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akron/family
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cdreviews.com | by Darren Susina spectacular collection of songsStumbling out beneath the shades of instruments most people overlook, Akron/Family’s self-titled album is a tiny fragment of genius. Hinting at the droning slowness of Spokane, but carrying on the tradition of burps and beats a la Joan of Arc, Akron/Family crashes the gates of the first album release with a spectacular collection of songs. ‘Before and Again’ opens with simple humming, as if setting the tone for the rest of the album. In a sense, it’s somewhat of a warning, as if to say, hey suckas – if you’re not into this, then carry on. For those who stay, the rewards are endless. From the simple hums come computerized beats reminiscent of grocery stores machines combined with one long held synth beat. A deep toned accordion joins the folds, collapsing all sense of time. The computer and accordion are thus one and it’s the Akron/Family who realize the potential of such a combination. ‘Italy’ is an 8-minute epic that tests the patience of even the most devoted Ween listener. Taking more than its time to get to the triumphant build up that consists of slamming instruments in between chants of ‘I’m......
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The Angels of Light Sing Other People | review
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Luna Kafé | Bill BanksEach song is its own worldSee the Lunakafe review of Michael Gira's solo album from last year. Many of the songs on this new Angels of Light album are reworked versions of songs that first appeared there. Being a huge Angels of Light fan, I decided to give this one a proper first listen: I put it on as I fell asleep. Many of songs are light, but I don't mean that in the sense of "light-rock", I mean it more in its literal sense, ie, not heavy - which is a bit of a change for this industrial music progenitor. As Mr. Gira describes it: This album is different in many ways than what I've done in the past. There's no general band "sound" here. The instrumentation is arranged in each song to fit the subject. Each song is its own world, a place for the people in the songs to live. I intentionally eschewed long instrumental passages, crescendos, that sort of thing - I've done enough of that, and I'm tired of it. The songs say what they have to say, then end. Many are entirely acoustic. When electric instruments are used, they're used......
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Akron/Family
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www.drownedinsound.com (UK) | by John Brainlove show previewBrilliant NYC based band on Michael Gira's Young God label. Their extended songs consist of washes of ambient sound melting over gently strummed chords and mesmerising instrumental post-rock... each song feels like three songs' worth of ideas crammed into one composition, without ever feeling crowded or rushed... their debut album Akron/Family CD is out now, and their first UK gig is May 26th at ULU....
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Akron/Family
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THE ONION | by Andy BattagliaAkron/Family (Buy It!) Nobody involved in the so-called "freak folk" movement seems particularly jazzed about their place under an ever-expanding umbrella, but the same context derided by skeptics as contrived and confining helps prop up albums that might fall away on their own. It's hard to know Akron/Family's feelings about peers busy picking guitars and chanting on cue, but the band's self-titled debut exemplifies all that the freak-folk tag has come to imply: wandering songs that avoid the simple steps they shadow, expansive sonics that sound organic even when they're not, and communal cues evolving, by happenstance or by design, from a sort of willed isolation. The Brooklyn-based Akron/Family found an early champion in Michael Gira, the former Swans/current Angels Of Light leader whose Young God label first introduced freak-folk flag-waver Devendra Banhart. The group shares allegiances with other scene totems like Animal Collective, Six Organs Of Admittance, and Vetiver, but the musical womb it drifts in obscures influences that are otherwise clear from the outside. "Before And Again" opens Akron/Family's self-titled debut with frail vocals, gentle guitar, and momentous strings, all understated but ready to combust with a simple shift of wind. By the......
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Michael Gira’s angels of light
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pulsetc.com | Holly DayPoetic post-nuclear hillbilliesMore than two decades ago, Michael Gira and his band, the Swans, were known for being one of the more disturbing-sounding musical acts in the burgeoning pantheon of American alternative. During their 15-year existence, the Swans made music that could almost double as clinical examinations of what made humankind weak and awful and grimly beautiful, backed by mangled keyboards, thunderous walls of guitar feedback and tribal-sounding percussion and drum lines. Almost immediately after dissolving the Swans in 1997, Gira started a new project, Angels of Light, as well as his own record label, Young God Records. “I have no recollection where the name ‘Angels of Light’ came from,†says Michael Gira of his project. “It was just on a list of a hundred names, and I probably just chose it. The same reason I chose the name ‘Swans,’ for my previous band, was because it elicited an image without describing the music. When I started making music, there were a lot of punk bands, and they always had really unfortunate names, many of which couldn’t hold their music for the rest of their careers. So I try to choose names that don’t try to say......