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Akron/Family & Angels of Light | Review
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Stool Pigeon (UK)intense and heathen November '05 This is the kind of music to bring on the rapture. It's rock music as rhapsody-intense and heathen but it's driven by something almost classical and religious. And it's a split album that sees Akron/Family do seven of their own songs and then get behind Michael Gira and do four of his and one Dylan cover. The first half is better, but there's power throughout....
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Akron/Family & Angels of Light | Review
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Rock Sound (UK) | Mike Diverit's acts like Akron/Family who craft the songs that cut closest to the bone8 of 10 Novemeber, '05 Rural types that dirched the country for the bustle of NYC back in '02, Akron/Family aren't any old musicians looking to impress a scene; They're not conventionally cool or hip, aping retro acts to seek commercial success. They're simply men, born with hearts and souls, and all they do is write songs - sometimes sparse, sometimes complex - That possess charm and character enough to render that opening sentence irrelevant: this music doesn't need location to serve as a point of stylistic reference. It's absolutely conceivable that this release will attract comparisons to today's self-styled "free-folk" artists. However, it should be noted that whilst Devendra Banhart et al are now successful, money-spinning assets, it's acts like Akron/Family who craft the songs that cut closest to the bone....
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Akron/Family & Angels of Light | review
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Independent (UK) on Sunday | Luiza Saumapsychedelic-pastoral gemNov 7/05 4 stars of 5 Akron/Family & Angels of Light For his latest trick Michael (Angels of Light) Gira - producer, musician and record label boss - recorded an album in nine days with his latest bearded protégés Akron/Family. The result is a rough-hewn, psychedelic-pastoral gem, full of beautifully warm, shambolic harmonies and driven by an almost Beatles-esque passion for experimentation that often borders on silliness. Case in point: "Raising the Sparks", which crams 10 songs into four minutes, from thumping rock-folk to cult-like chanting ('ya ya ya ya!") and screaming gospel. From the man who discovered Devendra Banhart, I would expect nothing less....
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Angels of Light & Akron/Family | Review
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www.splendidmagazine.com | Jennifer Kellywith Gira's deep, echoing voice underlined by steel guitar and gospel harmonies.11/14/2005 Angels of Light & Akron/Family Akron/Family & Angels of Light Young God Last spring, Michael Gira, now of Angels of Light, took Akron/Family on tour as his backing band, much in the same way that he took on Devendra Banhart a couple of years ago. By all accounts, the shows were transcendent experiences, the sort of events where diverse talents and worldviews meld into something wholly new. Akron/Family's exuberance dragged Gira out of his dark, Cash-referencing gloom; Gira's gravitas grounded and gave depth to Akron's dizzying harmonies. On their return, both bands were so enamored of the whole experience that they decided to record a "live" album together. The result is here, recorded and mixed in nine eight-hour days, with few overdubs. It is completely different from either Akron/Family's or Angels of Light's work from earlier this year, and in Akron's case, represents a startling pace of artistic development. The quiet, electronically experimental textures of the band's self-titled debut have blossomed into wildly joyous celebrations and lightning quick style shifts. The disc opens with Akron/Family's seven songs, starting with the gently acoustic "Awake". Here, thoughtful......
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Akron/Family | Review
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prefixmag.com | Justin Sheppard"Raising the Sparks" is music to dance naked around a bonfire toNovember 8, '05 Akron/Family & Angels of Light Akron/Family & Angels of Light Release Date: 2005-11-08 Label: Young God Not content with resting on the laurels of a well-received eponymous debut and serving as the backing band for Angels of Light Sing "Other People," Akron/Family has teamed up with Michael Gira once again, this time in the form of a split album. (Well, sort of: The band again serves as Michael's Angels and appears on each of the album's twelve songs, so it's really more of a collaborative project, but I digress.) Three albums in one year certainly risks overexposure, but thankfully this bearded collective of freak-folkers shows enough growth to avoid stagnation. In many ways, the seven songs Akron/Family penned for this album show a natural progression for the group. The debut displayed a timid, youthful crush for raw noise in between all that gentle guitar strumming and ambient sounds. That innocence is gone now, replaced by a post-pubescent lust. This shift is apparent right from the album's onset. A solemn dirge built on haunting vocal harmonies, opener "Awake" weighs you down like a wet......