Akron Family listings

After building up a great, word-of-mouth reputation during the last four years, and gathering an ever-growing legion of obsessive fans, Akron/Family are on the verge of a major breakthrough with Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free, their new album which will be released in Europe by Crammed on May 4th 2009.

Set ‘Em Wild… is set to be one of the year’s landmark releases and, as its cover suggests, sees the band effect their own entirely unique and inclusive vision of a United States of Music. From the impossibly slinky ethno-funk groove that kicks off first track Everyone Is Guilty onwards, it’s clear that this band adopts a wonderfully lateral approach to guitar-based rock music (why else, after all, would they be releasing on Crammed?). Aside from the band’s signature close harmony vocal hooks (often found swelling into quasi-tribal ensemble chant ecstasy), the Akron/Family musical vocabulary packs in Fela-like rhythmic momentum, heady Funkadelic guitar chops, intricate Ali Farka Toure chord tapestries, skittering, almost Timbaland-esque electronic percussion, frenzied gusts of Albert Ayler brass… there are, in fact, very few musical styles not to find a place at this Family’s table, and they all come laced with warm, infectious folk-pop melodies.

Indeed, “family” is the word that binds everything about this elemental, forward-pushing music into one huge, magical and digestible whole: for all its thrilling tangents, the message that underscores Set ‘Em Wild… – and the gospel roared from the rooftop of every venue lucky enough to play host to the riotous, chaos-embracing dance party that is the Akron/Family live experience - is one of life-affirming warmth and welcoming: a simple, unpretentious joy in the sense of communion music can bring us, wherever and whoever it’s from. After all: if, as that killer opening track claims, “Everyone Is Guilty”... then we’re all in it together, right?

“Is this what Animal Collective would sound like if Avey and Panda turned down the synth faders and slapped on a fresh coat of Americana?... this psychedelic track is Freaking/Awesome” Pitchfork review of Everyone Is Guilty

“Where antique folk balladry, primal drone and exposive improvisation meet and melt… true family music.” David Fricke, Rolling Stone

“Pastoral beauty, blazing skree, heavy rock, studio playfulness, big solos, boom-bap beats, tight arrangements, a mindset that would embrace anything… that’s what Akron/Family’s records have offered most consistently… Remember, anything goes.” Pitchfork, US

”(They) have proved themselves capable of more extraordinary, kaleidoscopic musical feats than most - morphing from quiet country-gospel into heavy psych-rock workouts, dipping into strange marching-band anthems and reverberating free-jazz jams along the way… a genuine one-off” Guardian, UK

“Animal Collective, Akron/Family… illuminated and digitized folklore… (...) The band is as impressive live as on record, with its ablilty to juggle with ‘70s influences and contemporary free folk experimentation (...) A sonic power developed while touring around the world…” Les Inrockuptibles, France

“The most beautiful thing about the Akron/Family… is that they are virtually unclassifiable… once given the opportunity, this band, no matter how seemingly chaotic their sounds are from the outside, will seduce as well as astonish.” All Music Guide, US

“What Radiohead might sound like if influenced by traditional American antecedents… (they) combine a formidable assortment of modern and pre-modern styles into a cogent, singular whole. Fluent in the vocabularies of rock, folk, soul and jazz…” Dusted, US

“A record no one expected, which suddenly imposes itself, clings to you, never leaves you..; hallucinated elegies, slowed-down trances, songs overflowing with incredible richness”. La Blogothèque, France

“Strictly speaking, theirs is a kind of modern folk music, in that real, acoustic instruments mingle with four part harmonies. But the Akrons’ musical connection and skill allows for wild, instinctual experimentalism (Zep-style wig outs and shamanic incantations)... Bringing together such disparate influences as ‘70s classic rock, African funk and ‘80s hip hop… Heady, bodily, beautiful stuff” Mojo, UK

“Sounds like a duel between Sons And Daughters and and amped-up Tinariwen. Earthy, mystic and folky – yet properly twisted and primal.” Time Out London

http://www.akronfamily.com

http://www.myspace.com/akak