PRESS
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Angels of Light | Review
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Under The Radar Magazine | Matt Finkit’s the rare split release that plays like a coherent full lengthIssue #11 Fall 05 Akron/Family and Angels of Light Coming off like Animal Collective channeling The Band in a remake of Abbey Road, Akron/Family create a beautifully obtuse, yet wholly approachable clatter on this split release with mentor Michael Gira. Opening with a lonely electric guitar line and harmonies in “Awakeâ€, the album soon shifts into the jarring blast of guitar feedback and clattering anti-music drum rolls of “Momentâ€, dissolving into a lush chorus of layered wordless vocals. Part campfire sing-along, multi-part rock opera and frenzied freakout, these songs wind through wildly different, clearly delineated parts, with each multi-part arrangement striking a dazzling balance between pristine sunrise textures and stomping psychedelic workouts. Backing up Gira, the band rolls back their sprawl a bit, supporting his heavy croon with a dark tangle of guitar lines and swirling feedback in “The Providerâ€, and surrounding him with a chorus of shrieks in the tribally stomping “Mother/Fatherâ€. Add it up, and it’s the rare split release that plays like a coherent full length, one of the year’s most unlikely breakthroughs....
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Akron/Family | Review
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Under The Radar Magazine | Matt Finkit’s the rare split release that plays like a coherent full lengthUnder The Radar Magazine Issue #11 Fall 05 Akron/Family and Angels of Light Coming off like Animal Collective channeling The Band in a remake of Abbey Road, Akron/Family create a beautifully obtuse, yet wholly approachable clatter on this split release with mentor Michael Gira. Opening with a lonely electric guitar line and harmonies in “Awakeâ€, the album soon shifts into the jarring blast of guitar feedback and clattering anti-music drum rolls of “Momentâ€, dissolving into a lush chorus of layered wordless vocals. Part campfire sing-along, multi-part rock opera and frenzied freakout, these songs wind through wildly different, clearly delineated parts, with each multi-part arrangement striking a dazzling balance between pristine sunrise textures and stomping psychedelic workouts. Backing up Gira, the band rolls back their sprawl a bit, supporting his heavy croon with a dark tangle of guitar lines and swirling feedback in “The Providerâ€, and surrounding him with a chorus of shrieks in the tribally stomping “Mother/Fatherâ€. Add it up, and it’s the rare split release that plays like a coherent full length, one of the year’s most unlikely breakthroughs....
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Angels of Light | Review
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cokemachineglow.com | Clayton Purdom & Scott ReidAngels of Light & Akron/Family Akron/Family & Angels of Light (Young God; 2005) Wait, hold on, what? When Akron/Family released their eponymous debut earlier this year, the most logical response was an appreciative headnod and a sincere, "Okay." The album seemed a well-thought collection of acoustic hymns, a likable and idiosyncratic addition to an overstuffed genre. Publicity photos proved that these guys were, in fact, bona fide hippies, complete with beards and giddy grins. The back story was intensely mythic and completely awesome: four scruffy dudes from the country head to Brooklyn, make up their own religion (dubbed "AK AK"), develop a baffling sonic identity, and finally play backup on the Angels of Lights' restlessly musical Sing "Other People". We all liked the album, listened to it for a week, and then resolved to forget about them, because look over there! a Wolf Parade was coming over the horizon. But a funny thing happened a week or two later: the album refused to be forgotten. There was something about the shambolic bliss-out of "Italy", the ruinous thrust of "Running, Returning," the entire album's sprawling, impetuous nature, that implied something much greater than a "good......
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Akron/Family | Review
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cokemachineglow.com | Clayton Purdom and Scott ReidGira's created a monsterAngels of Light & Akron/Family Akron/Family & Angels of Light (Young God; 2005) Wait, hold on, what? When Akron/Family released their eponymous debut earlier this year, the most logical response was an appreciative headnod and a sincere, "Okay." The album seemed a well-thought collection of acoustic hymns, a likable and idiosyncratic addition to an overstuffed genre. Publicity photos proved that these guys were, in fact, bona fide hippies, complete with beards and giddy grins. The back story was intensely mythic and completely awesome: four scruffy dudes from the country head to Brooklyn, make up their own religion (dubbed "AK AK"), develop a baffling sonic identity, and finally play backup on the Angels of Lights' restlessly musical Sing "Other People". We all liked the album, listened to it for a week, and then resolved to forget about them, because look over there! a Wolf Parade was coming over the horizon. But a funny thing happened a week or two later: the album refused to be forgotten. There was something about the shambolic bliss-out of "Italy," the ruinous thrust of "Running, Returning," the entire album's sprawling, impetuous nature, that implied something much greater......
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Akron/Family | Review
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pitchforkmedia.com | Sam UblAngels of Light & Akron/Family Akron/Family & Angels of Light [Young God; 2005] Rating: 8.0 Akron/Family's self-titled debut awoke to gentle flickers of sun, but their new split with Young God patriarch/Angels of Light principal Michael Gira rises on a much drearier note. Plaintive acoustic guitar weeps a line of Frankensteinian despair, too weak to cry, while a monastic chant implores us, "awaken." This is not the same Family who welcomed us into its hovel last spring, and whose infectious bonhomie salved a disorientingly unfocused album. After that murmur of an opener, it can only be nap or nuke. "Moment" goes the latter route, blindsiding those who came for the pastoral folk with a dizzying free-punk mortar blast. What? This match-made-in-enchanted forest oozed possibilities, but barrel-rolling drums, cold unwound harmonics, and soaring off-key anthems were not in the cards. Nor was a simultaneous expansion and focusing of scope. The band embarks with eyes open wide, but by centerpiece "Future Myth" they're practically bulging out of their sockets. Two minutes of crescendoing chords, mimetic glockenspiel, and twittering synths simulate the sunrise we never got. The six ensuing ticks fold in climactic guitar riffage, a horn biting Sufjan biting......