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AKRON/FAMILY DOESN’T MESS AROUND
What you or I accomplish in 10 minutes on
any one of our frantic, over-caffeinated, scatter
shot days is mere Gorton's fish sticks compared
with what Akron/Family achieves in the nine
minutes and 29 seconds that comprise the open
ing track of the band's 2006 long-player Meek
Warrior. The song is called "Blessing Force" and
you are going to have to bear with me: we join
our heroes mid-drum circle, a tribal gestation
buttressed by a terse raga.
Just as the listener begins to efficiently vibe
on said groove (we are going somewhere and it
is awesome, I promise), we are interrupted by a
chorus of verbal spazz, rhythmic babble spilling
forth in a froth of syllabic ricochet that eventu
ally adjusts and aligns itself in a joyful glee-club
chant of the titular lyric. This gives way to the
sort of shamelessly paisley-drenched psych break
down that was apt to elicit the following reac
tion from a co-listener: "Are these guys serious?"
WELL, ARE THEY?
Answer: Truly. New York-based Akron/Family
is a serious band that trades in a brand of time
less gravity that most groups cannot or will not
approach. It would be pretty easy to take petty
swipes at these folks' body of work with any
number of surface-level jabs:
A) They're too eclectic—the screwed-up chin-
stroke that accompanies any inquiry into genre
specification goes beyond the typical proposal of
"band X covering band
Y." Over the course of
three full-lengths for
Young God Records,
along with a split re
lease with label boss
Michael Gira's post-
Swans project Angels
of Light, the members
of Akron/Family get
fingerpaint-messy like
they aren't restrained by
whatever three genres
they've assigned to their
MySpace page. People
who love to put things
in modern-looking boxes
might cry "freak-folk"—
note the beards in the
promo pics—but while
the group certainly dips
deep into the psych
wellspring, it is capable
of a near-sentimental
acoustic sweetness that
is disarming and utterly
affable.
B) They're too hip
pie—their shows have
been known to last up
to four hours, and the
lyric sheets are dotted
with some sober-eyed
(or not) reflections on
love, nature and other
things that young,
supposedly liberal,
upwardly-mobile people
are obligated to pretend to not care about.
C) They're too unfocused—jams run free
all over "Lake Song/ New Ceremonial Music for
Moms" (Moms: "You shouldn't have! Really!")
while other songs blurt mission statements plain
tively and promptly duck out of sight in prepara
tion for the next sonic rumination.
The reasons anyone could use to justify a
dislike for Akron/Family are the same reasons
that grant musicians—the kind of people who,
knowingly or not, perform a role that has been
historically crucial as a tool of socialization and
communication beyond the barriers of language
and culture—undeserved feelings of superiority
or smugness. But as I grow older, I've learned
that, although we are apt to grasp onto aesthetic
strands of taste and preference, honesty and
heart are where great artists find their footing.
The members of Akron/Family bear both the
former as well as the latter in truckloads. Theirs
is a muse with a strong tradition in true trust,
reserved not only for one another but for their
audience as well. Perceived audaciousness—i.e.
"Are they kidding?"—is, at least to this listener,
simply the byproduct of musicians attempting
to fearlessly and honestly tread ground that is
markedly unfashionable and, when executed with
this sort of aplomb, of a greater source than the
unholy trinity of inspiration that is Money, Sex
and Fame.
A FINE FIT
Anyone seeking proof positive vis-a-vis
Akron/Family's bona fide status need look no fur
ther than the second half of the track "Blessing
Force," which transitions from a messy "out"-mu-
sic piledriver into some Rorschach-test free jazz,
complete with Ornette Coleman sax puke. Since
it all comes back around in the end. I'm going to
leave you with a quote from R.E.M.'s Peter Buck.
In the 1999 book Listen to This! and speaking on
the subject of how punk rock was perceived in
its nascent years, specifically in our sleepy, arch
psychedelic town, he says this: "In New York and
Los Angeles, everyone got leather jackets and
spiked up their hair... in Athens, everyone just
kind of went, 'Gee, that means there aren't really
any rules at all and you could do whatever you
wanted to.'"
With the release of a new record—a gem
by the sweet-not-saccharine name of Love is
Simple—next month, Akron/Family emerges as
a punk band that surpasses its genre so entirely
that you wouldn't even know it was one in the
first place. Could anything be more tailor-made
for our beloved shire of love and space? I'm tell
ing you once and once only: get on this bus.
Jeff Tobias
Liner Notes is Flagpoles music opinion column.
Akron/Family is playing at the 40 Watt Club on Saturday. Sept. 15, with Megafaun and Greg
Davis (see p. 28) opening.
JOT ‘EM DOWN
STORE & BBQ
&ROC£Ri£S • BBQ.
HOT BOILED PEANUTS
SEE THE FILM THAT HAS
THE WHITE HOUSE SPOOKED.
- Sidney Blumenthal, SALON
“★ ★ ★ ★ IT MAY BE THE BEST FILM OF THE YEAR SO FAR.
Devastating, factually air-tight and blessedly free of simplification:
- Michael Phillips. CHICAGO TRIBUNE
-Wesley Morris. BOSTON GLOBE
-Mike Lasalle. SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
-Roger Ebert. CHICAGO SUN-TIMES -Michael Sragow. BALTIMORE SUN
NO END
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