Angels of Light | Review
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Q Magazine (UK) | John Robinsonsweet vocal harmonies and extreme rockNovember 05 An august figure of the indie rock circuit, of late, former Swans front man Michael Gira has additionally become a patron of the arts. It was he who first discovered the talents of Devendra Banhart. Now, after touring with them in the US, he introduces Akron/Family: Similar beards, similar talent, similarly insane. A tough job to describe precisely what the group do, but it's a place where sweet vocal harmonies and extreme rock meet, like Crosby, Stills & Nash through an art-punk shredder. It is a joyful noise that leaves genres completely redundant....
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Akron/Family & Angels of Light | Review
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Uncut Magazine (UK) | Louis Pattison Uncut Magazine (UK freakish Pentecostal chorals November '05 Split records are usually the preserve of cash-strapped indie labels, but getting down to brass tacks, this is really a new album by Brooklyn's Akron/Family - albeit one where Michael Gira takes the songwriting helm for the final few numbers. Gira's Angels side peaks early with a cover of Dylan's "I Pity the Poor Immigrant", but loses it's way in bluster and dirge. The Akron tracks, however, are a revelation, their fractured chamber-folk dotted with freakish Pentecostal chorals and bursts of hectic rock-skronk....