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Angels of Light / Akron Family | Review
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dailyorange.com | Alex CoonBusy performers moonlight in two bands Akron/Family, Angels of Light creats smooth sounds with jaw-dropping melodies Sounds Like: The Band wrasslin' with Mercury Rev 95/100 decibels Akron/Family is off to a rather busy start as a band. Thus far, the quartet has released its self-titled debut LP, served as session musicians for ex-Swan Michael Gira's Angels of Light album "Sing Other People," embarked on a globe-spanning tour playing two sets per night (the band opened each show as themselves, and then played behind Gira as his Angels of Light) and is now releasing its second album a scant eight months after the first. For a unit in its first year of existence, this is indeed an impressive feat. With the incredibly breakneck pacing of both parties involved with this album, one might understandably expect this collaborative full-length to be a half-cocked throwaway with a scope of appeal limited solely to Gira completists. Luckily, one would be wrong. The set of songs presented on this album easily rival anything in either outfit's oeuvre, which is certainly not a trivial task. Akron/Family is competing against its earlier eponymous effort, which easily outranks nearly everything I've heard in recent memory,......
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Akron/Family | Review
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popmatters.com | Justin Cober-LakeThe vocal arrangements also surpass anything going on in rock these days...Don't be confused by this album's appearance of being a split disc. While technically two bands perform here, the Angels of Light in this instance are Michael Gira (the former Swans member and Angels of Light primary figure) backed by Akron/Family. That combination worked well on the last Angels album, this spring's Other People, and Gira and Akron/Family have toured enough together that this further collaboration isn't surprising. Everything else about the disc just might be. Akron/Family gets the first seven of these 12 tracks, and they do their best to cram in every trick and sound they know. I've written glowingly of their live show before, and this album only further establishes their (my) claim to (their) greatness. This album takes the energy from the live show and mixes it with the creativity of their stunning self-titled debut from earlier this year. Are you counting? This is disc three for the quartet in 2005, with no stumbles along the line. The album opens with gothic Byrdsian harmonies over a simple guitar line, before melting into noise before turning into heavy vocal rock mixed with spaz-rock......
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Angels of Light | Review
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popmatters.com | Justin Cober-Lakehe reaches a good balance between the accessible and the haunted stop ANGELS OF LIGHT & AKRON/FAMILY Akron/Family & Angels of Light (Young God) Don't be confused by this album's appearance of being a split disc. While technically two bands perform here, the Angels of Light in this instance are Michael Gira (the former Swans member and Angels of Light primary figure) backed by Akron/Family. That combination worked well on the last Angels album, this spring's Other People, and Gira and Akron/Family have toured enough together that this further collaboration isn't surprising. Everything else about the disc just might be. Akron/Family gets the first seven of these 12 tracks, and they do their best to cram in every trick and sound they know. I've written glowingly of their live show before, and this album only further establishes their (my) claim to (their) greatness. This album takes the energy from the live show and mixes it with the creativity of their stunning self-titled debut from earlier this year. Are you counting? This is disc three for the quartet in 2005, with no stumbles along the line. The album opens with gothic Byrdsian harmonies over a simple guitar line,......
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Akron/Family | Review
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erasingclouds.com | Dave Heatonfueled by a restless but perfectly focused creativityAny Devendra Banhart fan can tell you that M. Gira has an ear for young talent, and in Akron/Family he's come across a mighty force. Their self-titled debut album and the Angels of Light album where they backed up Gira (The Angels of Light Sing 'Other People') were excellent demonstrations of both the uniqueness of their style and their astounding skills at taking any instrument in seemingly any direction. Yet as strong as both those albums were, touring together seems to have honed their collaboration even further, as the Akron/Family & Angels of Light album packs an even greater punch. With the balance of the album's songwriting tilting towards Akron/Family, right from the start they're again establishing their role as crazed seers, as mystical philosophers who speak through wild, and wildly varied music. Opening track "Awake" is slow and strange, evoking dreams in a way that might evoke the word "psychedelic"...that is, if they didn't sound so goddamn awake, so present. This isn't music to 'drop out' and disappear to; it's music that grabs you by the seat of your pants and blows your mind. That's clear the whole album......
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Angels of Light | Review
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erasingclouds.com | Dave Heatonmusic for the brain and the bodyAny Devendra Banhart fan can tell you that M. Gira has an ear for young talent, and in Akron/Family he's come across a mighty force. Their self-titled debut album and the Angels of Light album where they backed up Gira (The Angels of Light Sing 'Other People') were excellent demonstrations of both the uniqueness of their style and their astounding skills at taking any instrument in seemingly any direction. Yet as strong as both those albums were, touring together seems to have honed their collaboration even further, as the Akron/Family & Angels of Light album packs an even greater punch. With the balance of the album's songwriting tilting towards Akron/Family, right from the start they're again establishing their role as crazed seers, as mystical philosophers who speak through wild, and wildly varied music. Opening track "Awake" is slow and strange, evoking dreams in a way that might evoke the word "psychedelic"...that is, if they didn't sound so goddamn awake, so present. This isn't music to 'drop out' and disappear to; it's music that grabs you by the seat of your pants and blows your mind. That's clear the whole album through,......