― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Thursday, 29 December 2005 19:30 (eighteen years ago) link
i didn't think their album was all-in-all fantastic, but of the bands to debut in 2005, Akron/Family is for me one of the very exciting-est. i think they may do something really, really, really great. (other 'new' bands i am excited about: final fantasy, junip, page france, handsomeboy technique)
― sean gramophone (Sean M), Thursday, 29 December 2005 19:33 (eighteen years ago) link
― efff, Thursday, 29 December 2005 20:30 (eighteen years ago) link
I would imagine that it is THE album for anyone who makes the effort to listen to Animal Collective but wishes they sounded more like the Polyphonic Spree.
― James.Cobo (jamescobo), Thursday, 29 December 2005 20:42 (eighteen years ago) link
― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Thursday, 29 December 2005 21:37 (eighteen years ago) link
― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Thursday, 29 December 2005 21:38 (eighteen years ago) link
― The Milkmaid (of Human Kindness) (The Milkmaid), Thursday, 29 December 2005 21:42 (eighteen years ago) link
― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Monday, 20 March 2006 03:06 (eighteen years ago) link
― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Monday, 20 March 2006 03:11 (eighteen years ago) link
― prince rupert, Monday, 20 March 2006 03:17 (eighteen years ago) link
― sean gramophone (Sean M), Monday, 20 March 2006 08:51 (eighteen years ago) link
― cdwill (cdwill), Monday, 20 March 2006 13:51 (eighteen years ago) link
― cutty (mcutt), Monday, 20 March 2006 13:53 (eighteen years ago) link
― ghost dong (Sonny A.), Monday, 20 March 2006 14:24 (eighteen years ago) link
The first record was pretty good but sleepy. I didn't like the songs from the split at all until I saw them live. I would like for them to do great things with the next one.
― ghost dong (Sonny A.), Monday, 20 March 2006 14:34 (eighteen years ago) link
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Though I did have a feeling they might have jazzbo roots -- at least the drummer, judging from the way he was playing.
― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Monday, 20 March 2006 14:48 (eighteen years ago) link
― bb (bbrz), Monday, 20 March 2006 15:44 (eighteen years ago) link
― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Monday, 20 March 2006 15:57 (eighteen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 20 March 2006 17:34 (eighteen years ago) link
― regular roundups (Dave M), Monday, 20 March 2006 18:18 (eighteen years ago) link
if that's to me, don't get me wrong..its not the folks coming round that bother me, its that the last few shows i saw featured some basting off that was abit hokey and gooney than interstellar. frankly, i just don't go in for that variety of jamming.
― bb (bbrz), Monday, 20 March 2006 18:33 (eighteen years ago) link
― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Monday, 20 March 2006 21:52 (eighteen years ago) link
my roommate hated them, which is usually a good sign.
― gbx (skowly), Monday, 20 March 2006 22:03 (eighteen years ago) link
― sleeve (sleeve), Monday, 20 March 2006 22:40 (eighteen years ago) link
― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 03:09 (eighteen years ago) link
"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
i think i deleted the email he sent me though. it was pretty mean! and pissed off! but, you know, i guess it should be given the source.
― scott seward, Tuesday, 24 January 2012 15:17 (twelve years ago) link
why was he mad at you?
― Touched By Angel Rangel (DJ Mencap), Tuesday, 24 January 2012 15:22 (twelve years ago) link
yeah, scott! do tell!
saw an akron/family lp w/the mitb skulls plastered all over it a couple weeks ago. thought it might be a collabo lp and was like, 'what the hell?'
and that skull is a big part of their design sensibility. a bunch of bands splintered out from mitb and there have probably been hundreds of releases with em used prominently.
I think the story is that one of them photocopied it from a medical textbook and they just went with it.
― original bgm, Tuesday, 24 January 2012 15:54 (twelve years ago) link
here's the record I spotted in a used bin:
http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ljpg9zQb981qg16vmo1_500.jpg
― original bgm, Tuesday, 24 January 2012 15:55 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah that was Akron/Family's Record Store Day vinyl from last year, <bmbz>.
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Tuesday, 24 January 2012 16:10 (twelve years ago) link
"My name is miles, I'm the member of Akron/Family who decided to lift the MITB skull and I take responsibility for it. I saw MITB at 16 years old and it changed how I heard and played music and made me want to play bass (which I have ever since) it was an honest tribute. As you can see I/we clearly "stole" the crass circle as well: I didn't contact anyone to ask permission. We weren't trying to "steal" your logo. And we're never planning on long term use. When i used to make zines or flyers or shirts for my first band it everyone used everything ones. Influences were clear. Anyway I would be happy to talk about this In a non public format to come to an understanding and apologize publicly. To you and all others involved. Just in interest of actually repairing the situation. It was an innocent gesture and honestly meant as a tribute and I stand by it artistically. The economy of images is clearly not innocent in culture and Im not oblivious to that either. I am happy to address all of this with you, and come to an understanding of how to deal with it. Like i said - the use was tied to the inspiration I felt when making a particular aspect of our music. It's never been about Trying to use the skull forever. It's an honest artistic nod to music / imagery I grew up with ."
― mizzell, Tuesday, 24 January 2012 17:22 (twelve years ago) link
this is almost as dumb as no age claiming kings of leon stole their tshirt logo.
― mizzell, Tuesday, 24 January 2012 17:24 (twelve years ago) link
Ha, that man actually is a bastard.
― Derartu Cthulhu (NickB), Tuesday, 24 January 2012 17:30 (twelve years ago) link
A stupid one.
― Derartu Cthulhu (NickB), Tuesday, 24 January 2012 17:31 (twelve years ago) link
Well its horribly written, but I think A/F dude kinda has a point and it genuinely doesn't seem like he was trying to pull one over on MITB.
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Tuesday, 24 January 2012 17:32 (twelve years ago) link
Should have asked them first basically.
― Derartu Cthulhu (NickB), Tuesday, 24 January 2012 17:35 (twelve years ago) link
Well, yeah, I don't know, I'm torn on this. As someone more familiar with MITB pointed out, its pretty widely regarded as their "logo", but considering they took it from a medical textbook in the first place I don't think its really their original design where they get to dictate its use. Dick move? Yeah, probably, but I don't think they "stole" a trademarked design or anything.
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Tuesday, 24 January 2012 17:39 (twelve years ago) link
some other dude from mitb
"Well im certainly happy to hear that it was coming from that direction. Look I get it, I really do. I'm totally into reference and homage, I love the underground nods. I've been thinking about this all morning and I'm all for free use and everything, and I tend to be of the opinion that coyright is bullshit...but you got understand that this just hit all of us out of the blue. With no warning or communication you have something that is very personal to all of us plastered all over several items you have for sale. I even stood back for a few minutes and wondered to myself: "they couldn't really just co-opt something so recognizable and expect this to pass could they? This has to be a nod, right?"
so basically he's all for free use, unless it's something that he has used in the past but doesn't actually own.
― mizzell, Tuesday, 24 January 2012 17:42 (twelve years ago) link
^^^
this is stupid
― Full Frontal Newtity (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 24 January 2012 17:46 (twelve years ago) link
kinda wishing ghost of whoever's skull that was comes back from the dead and lectures them both
― Full Frontal Newtity (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 24 January 2012 17:47 (twelve years ago) link
also A/K is great one of the few indie rock bands I care about/return to these days
I like these guys too for some reason. Maybe cos they can really jam? Moment is my jam.
― SOPA/PILLA (Spottie_Ottie_Dope), Tuesday, 24 January 2012 17:52 (twelve years ago) link
I like A/F a lot. Particularly for not hiding the Dead influence.
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Tuesday, 24 January 2012 17:54 (twelve years ago) link
haha that guy also accuses a/f of avoiding the issue by diabling comments on their facebook page, cause you can see how eric wood up there really wanted to discuss the issue.
― mizzell, Tuesday, 24 January 2012 18:10 (twelve years ago) link
considering they took it from a medical textbook in the first place I don't think its really their original design where they get to dictate its use
well yeah that's probably why they're just insulting them rather than making a noise about lawsuits or w/e
A/F are or can be p interesting musically I think but I've never heard a thing by them that suggested the influence of MITB or anything in that sphere, so it's a bit much to expect everyone to get the reference in the context they intended
― Saltines of Pink - 'Whites Me Tumblr?' (DJ Mencap), Wednesday, 25 January 2012 12:19 (twelve years ago) link
kinda wishing ghost of whoever's skull that was comes back from the dead and lectures them both― Full Frontal Newtity (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, January 24, 2012 5:47 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
― Full Frontal Newtity (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, January 24, 2012 5:47 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
^^^just reminded me why I miss ILM
― bernard snowy, Wednesday, 25 January 2012 15:26 (twelve years ago) link
I don't think MITB is claiming to "own" the image. However it's been used on pretty much everything they've done for the last 20 years, including the still-functioning Bastard Noise offshoot.
Two guys from MITB had very different responses--one laughable, one a bit more measured. Isreal (who is a friend of mine) was pretty clear that they weren't shouting lawsuit. However, considering their hardcore background, I think they were legitimately irritated to see something so closely identified with their band all over someone else's merchandise. Given the A/F dude's love of the band, a simple ask might not have been out of the question--especially since BN is still using the damned skull on his shit.
― scott pgwp (pgwp), Wednesday, 25 January 2012 17:51 (twelve years ago) link
However, considering their hardcore background, I think they were legitimately irritated to see something so closely identified with their band all over someone else's merchandise
See this is the part that I'm not really following in their argument. Wasn't the early hardcore aestehtic, particularly when it came to fliers, all about "borrowing" images that could be copied and pasted on fliers for an easy and consistent design? I mean, if anything, I kind of feel like "reappropriating" the skull is particularly in line with hardocre values. Which isn't to say I don't think it was kind of a dick move and I agree an ask would have been the right thing to do.
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Wednesday, 25 January 2012 17:53 (twelve years ago) link
Not to speak for the band but I think that's the conflict Isreal is wrestling with in the quote Mizzel pasted above. It seems like the reappropriation/homage is less of an issue than the fact that it was used on saleable merch. A/F didn't need "permission" but it was still lame.
― scott pgwp (pgwp), Wednesday, 25 January 2012 18:03 (twelve years ago) link
i don't get that at all. it was saleble merch, sure, but to support a band, not a giant corporation (like the disney joy division thing).
― mizzell, Wednesday, 25 January 2012 18:29 (twelve 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 (ten 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 (ten 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