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Angels of Light | Review
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evilsponge.org | Mr. PharmacistGira shines brightestRelease Date: 31.October.2005 Rating: 4 of 4 Oct 2 / 05 Seems that after a tour together, Michael Gira and his tour mates Akron/Family decided to make a record. Not only were the newbies Akron/Family opening for the ex-Swans mouth piece and Young God head honcho, they also backed him while in Angels of Light guise. I hold in my sweaty, but well manicured, hands (you'd die to have my cuticles) the distilled results of all involved hanging out together on the tour bus. For the uninitiated and thereby uncool, Gira's sort of recent project Angels of Light and the still really new Akron/Family dovetail musically. Both explore the underside of Americana and fit loosely under the "Freak Folk" flag. Akron/Family revealed a more eclectic /diverse spirit on their recent debut. Gira's Angels stuff seems a bit more acoustic and fractured folkie. Gira is also much better groomed. Those Akron guys could do with a beard trim and maybe a good scrubbing. The album begins with seven songs sans Gira, then ends with five that Gira helmed. The Akron/Family tracks are louder and rawer than the music on their debut. Gone is the Thom York-esque......
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Akron/Family | Review
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OUTSIDELEFT.COM | Alex V. Cook, Music Editorthey operate like extensions from a common mind....October 3/05 THE NUCLEAR FAMILY HAS EXPLODED MY MIND The Kinks- meets- Dixie Dregs godhead rocker "Raising the Sparks" send you into a spin, stomping out of your classroom or job with authority figure mutedly shouting at your back as you run off to join the Revolution Angels of Light & Akron/Family (Young God) I’ve always had a thing about wanting to be on the ground floor of things. I am just off the street enough now that I find about a lot of stuff late in the game, which does not bode well for a music critic. We are supposed to be months ahead of the pack, spying the buffalo getting agitated in the distance long before the rumble of the stampede can be heard by those with their ears to the ground. Used to be, you were supposed to be “over†a group once they start hitting the greater radar, but the gods up in marketing don’t seem to like that, so now my compatriots in this masturbatory endeavor still reference a group’s early stages, and name-and date drop like normal, but we keep serving......
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Akron/Family plays in studio concert on WNYC
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WNYC.orglisten online to this amazing hour long performanceLISTEN HERE ON WNYC.org With the musical imagination and ability to encompass gentle four-part vocal harmonies, wild improvisation, rock 'n' roll power, and a spirit that's enlivening and enlightening, the young Brooklyn-based group Akron/Family has burst on the scene during the last year. Spinning On Air was an early champion of their refreshing music, and one of host David Garland's dreams comes true as Akron/Family joins him in the WNYC studio, not to talk about their music (which they've done on the show before), but to give in-studio the kind of powerful performance that’s been thrilling audiences at their live shows. For this session the basic quartet is supplemented by trumpeter Ed Sortman....
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Akron/Family | Review
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The Grand Rapids Press | Tricia Woolfenden"We are not freak folk," Seth Olinsky said with a laughGRAND RAPIDS -- As labelmates of Devandra Banhart and purveyors of folk-meets-rock jams, it's little surprise Akron/Family mistakenly has been deemed a "freak folk" act. Although the New York City-based four-piece dabbles in the clunky sounds and genre-defying qualities of the freak-folk movement, it considers itself outside the trend. "We are not freak folk," Seth Olinsky said with a laugh, adding the band often is lumped into the category with artists such as Banhart, Joanna Newsom and Animal Collective. Akron/Family comprises Olinsky, Miles Seaton, Dana Janssen and Ryan Vanderhoof. Each is a multi-instrumentalist; all share vocal duties. The band is on Young God Records, run by indie music cult figure and former Swans leader Michael Gira. The band met Gira in 2004-around the time he recorded a pair of critically hailed Banhart albums when he attended an Akron/Family show. He quickly recruited the band to record its self-titled album. "He was enthusiastic," Olinsky said in something of an understatement. A blurb on Young God's Web site highlights Gira's passion for the band, which he hails as his "favorite 'rock band' in the world." "It......
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AKRON/FAMILY + GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS | LIVE REVIEW
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popmatters.com | Justin Cober-Lake When a guitarist begins playing the rim of a glass, you know you're in for oddity.7 September 2005: Gravity Lounge ‹ Charlottesville, VA by PopMatters Music Special Sections Editor Running late, I hurried toward the cafe´ anticipating a great show from oneof the best -- if little known -- bands in America. Akron/Family released their stellar self-titled debut earlier this year, and I had heard that their upcoming split with Angels of Light shows the debut to be more than a fluke; it's more a promise of great and noisier things to come. Knowing the band's reputation for high-energy live shows, I was hoping to get a good spot in the middle of a crazy crowd. Just ten minutes after the scheduled start time, I bounced down the steps, explained myself to the ticket-taker and rushed into an empty room. I was the first person there, unless you count the band, still doing its soundcheck. I sat down and listened to the brief snippets that would later reappear in full form. I spent some time looking at the books for sale and contemplating the isolated nature of my mind, in which Akron/Family simply could not be......