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Angels of Light Sing Other People
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tinymixtapes.com | filmore mescalito holmesOne indie-folk album, contents: 20 instruments, 10 musicians, 10 seconds of drumming, trace amounts of electric instruments, cricketsThere are certain traits and actions observable to any music fan regardless of personal taste that separate true artists from mere product producers. One of these is the embracement of change and the willingness to try new things seriously, like how Beck and Radiohead are constantly changing style and content. Lyricist, vocalist, guitarist, and Young God label owner Michael Gira has surely undergone some changes over the past couple of decades. The obvious change would naturally be the transition from leading the way in avant-garde fringe punk to this eclectic, largely acoustic folk effort. Turning his back on lengthy instrumental passages and cluttered crescendos, Gira sets anything electric to a minimum and essentially banned drums, effectively opening up the songs on Sing 'Other People.' "My Friend Thor" mixes instrumentation reminiscent of Four Tet with high register, bizarre vocal stylings Frank Zappa would have certainly appreciated. The lyrics to this and every track is strongly character-based. Over Gira and Akron/Family's varied but levelly mixed soundscape, the novelistic lyricism forges 'Other People' into a unique narrative form in an age of......
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Akron/Family | review
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foxydigitalis.com | Nick Henniesa refreshingly refined and considered effortWhenever a musical style really catches on with the public for the first time it always takes about six months for a huge crop of second generation imitators to spring up all over the country, turning a potentially valuable musical idea into a fad. The current “free folk†(for lack of a better term) movement is no different. So, it’s unfortunate that Akron/Family, a band that is musically and aesthetically independent from the genre, would release their debut amid a hazy cloud of bearded, barefoot singer-songwriters. Yes, there are many elements of Akron/Family’s music that could be construed as ‘free’ or ‘folk’, but the ingenuity present on this album places the focus firmly on the composition of songs rather than any extra-musical traits often associated with a genre as idiosyncratic as this one. Reportedly culled from endless home recorded demos, Akron/Family’s debut is a refreshingly refined and considered effort. No doubt the result of the band having lived together for a long period of time obsessively writing and recording music, this is an album full of gorgeous climaxes, unique arrangements, and a surprising number of unidentifiable sounds. They are true craftsman, ably......
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NOW HEAR THIS!: Akron/Family
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Mike Schiller | popmatters.comgorgeous and complicated Akron/Family creates a world of sonic pastiche so carefully crafted that the band had to develop their own philosophy/creed just to categorize it for themselves, and the result is a gorgeous and complicated exploration of song and sound. Akron/Family creates a world of sonic pastiche so carefully crafted that the band had to develop their own philosophy/creed just to categorize it for themselves, and the result is a gorgeous and complicated exploration of song and sound. "AK". (Or, even, "AK-AK".) No longer are the two mere descriptions of the sounds a cat makes when coughing up a hairball, they are also the only description anyone ever has for the madness behind the methods (or vice versa) of Akron/Family, the newest signing to Michael Gira's Young God Records. The world is now being introduced to Akron/Family via a double dose of digital media, as they appear on not just their own self-titled debut album, but as the backing band on The Angels of Light Sing "Other People", the newest album from Gira's own Angels of Light. You see, Gira appreciated this "AK" philosophy so much that he actually let Akron/Family in on the songwriting process......
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NOW HEAR THIS!: Akron/Family
()
Mike Schiller | popmatters.comgorgeous and complicated Akron/Family creates a world of sonic pastiche so carefully crafted that the band had to develop their own philosophy/creed just to categorize it for themselves, and the result is a gorgeous and complicated exploration of song and sound. Akron/Family creates a world of sonic pastiche so carefully crafted that the band had to develop their own philosophy/creed just to categorize it for themselves, and the result is a gorgeous and complicated exploration of song and sound. "AK". (Or, even, "AK-AK".) No longer are the two mere descriptions of the sounds a cat makes when coughing up a hairball, they are also the only description anyone ever has for the madness behind the methods (or vice versa) of Akron/Family, the newest signing to Michael Gira's Young God Records. The world is now being introduced to Akron/Family via a double dose of digital media, as they appear on not just their own self-titled debut album, but as the backing band on The Angels of Light Sing "Other People", the newest album from Gira's own Angels of Light. You see, Gira appreciated this "AK" philosophy so much that he actually let Akron/Family in on the songwriting process......
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NOW HEAR THIS!: Akron/Family
()
Mike Schiller | popmatters.comgorgeous and complicated Akron/Family creates a world of sonic pastiche so carefully crafted that the band had to develop their own philosophy/creed just to categorize it for themselves, and the result is a gorgeous and complicated exploration of song and sound. Akron/Family creates a world of sonic pastiche so carefully crafted that the band had to develop their own philosophy/creed just to categorize it for themselves, and the result is a gorgeous and complicated exploration of song and sound. "AK". (Or, even, "AK-AK".) No longer are the two mere descriptions of the sounds a cat makes when coughing up a hairball, they are also the only description anyone ever has for the madness behind the methods (or vice versa) of Akron/Family, the newest signing to Michael Gira's Young God Records. The world is now being introduced to Akron/Family via a double dose of digital media, as they appear on not just their own self-titled debut album, but as the backing band on The Angels of Light Sing "Other People", the newest album from Gira's own Angels of Light. You see, Gira appreciated this "AK" philosophy so much that he actually let Akron/Family in on the songwriting process......