Akron/Family:Akron/Family

Title: Akron/Family

Label: Young God

Genre: freak-folk

Rating: 8.2 of 10

I really have no problem with the recent freak-folk movement that has been escalading for the last 2 years. In fact, I’d much rather hear an innovative folk record than 97% of the now declining pop-punk/emo trend of the last 5 years. Smack in the middle of this new musical wave is Young God Records who is home to Devendra Banhart, SWANS, Calla and most recently Brooklynites via rural America, Akron/Family. Taken under the wing by label-owner, artist and producer Michael Gira, the band was able to select 13 songs of the 3 albums worth of music they had written in the last 2 years in their tiny apartment. As far as their sound, Gira states it better than I ever could explaing “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.” This will definitely be a band that will get attention in the next year as the freak-folk movement escalades to an inevitable played-out trend that everyone will eventually get bored with. I say play and enjoy it while you still can.

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