Akron/Family Folk Rock, Verenigde Staten
De heren Akron/Family nemen je op hun nieuwe album 'Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free' mee naar hun eigen onvoorspelbare universum. Deze band maakt bijzondere, avontuurlijke, maar toegankelijke psychedelische folkrock, gemixt met seventies rock, experimentele noise en punk invloeden. De muziek is niet te imiteren en is zeer gevarieerd.
Door een geweldige reputatie op te bouwen in de afgelopen vier jaar, mond-tot-mond verspreid, en door het verzamelen van een, nog steeds groeiend, legioen aan fans, staan Akron/Family op de rand van een grote doorbraak met ‘Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free', hun nieuwste en vierde album. De eerdere albums ‘Akron/Family', ‘Meek Warrior' en ‘Love Is Simple' en de vele spectaculaire optredens hebben er voor gezorgd dat Akron/Family steeds bekender wordt.
Akron/Family is in 2002 opgericht en bestaat uit Miles Seaton, Seth Olinsky en Dana Janssen (eerder ook nog uit Ryan Vanderhoof). Ze hebben binnen de band geen vaste rollen; drum, gitaar, bas en vocalen, allemaal spelen ze meerdere instrumenten en daarnaast zingen ze. In 2007 stapte Vanderhoof uit de band om in een Boeddhistisch Dharma Centrum in het Midwesten te gaan wonen.
Met Set ‘Em Wild Set ‘Em Free geven ze weer een geheel unieke visie op de United States of Music. Als je de soepele ethno-funk groove van Everyone is Guilty hoort, is het duidelijk dat deze band een prachtige onorthodoxe benadering heeft van gitaarmuziek. Naast de voor hen zo bekende, pakkende close harmony vocalen, bevat het muzikale vocabulaire ook Fela-achtige ritmische impulsen, onstuimige Funkadelic gitaar aanslagen, complexe Ali Farka Touré akkoorden, snelle, bijna Timbaland-esque elektronische percussie en heftige vlagen van Albert Ayler brass... Er zijn in feite heel weinig muzikale stijlen die je niet vindt op de Akron/Family tafel, allemaal doorregen met warme, aanstekelijke folk-pop melodieën.
Pers citaten
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, USA)
With a rubbery groove and motormouth chanting, opening track "Everyone Is Guilty" is the album's schizophrenic monster jam (Stereogum, USA)
Let's just say this up front: Akron/Family killed. They were the best show of the night. One continuous freakout that touched the highlights of their new record, easily their best (Pop Matters, USA)
It was Akron/Family that got the venue jumping, though, with cuts from their upcoming Set 'Em Wild Set 'Em Free record, which promises to be huge (Time Out NY, USA)
How come nobody told me this would be my new favourite band? (LA Weekly, USA)
I'd never seen Akron/Family live before. Now I think I want to see them live every day for the rest of my life (Dallas Observer, USA)
Akron is fifty bands in one. There's psychedelic rock, folk, free-jazz, hip-hop, punk, dance, gospel and heaps more, and they throw their back into every minute of it, creating a wickedly raw, exposed form of music that is absolutely impossible to cage up and put into a category box (Jambase, USA)
Eerdere pers quotes
Where antique folk balladry, primal drone and exposive improvisation meet and melt... true family music. (David Fricke, Rolling Stone, USA)
(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)
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)
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, UK)