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"HiGH ▀ iNTELLiGeNCE tRoLLS"
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a r t i s t : Akron/Family
t i t l e : Akron/Family
d a t e : 2005
l a b e l : Young God Records YG28
g e n r e : Folk
r l s. d a t e : March/2005
t r a c k s : 14
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 94,5 MB
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Akron/Family are four extremely nice, sincere and well-mannered
young men from rural America who came to NYC (in 2002) to make
music, hoping to find a thread of real magic still winding
through this cityÆs music scene. They certainly did just that,
but they did it by retreating into a tiny Brooklyn apartment,
where they made their own world instead, in complete and
stubborn isolation. They proceeded (while simultaneously
growing alarmingly long beards and developing a playful but
hermetic quasi-religious/sonic worldview/creed known as ôAKö or
sometimes ôAK-AKö) to make several albums worth of recordings
on crude home equipment û the material compulsively chopped,
spliced, and orchestrated into fractal jewels of song and
schismatically opposed atmospheres.
They accrued at least 3 albums worth of music in this obsessive
manner. Along the way, they sent me the increasingly compelling
results. Soon I was completely won over û stunned in fact û by
a show at BrooklynÆs PeteÆs Candy Store, where the music veered
from gentle American country folk to unabashed electronic noise
to gathering and erupting crescendos, to extended skronk
improvisations that then suddenly cut to an LSD version of a
backwoods barbershop quartet or a Louvin Brothers spiritual û
sometimes all within the course of one ridiculously long ôsongö
û ha ha! Ryan, who sings lead on most of the songs, has one of
those pure and sonorous voices that when sliding up to the
higher registers inevitably evokes comparisons to angels and
elicits uncomfortable feelings in girl and boy alike, but when
they all sing together itÆs like the goddamn Beatles or Beach
Boys or maybe an eerie and twisted version of The Band.
When we started work on this album we first spent a good deal
of time sifting through the trove of already-recorded songs. A
few of those are included here with varying amounts of further
orchestration. The rest of the songs are highly edited-down
studio versions of the abovementioned live ôepicsö, Young God
Records not being just yet in the position of being able to
release a triple CD debut (!). TheyÆve got an enthusiasm for
pure sound too that shows through in many of the songs û note
the squeaking chair in Italy that Miles ôplayedö or the weirdly
skewed composition of Suchness (but still a formidable ôpopö
song, in my opinion), or the ôdrumö in Rainforest, which is
actually all four Akrons simultaneously violently beating their
chests, the resulting percussive sound being the air released
from their mouths with each beat. As we worked, a song would
sometimes be described as too ôredö or not ôaluminumö enough or
some other arcane (to me) reference, but inevitably,
corrections made with the aid of a screwdriver or maybe the
sanded metal rails of a staircase resulted in an unpredictable
but ôcorrectö result. In any event, thereÆs a wealth of sonic
variety contained herein, and first and foremost theyÆre great
SONGS, and well sung indeed. I certainly hope you enjoy the
music!
- Michael Gira/Young God Records
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01-Before and Again [04:36]
02-Suchness [03:27]
03-Part of Corey [02:28]
04-Italy [08:09]
05-I'll Be On the Water [03:25]
06-Running, Returning [04:34]
07-Afford [03:58]
08-Interlude: Ak Ak Was the Boat They Sailed In On [02:31]
09-Sorrow Boy [03:43]
10-Shoes [03:43]
11-Lumen [05:31]
12-How Do I Know [02:30]
13-Franny/You're Human [05:58]
14-Unlisted [06:25]
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60:58 min
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