"Thinking of youThere's lightning bolts in my chestI know you know I think our love is the best
If you have to stayI'll be on the waterCatching the next waveYou can meet me where it breaks
Dream, dream, dreamDream, dream, dream"
Such lyrics would be excusable in a good dance track (I forgive New Order many of their lyrical sins, for example), but not here.
― trees (treesessplode), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 03:24 (eighteen years ago) link
― ghost dong (Sonny A.), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 04:15 (eighteen years ago) link
― prince rupert, Tuesday, 21 March 2006 04:42 (eighteen years ago) link
But with that crowd comes inflated ticket prices for outdoor festivals, two things I try to avoid.Although I guess this could be said for others beyond the 'jamband' scene.
― cdwill (cdwill), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 17:40 (eighteen years ago) link
they're a bunch of really great guys with chops and ideas. they should go a long way. i have said (and will stand by the statement) that they are the best rock band in america right now (gira seems to agree -- he managed to say a bunch things in the one-sheet for the split record that i had been scribling on scraps for a never-written profile before i could get them into my computer).
― bb (bbrz), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 18:17 (eighteen years ago) link
― trees (treesessplode), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 19:56 (eighteen years ago) link
Yeah, I was there. Boxstep was pretty good! I nearly fell asleep during the secondband. Part of the reason they're so "perfect": two of the guys in it are music teachers at the Old Town School of Music. Not entirely sure why that's relevant, but I'm pretty sure it is.
bb: I don't know if I'd say BEST, but i could be swayed. Seriously the best live show I've seen in very long time.
― gbx (skowly), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 20:01 (eighteen years ago) link
― Abbott (Abbott), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 22:39 (eighteen years ago) link
If anyone has tickets for the 8pm set and would be willing to exchange for the 11:30 please let me know. I ordered the later ones by mistake and now can't get the early ones, and my wife can't go to the late set.
― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Saturday, 23 September 2006 01:39 (seventeen years ago) link
but still, check them out live!
― ()()()---()()() (internet), Saturday, 23 September 2006 21:55 (seventeen years ago) link
But yeah, good live show.
BTW, we decided to just go to the 11:30 - anyone else going?
― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Saturday, 23 September 2006 21:58 (seventeen years ago) link
yes. and i love hamid drake. disappointment of the year. :(
― sean gramophone (Sean M), Saturday, 23 September 2006 23:15 (seventeen years ago) link
― like murderinging (modestmickey), Sunday, 24 September 2006 00:57 (seventeen years ago) link
however, even comparing the two is sort of insulting as that aside from some banjo/vocal harmonies and an acoustic guitar or two, they don't seem all that much alike
― ()()()---()()() (internet), Sunday, 24 September 2006 04:57 (seventeen years ago) link
Parker/Drake are phenomenal though. Hearing them for 30 minutes made everything afterward seem all the more trite and pointless.
― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Sunday, 24 September 2006 05:05 (seventeen years ago) link
normally I think they are pretty good live--sometimes their whole shtick gets to me though. did they take off their shirsts and dance around like it was tribal and "real" and shit?
― ()()()---()()() (internet), Sunday, 24 September 2006 05:09 (seventeen years ago) link
Drake and Parker already had the audience doing some pretty great clapping and chanting stuff and getting into it in a totally sincere way, and after that the whole Family thing of trying to get everyone to lose their irony (while maintaining a healthy irony about it) seemed stupid.
Moreover, after spending some time with their last album, and listening to their set, I realized they just don't really have good songs. They've got guns but no bullets, to use a phrase a drunk music industry guy once told me at a show.
― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Sunday, 24 September 2006 12:52 (seventeen years ago) link
My favorite track of theirs was always "raising the sparks"
― ()()()---()()() (internet), Sunday, 24 September 2006 14:48 (seventeen years ago) link
I like these dudes.
"LOVE IS SIMPLE" http://www.stereogum.com/img/akronfamily_loveissimple_cover.jpg
― W4LTER, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 02:43 (sixteen years ago) link
^that's a cool album cover, isn't it?
― W4LTER, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 03:41 (sixteen years ago) link
i don't know what to make of the new album yet in terms of songs--
what i do know is that they are such amazing musicians, really adept at everything they do
they have to cut down a little on the "ok, whole band sing" parts
― cutty, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 03:45 (sixteen years ago) link
yuh, I know what you mean.
I've acquired it, but I haven't had a chance to listen and no nothing about it really. Are there some good freakings out on it? Hope so.
― W4LTER, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 03:51 (sixteen years ago) link
*know
― W4LTER, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 03:52 (sixteen years ago) link
cutty, further on the "ok, whole band sing" parts, have you heard "Sunflower's Here to Stay" off the new Angels of Light album? A/F kind of ruin that song.
― W4LTER, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 22:55 (sixteen years ago) link
<I>they have to cut down a little on the "ok, whole band sing" parts</I>
No way! That loose group singing really makes a lot of their songs. I can't imagine "Future Myth" without it.
― novaheat, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 23:29 (sixteen years ago) link
Okay. I need to learn how to use the "convert simple html to bbcode" button.
love this new album
― chaki, Thursday, 23 August 2007 18:22 (sixteen years ago) link
i didn't say get rid of it. i said cut down. overkill.
― cutty, Thursday, 23 August 2007 18:26 (sixteen years ago) link
i like it.
― chaki, Wednesday, 29 August 2007 18:44 (sixteen years ago) link
Listening to this for the first time right now and the "ok, whole band sing" part of "Ed is a Portal" really really reminds me of Phish.
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Tuesday, 11 September 2007 19:43 (sixteen years ago) link
Classic for the time I saw them play and they got around thirty members of the audience on stage, handed them random instruments and made the whole crowd sing "Circle Triangle Square! Yeahyeahyeahyeahyeah!"
― I know, right?, Wednesday, 12 September 2007 10:58 (sixteen years ago) link
Finally got a chance to see these fellers last night at a secret pre-Coachella show up in LA. Brought down the house, all the claims for them as being genius live are fully justified. Getting the crowd going is part of it all of course but the way they were able to constantly turn things on a dime almost minute by minute, pretty damn incredible. A lot of murky but a few good photos by me here; I do like this one:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3134/2442895648_931b358f3f.jpg
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 26 April 2008 16:03 (sixteen years ago) link
they are an awesome live band. also, if you've passed on them so far, the first self-titled album, and their first split with michael gira, are both worth a listen or two. on both those, they walk a fine line between epic/transcendent and hokey/jammy. since then, from my perspective at least, they seem to have succumbed a bit to the hokey/jammy, the exception being their backing work on gira's album last year
― kamerad, Saturday, 26 April 2008 20:02 (sixteen years ago) link
Oh I've got their stuff (in a happy circumstance, I'm on the Young God promo list). I'd just not seen them in the flesh before.
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 26 April 2008 20:05 (sixteen years ago) link
damn, that is a pretty happy circumstance!
― kamerad, Saturday, 26 April 2008 20:17 (sixteen years ago) link
they are so rad live
― chaki, Saturday, 26 April 2008 20:44 (sixteen years ago) link
future myth is pretty rad - that whole album is great but the song is just :D
― Lamp, Saturday, 3 January 2009 01:20 (fifteen years ago) link
new album
― cool app (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Wednesday, 18 February 2009 20:04 (fifteen years ago) link
it's kinda alright but I'm just looking forward to the live show
― cool app (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Wednesday, 18 February 2009 20:05 (fifteen years ago) link
I was going to start a thread for the new album (because it's awesome), but I figured I'd start here instead. I didn't care too much about these guys before this evening.
― Millsner, Saturday, 21 February 2009 18:27 (fifteen years ago) link
always blown away by the drummer
― cutty, Saturday, 21 February 2009 18:33 (fifteen years ago) link
^^^^ still think love is simple is their best tho
― this Display Name is not a joke. this Display Name is not a joke. this (Lamp), Saturday, 21 February 2009 18:36 (fifteen years ago) link
this is really good. maybe being free of michael gira is liberating. the first song sounds almost like yes
― kamerad, Monday, 23 February 2009 22:15 (fifteen years ago) link
but they already sounded like Yes on the second song of the split with Angels of Light!
― if you like it then you shoulda put a donk on it (bernard snowy), Monday, 23 February 2009 22:43 (fifteen years ago) link
"moment"? it's an awesome jam, maybe an impressionistic version of yes. i hear more dead in it myself. on "everyone is guilty" there are stretches of straight up "yours is no disgrace" intricacy. but who cares. it's all good. can't wait to see these guys again
― kamerad, Monday, 23 February 2009 23:00 (fifteen years ago) link
well, I was thinkin' specifically of the weird proggy riff thing they go into for a little while right before the song gets all twangy and quiet.
haven't heard the new one yet, but if it rocks harder then I am down with that.
― if you like it then you shoulda put a donk on it (bernard snowy), Monday, 23 February 2009 23:07 (fifteen years ago) link
there's an instrumental called "mbf" you might like then that's a little like when "raising the sparks" gets really going
― kamerad, Monday, 23 February 2009 23:34 (fifteen years ago) link
Friendly dudes.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 23 February 2009 23:39 (fifteen years ago) link
gira is going to be playing in LA when these dudes are going to be in town so hopefully they show up for that.
― cool app (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Tuesday, 24 February 2009 00:01 (fifteen years ago) link
also they have a mind freak magician opening up for them on one day or something. I hope he comes out and jams w/ them
― cool app (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Tuesday, 24 February 2009 00:03 (fifteen years ago) link
yeah but compared to mitb ak is pretty much a giant corporation
― bear, bear, bear, Thursday, 26 January 2012 01:08 (twelve years ago) link
A third MITB member speaks out... pro-Akron/Family.
― scott pgwp (pgwp), Thursday, 26 January 2012 07:16 (twelve years ago) link
I'm w/ akfam
― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 26 January 2012 07:42 (twelve years ago) link
I'm w/MITB but largely because I grew up w/Wood. Hidden in Israel's measured response is a sort of "if you knew Wood, you'd understand that this is sort of an 'it's in the scorpion's nature to sting the frog'" deal
― unlistenable in philly (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Thursday, 26 January 2012 15:47 (twelve years ago) link
SCAB SUCKING MAGGOTS
― unlistenable in philly (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Thursday, 26 January 2012 15:48 (twelve years ago) link
― bear, bear, bear, Thursday, 26 January 2012 01:08 (20 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
hahahahahahahahaahahahahahahaha no
― dave cool it (stevie), Thursday, 26 January 2012 21:27 (twelve years ago) link
glad some lil spat started so I can post again about how great ak/fam are live what nice dudes
― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 26 January 2012 21:29 (twelve years ago) link
they really are incredibly good live
― Number None, Thursday, 26 January 2012 21:48 (twelve years ago) link
otm
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Thursday, 26 January 2012 21:49 (twelve years ago) link
The tie-dyed freak flag is a way better look for them than the skull anyway.
― B-Boy Bualadh Bos (ecuador_with_a_c), Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:24 (twelve years ago) link
this issue is all about... communication.
signed,your girlfriend
― try again, fascist (Matt P), Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:32 (twelve years ago) link
― dave cool it (stevie), Thursday, January 26, 2012 9:27 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
ha yeah I was on my way out when I read this earlier but that's a leeeeetle overcooked
don't think it's the issue in any case
― Saltines of Pink - 'Whites Me Tumblr?' (DJ Mencap), Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:58 (twelve years ago) link
man, this sounds like some blink 182 shit
http://soundcloud.com/danabuoy/
― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Wednesday, 15 February 2012 19:17 (twelve years ago) link
lol these dudes what happened
― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 9 May 2013 16:19 (eleven years ago) link
this is prob the first band whose career I've followed closely enough that I've been able to see their descending arc in realtime
― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 9 May 2013 16:23 (eleven years ago) link
Seeing on Twitter that Miles Seaton passed away, sadly. These guys could be really good and I was holding out hope for a comeback.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 19 February 2021 03:46 (three years ago) link
RIP. They had a few fantastic songs and I will forever be jealous of my friends who saw them during the Angels of Light split era, where, iirc, a performance of "Raising the Sparks" literally spilled out of the venue and into the street. (I assume this was more or less standard practice on that tour.)
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Friday, 19 February 2021 13:09 (three years ago) link
I never really warmed to their later stuff (and they were sadly not very exciting when I finally did catch them in the mid-2010s) but back in the self-titled/Angels of Light split era it really did seem like the sky was their limit for a little while
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Friday, 19 February 2021 13:13 (three years ago) link
The one time I saw them was phenomenal, small club show and one of the few concerts I've been at where everyone was dancing start to stop.
This is really wretched news because two months ago a dear friend who was plagued with severe depression ended her struggle, and her last message to us all the day before (one of those ones that reads a little different now) included a link to her own favorite Akron/Family song, "Last Year." Heavy, heavy time.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 19 February 2021 15:47 (three years ago) link
Oh wow, I'm sorry Ned.
Sadly I never got to see them live, but I always hoped I'd get the chance. I know the latter stuff was a little more spotty, but I still like a lot of their material. In fact I had finally replaced my burned CD copy of the S/T album with an actual copy last summer.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 19 February 2021 15:49 (three years ago) link
very sorry to hear that ned
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Friday, 19 February 2021 15:54 (three years ago) link
Thanks very kindly. There's lots more to say about her but we're all still feeling the loss. A real light.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 19 February 2021 15:58 (three years ago) link
Absolutely lovely thread about Seaton from another friend of mine.
In the mid 2000s until the early twentyteens Akron/Family was my absolute favorite live rock band. Life-affirming music. When they played on my radio show in college, Miles and I talked endlessly about music and he offered to dump his his entire external hard drive full of tunes— Sam (@fax_me) February 19, 2021
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 19 February 2021 17:51 (three years ago) link
akron family was one of the best live bands in the mid-00s, saw them quite a few times, first was during the angels of light split tour. After that one member left to be a monk they were not really up to that level live but man they were so special when they were. The last time I saw miles play was 6-7 years ago, it was in a large warehouse space and it was a duo of him and a cellist, with a choir diffusing out throughout the warehouse, walking around and singing at various levels to make this 3D surround sound experience. Not really sure what to think or say
― Bongo Jongus, Friday, 19 February 2021 18:28 (three years ago) link