Akron/Family

i've only heard them on record in a friend's car, but they were totally different live than on record. they had these huge rock (someone called it post-prog) freakouts, with LOTS of noise and craziness... and then they would spontaneously fall back to 4 part harmonies over folk guitar and funny sound effects... it got a little too hippy dippy for me in the end, but they were definitely entertaining live.

I don't think i'd put them down with Phish quite... their hippiness was a lot more endearing/tolerable than most (and this from a rather hippy-unfriendly sort). And some of the sound they made was really quite beautiful, so on those grounds alone, they deserve a second listen (if any of their recorded music is any good...)

Akron/Family's new album Meek Warrior is out. It's not really my cup of tea exactly, but I like many of the ingredients (electronics, noise, free jazz horn wail, Hamid Drake) and look forward to seeing where they go with it. Saw em play live in so cal in december, they're playing my town next wknd. Their 2005 release certainly received a lot of attention (not sure that I ever heard it, to be honest), and it's somewhat interesting to see where they fit within the massive landscape of weird folk etc.

Anyone here follow them? Or gira or related projects? (P.S. in reponse to above posts, they sound nothing like Phish).

picked up 'meek warrior' a month or so ago, on the recommendation of a friend. i havent listened to it that many times, but its quite a compelling record and i think it reveals more after repeated listenings. i had sort of 'given up' on much of this neo-psyche/exp/folk business, but this record is quite good, it seems like there was real joy in its creation, which translates into me enjoying as a listening experience. this same friend says that they put on a killer live show...

Haven't heard the new record, but I would definitely second the "real joy" bit, from seeing them live last year. All gnarly and shirtless and all over the place, hippy to the extreme, but more happy and less stoned/ponderous/full-of-shit. They opened for the somewhat prissy Final Fantasy (who I quite like), and a worse match could barely have been imagined...